When Food Goes Beyond Food:
Dining at Kinaara's Chef's Home Table
For the best chefs, cooking isn’t a way to simply serve food or make money. It’s their opportunity to express who they are, where they’ve come from, and who and what have influenced them. Sadly, these statements are often missed by the diner, who lacks the context to understand the complexity and meaning of the plate in front of them.
That’s what makes the “Chef’s Home Table” series at Kinaara such a special experience. Sure, the food—like any dish at Kinaara—is superb. But this offering allows you to meet the man behind the meal.
That would be Ashish Sathyan, a native of Kerala, India who honed his craft in high-end hotels and restaurants in India and New York before eventually settling in Omaha, where he finally got a chance to showcase his food. Any meal at Kinaara gives you a taste of Ashish’s history, from Grandma’s Fish & Mango Curry to Fish Pollichathu, the salmon dish his father desires every time the two’s paths cross.
But those are just details on the menu; they’re far from the whole story. The Chef’s Home Table takes the footnotes and expands them into a novel.
Over roughly 2.5 hours, Ashish cooks and serves tableside a tasting menu that represents his favorite dishes from his childhood. Each is deeply connected with his past, and this gifted storyteller is happy to share.
There are three important things to note about this dinner, which is offered every other Tuesday (you can sign up here):
- The menu can (and likely will) change at each meal to match what local ingredients are in season and what memories are currently inspiring Ashish. Everything detailed in this article is from a meal served on June 20, but your dishes may be completely different.
- You and seven other guests get an exclusive table in the back of the restaurant where Ashish and his wife Kim serve each course (wine pairings are optional).
- Most tasting menus offer several smaller dishes that add up to one satisfying meal. Kinaara puts forth much larger portions, as the three servings between the appetizer and dessert are basically entree-sized. Ashish acknowledges this is unusual, but this is how he’d eat at home so it’s how he serves it here. Tough to argue with that logic, so loosen your belt buckle and dig in.
Whatever Ashish serves, it’s a side dish to the stories that come with it. For example, a red snapper dish is accompanied with tales of his first fishing trip. And a wrapped banana leaf was his favorite school lunch; so much so, that young Ashish would hide his lunch box so his mother would be forced to make him this portable lunch (“I was a little s***,” he admits with a smile).
The experience alone is worth the price. But, as anyone who’s eaten a bite of Kinaara’s food, can be assured, the dishes are downright delightful. For example, here was the menu for our meal (from first course to last):
- Morgan Ranch Wagyu Beef Cutlet: A chef-ed up version of a school lunch dish in India, rich ground beef is presented in a crispy fritter, and the dredge carries some serious spice. A side of sweet Maggi (Indian ketchup) offsets the heat.
- Amma’s Fish Curry with Kappa: A delicate, mildly sweet Florida red snapper is served in a clay pot with a curry amped up by chili powder. This sinus-awakening concoction is to be ladled over a boiled and mashed tapioca mixture (think mashed potatoes but with palate-arousing spices).
- Plum Creek Farms Chicken Biryani: Ashish brings out a cart with a giant drum of this layered rice dish and spoons it out tableside. The chicken is remarkably juicy, and the basmati rice has a sweet floral aroma. Imagine a savory, spiced rice pilaf with the most tender chicken you’ve had.
- Amma’s Pothi Choru: The aromas assault your nostrils as soon as you begin to unwrap the banana leaf this dish arrives in. A mess of earthy, nutty matta rice is mixed with savory beef hunks, spiced sardines, an omelet, and a ridiculously delicious mushroom curry (along with about 87 other spices). This portable dish looks a bit of a mess, but its pantry-full of ingredients ensure every bite is not only delicious, but completely unique.
- Semiya Payasam: Imagine a sweet, creamy rice pudding but with short, thin vermicelli noodles replacing the grains. It’s a delightful way to end the meal.
With the final dish served, Ashish emerges to further discuss the menu’s inspiration and simply chat with his guests. He wants to know what worked about the menu and what can be improved. He’s happy to talk about any subject, from his restaurant experience to his initial reluctance to cooking to his two children. If he’s in a good mood, he may suggest a celebratory shot (and who’s going to say no to that?).
This is one of my favorite meals I’ve had in Omaha, and the quality of the food was only a part of that. To be completely honest, the dishes themselves were comparable with what you’ll find on Kinaara’s everyday menu; in terms of flavor, there was a slight upgrade, but not a noticeable one.
But the presentation and the personal interaction that allowed us to truly meet and understand the chef added so much depth to the meal. We got to see Ashish’s gregarious personality on full display and understand the “why” behind each dish.
At it’s most basic level, food is sustenance. But when you experience a meal like this, meet the chef, and experience the story connected to each dish, you realize it’s so much more. Food can allow you to truly meet someone, and Kinaara’s Chef’s Home Table absolutely does that.