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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, March 20, 2005

COVER STORY
Chef JJ adds 'bistro' fare to his menu

Daokeo Luangkhot — JJ's spouse — serves guests fresh coffee and assorted desserts with a smile.

Photos by Randy T. Fujimori

JJ's French Pastry

Where: 3447 Waialae Ave.

Call: 739-0993

Hours: Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and until 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays; Sunday from noon to 5 p.m

Web site: jjfrenchpastry.com

Note: Prix-fixe menus are available, ranging from $8.50 to $15.50. JJ's three-year-old son Nathan says these are his favorite cookies.

It's now JJ Bistro & French Pastry and no longer just JJ's French Pastry, as it has been known for the past five years. And, it's a name change that's symbolic of chef and owner JJ Praseuth Luangkhot's new direction for his Kaimuki shop.

"But just because I added the term 'bistro' doesn't mean my prices are going to skyrocket," said the 30-something bespectacled Luangkhot, who prefers to be simply addressed as JJ. "I added the word 'bistro' to emphasize the food part of my business."

Now accounting for a healthy percentage of his sales, JJ's a la carte menu reads like an upscale bistro, with one major exception — no one single dish is priced more than $10.

"My goal is to bring fine-dining food to the public at affordable prices," JJ said. "And I also want to be the first to introduce Laotian cuisine using French techniques."

Apprenticed in New York City, JJ has worked at such notable Big Apple restaurants as Contrapunto, Maxim's, the Peninsula Hotel and Trois Jean.

"By day, I would cook," JJ recalled. "And by night I would do the pastries."

But after years of little sleep and a hectic schedule, JJ decided to focus on the pastry side of the restaurant.

"But now that I'm rested, I can do both again," smiled JJ, whose youthful looks belie his years of experience. "It's fun to be back cooking and experimenting with flavors and sauces."

Emerging from the kitchen, JJ plunked down three Glad baggies on the table, opened each one and said, "These are my key ingredients."

They included a milder-flavored Thai ginger that tastes similar to cinnamon, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves, which impart a refreshing lemony essence.

JJ's kang Lao (Laotian soup), for example, is infused with the kaffir lime leaves and the lemongrass, as well as tamarind and tomatoes, two other ingredients that are found in many Laotian dishes. Cost for the soup — which was deliciously warming during this past week's relatively cooler clime — is $2.95 with bits of chicken or $3.50 with seafood.

"It's lighter than the Thai tom yum soup," JJ said. "And, it's also not as spicy. It's more on the sour side because of the tamarind."

Another soup alternative is called a "Little French" ($2.95), which features the classic creamy leek-and-potato soup. (Add $1.25 and get a slice of French bread to make this a hearty meal.)

In addition to soups, the menu also lists a simple mixed green salad with ginger-sesame dressing ($3.75), a chef's salad ($4.25) with shreds of turkey and ham, and a more substantial meal-in-one garlic shrimp salad ($5.95). A "quiche of the day" ($6.50) is also found under this category.

Served with side salads, croissant sandwiches ($4.75 to $4.95) and the baked tuna Wellington ($5.95) hit the spot any time of the day. So, too, does the páté chaude ($5.95), which is a puff pastry stuffed with seasoned ground pork and onions.

Chef JJ also offers a classic fettuccine Alfredo that can be tossed with chicken ($7.95) or seafood ($9.95).

JJ's three-year-old son Nathan says these are his favorite cookies.
"This is for someone who doesn't care about calories," JJ chuckled. "My parmesan cream sauce is rich in texture and flavor."

The same could be said about his green curry sauce that's used for the seafood á la maison ($9.95), which teems with bits of salmon, scallop, shrimp, bamboo shoots, eggplant, red bell pepper and spinach.

An entree that exemplifies JJ's attempt to marry Laotian cuisine and French technique is the khao Soi luangphabang ($7.95 with chicken or $9.95 with seafood), which combines fettuccine and crispy fat noodles (khao) that are mixed with carrots, potatoes, sour cabbage, all covered in a lemongrass-curry sauce then topped with a tiny quail egg.

"It is perfect for Easter," JJ said. "And you don't even have to go on an egg hunt. It's right there on top."