When Sarin and Sosophy Chham escaped the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, luck brought them to Cleveland. There must have been little that seemed familiar. Northern Ohio bears little resemblance to a tropical country where elephants are known to wander into open food markets to steal bananas and snow is not really a tangible concept.
But Cleveland offered hope, opportunity, and a new life, as it has to so many immigrants — people who have embraced our city and brought their own traditions and tastes to the shores of Lake Erie. That cultural-infusion is a tradition of its own in Cleveland, and it has strengthened our city time and time again.
In 1999, Sarin and Sososphy continued that tradition and opened Mekong River in Cleveland Heights, naming the restaurant after the central river in southeast Asia that winds it way through no fewer than seven countries. Sarin and his wife Sosophy have been working in their restaurant every single day since — an epic run of laborious dedication that stands out as incredible even in a city built on a blue collar work ethic. If you have eaten at Mekong River, you know the food is consistently remarkable, and that is because Sarin and Sosophy cook the food themselves every single day. If you have not eaten at Mekong River, what are you waiting for? Watch the Cool Cleveland Cuisine video of Mekong River here.
I met with Sarin, Sosophy and several members of their family (all of whom work at the restaurant) on a frigid February afternoon before the restaurant opened. They sat and spoke with me wearing their coats and hats, still warming after their drive from their home on the west side (they do not see the Cuyahoga River as a water-line not to be crossed). They, like their restaurant, are very practical and decidedly unpretentious.
“I’m not a show off,” Sarin stated plainly to me. “I’m cook, busboy, bartender, waiter — whatever it takes to get the work done.”
The current interior of Mekong River reflects this no-nonsense attitude. The main dining room is filled with basic tables, the walls hold black and white Cambodian and Thai art, and spider and rhododendron plants hang from dark wood beams. The bar seems transported from a 1970s basement, the kind your friend’s dad had that no one ever actually sat at. And the well-worn carpet is of the indoor-outdoor variety. The fact that any of this less-than-elegant décor matters in a city where the entire population seems more than happy to eat and drink for hours before a football game while standing in a parking lot with gulls flying overhead is a bit confusing. But Sarin and his family know that Americans can be particular about such things, so they are planning a significant renovation of the interior this spring. “You won’t recognize the place the next time you are in,” they promise. (I secretly hope the kitschy bar remains.)
Americans can also be particular about foods they are not familiar with, and they are keenly aware of this trait at Mekong River. While their background is Cambodian, Sarin and his family feature many Thai dishes, and someone new to the restaurant will find comfort in Mekong’s well-balanced pad thai and silky Massaman curry. The Thai curry puffs, with the most addictive peanut sauce I have ever tasted (if any was ever left at my table, I would lick the bowl), are not to be missed. But when you move beyond the Thai food, the Khmer food is also well worth your time and tastebuds. Tangy and less chile-laden than Thai food, Khmer food is heavily flavored with lemongrass and ginger, with both roots being used as much as a vegetable as they are an aromatic. I found the samlaw machu kreoung, a classic Khmer soup/stew eaten on jasmine rice, a delicious example of these flavor notes.
You’ll also find Vietnamese, Chinese, and Laotian food on Mekong River’s menu (featuring an astounding 95 dishes), and this is by intent. The Mekong River itself begins in the Tibetan plateau and winds its way to the Gulf of Thailand, along the way passing through China, Laos, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, where it feeds Tonle Sap (“great lake”), a life/food/culture source of much import in Cambodia. In their seminal cookbook on the Mekong region, Hot Sour Salty Sweet, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid observe, “Just as we think of the Mediterranean as having a common palate, we… see mainland Southeast Asia in the same way. That uniquely wonderful food, the food we’d originally been introduced to in Thailand, we came to realize, was unique to an entire region, not to just one country.”
When they came to Cleveland, with its own winding river and great lake, the Chham family brought with them their cuisine: the foods, methods of preparation, and traditions that make their cuisine what it is. Their journey to us, that brought them to safety and hope and a chance to succeed, also brought us Mekong cuisine. How lucky are we, right here in our very own city, to take this journey one dish at a time at Mekong River?
Watch the Cool Cleveland Cuisine video of Mekong River here.
Mekong River is located at 1918 Lee Rd. in Cleveland Heights. Hour are Mon-Sat 4PM – 10PM; Sun 4PM – 9PM. You can reach them at 216-371-9575.
Alan Block chose to move to Cleveland in 2006. He spends much of his free time seeking out great food in our region. To pay the food bills, he works at University Hospitals as the IT Service Desk manager. He has previously authored two food blogs, the Bacon Loving Heathen and the Cleveland Epicure, as well as the Eat, Drink, Repeat food newsletter. He welcomes your suggestions of cool food and drink destinations at cleveland.epicureATgmail.com.
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