Feature: Phenakite

Gratitude for all: Minh Phan forges a successful restaurant using the concept of waste not, want not

The wildly inventive chef Minh Phan has earned a cult following thanks to her inventive and insightful takes. Her much-buzzed-about Phenakite by Porridge + Puffs in L.A. showcases why Southern California’s food scene dominates national culinary trends, even after the pandemic.

Phan birthed her critically lauded restaurant Phenakite thanks to a residency at the workshare space Second Home Hollywood in 2020, in the worst of times. She was introduced to the space by her friend Laura Kim who is a film industry veteran. “She’s the undercurrent of influence amongst a lot of people in the independent film world,” says Phan. “She was the one who actually said, ‘You’re going to love it,’ And, I thought, ‘I’m not opening another restaurant.’”

Phan’s first brick-and-mortar neighborhood spot, Porridge + Puffs in Historic Filipinotown, was struggling. The notion of opening a new restaurant just seemed too much. But when Phan saw the Second Home space, she fell in love. The building was designed by Paul R. Williams, the first black architect admitted into the American Institute of Architects in 1923. Before he passed in 1980, Williams left his mark on L.A. He had created 2,500 buildings, including this one. Designed in 1961, the historic space had fallen into a derelict state. In 2019, Second Home restored it to a members-only workspace.

“I ended up wanting the space,” she says. “Immediately, I tried to open a restaurant two weeks later. We were super busy.”

She was also in the middle of a collaboration with Niki Nakayama, co-owner of two Michelin-star n/naka.

“Our plan was to just survive with bento. To have our employees stay employed and provide jobs and have our business survive,” says Nakayama.

Phan grew up with an affinity for Koda Farms. Growing up in the Midwest, Minh remembered her mother would get giddy when she would find Koda Farms rice at the market.

Phan uses Koda Farms Kokuho Rose heirloom rice on Phenakite’s tasting menu. In the eighth course, “Gratitude,” the rice is honored. It’s Phan’s ode to those who inspired, helped and encouraged her during this tumultuous time.

It’s also intentionally constructed to resemble a Zen garden. “That’s why the dish is called ‘Gratitude,’ ” she says.

Gratitude for that space and the collaboration that spurred this restaurant. “It’s a porridge dish, which is a nod to Porridge + Puffs and then, it’s a nod to Robin Koda because we’re using Robin’s rice.” Phan assures the dish will remain on the menu as the seasons change.

“Gratitude will always be on the menu because I think having that heritage and that lineage is very important to me,” she says. “The California-Asian story is very important to me.”

Another layer of that story is where she sources her seafood. The abalone for Gratitude comes from Claire Ito of Riviera Seafood Club. She’s the restaurant’s fishmonger and also Phenakite’s resident rock monger.

“She combs the beaches for the most beautiful rocks for this dish,” says Phan. Blue sea-glass-like pebbles are dotted across the plate to form a tranquil path. A set of chopsticks and an abalone shelled spoon rest on a dark stone resembling something you’d spot during a hot stone massage. A pyramid-shaped, red mud colored rock sits in the corner. Every part is intentional. A piece of moss on the plate at first feels bewildering, then you understand Phan’s reasoning.

“For the moss part, I wanted to bring in more nature to the dish,” she says. “Because it’s an homage to seafood, there are a lot of [shades of] blue on the plate and pinks and browns to symbolize the sand. So, there are all these elements that are beach-like. But, it was missing this green ‘nature’ element. So I was thinking what’s at the beach that is green? There’s always green moss.”

The dish is Phan’s representation of the shore. “It’s like a Zen garden meets the sea,” she adds. It’s a tactile and comforting dish. “There’s a running joke in the kitchen,” she says, “make sure you pet the moss as you eat the porridge. It has this very comforting, tactile, touch and feel, use of all the senses [kind of dish]. It’s a really special dish. It’s really special to me.”

Another philosophy that Phan holds dear is her “no waste” mindset. Most restaurants will throw out scraps and trimmings, but the chefs at Phenakite save everything. “It gets reused as a family meal. It gets reused as a stock.”

This no waste mantra echoes as Phenakite’s chefs explain the palate cleansing “stem jam” granita. (There are no servers at the restaurant, instead the chefs including Phan take turns presenting each plate to the diners.) Since Phenakite uses a lot of herbs, there’s a lot of stems leftover. “There’s flavor in them but the stems are always a little bit woody,” says Phan. “So we found a way to use them that’s still really nice and refined. It’s a way for us to remember, one of our philosophies in the kitchen is, we save everything.” Every piece of scrap is re-envisioned into something. “A lot of times, we’re making these really concentrated complex flavors that use a lot of ingredients,” she says. “For example, the short rib dish. That short rib alone is at least 30 ingredients that make up that one little piece of meat.”

Invention is Phan’s specialty. She is known for her amazing pickles. “It’s something that I unintentionally cultivated because I hate waste,” she says. “Finding ways to preserve things is really, really important to me. Not only does it reduce waste, but it really brightens up flavors. You have to be really thoughtful. That’s how you preserve a season.” Ingredients such as strings from snap peas are treated with salt and converted into a snap pea miso. She also dehydrates haw berries to evoke the flavor of Chinese haw flake candy, a taste memory from her childhood.

Phan is a storyteller. She is bubbly, knowledgeable, and treats her food as her art. A meal conceived by her is a celebration of what’s wonderful in bountiful California. “We do intentionally choose California wines for environmental reasons,” adds Phan. “We like natural wines. It’s a little better for the environment. They have a nice minerality. They’re not always delicious though. It took us a while to find the right natural wines that really match with our food.”

From natural wines to the restaurant’s table décor, Phan orchestrates a special experience. Even the restaurant’s name, “Phenakite” is a poetic nod to last year’s struggle. Phenakite is a rare mineral forged under intense pressure. A symbol of Phan’s restaurant opening during the pandemic.

For Phan, “It’s an interesting ride.” Like her peers in the industry, she is eager to welcome guests. “We’re trying to redefine dining in a few different ways. Fine dining should be joyful. It shouldn’t be performative,” she says.

“This is the biggest explanation of what we do that’s different. Most fine dining is one unilateral performance on the part of the restaurant.”

At Phenakite, Phan hopes for something different.

“There’s a dialogue and a dance. A reaction to an action. We react to you. You react to us. It’s meeting each other’s needs. That’s the experience we want to give to people. I don’t want to perform for people. Especially as an Asian woman, that’s the last thing I want to do is perform for people. I’d rather have them be a part of the dance and the dialogue.”■