The Prsrv is the creation of two acclaimed chefs, David Skinner of the fine dining restaurant Eculent, and Jabthong "G" Benchawan Painter, who won a James Beard Award as Best Chef Best Chef in Texas for her East End Thai spot, Street to Kitchen. As Choctaw and Thai native chefs, they aim to highlight ancient techniques and Indigenous ingredients. The dishes on the menu reflect both Native American and Thai cultures.
"What we discovered was, if you went back 500 years, you ended up with very similar techniques for cooking, similar ingredients, similar customs," said Chef David Skinner. "It made a lot of sense to tell the story using a historical menu where we could really cover how ingredients moved from one continent to the other, and how it influenced different cuisines."
"It's never a fusion, we give an equal respect to both cultures," said Graham Painter, Wine Director at Th Prsrv. "So this archaeological dig of each chef's historical background is also through this microlens, telling a really beautiful macropicture about a food that's been forgotten, that is the most consequential agriculture the world has ever seen, being Native American. And telling this microlens of Thai food, which is actually an example of all of the modern food, from Europe to Africa to Asia."
Diners sit at a communal table and enjoy courses that represent a 2,000 year timeline, alternating between the two cultures.
"We hope they come away with an appreciation for the ingredients, where they've come from, an appreciation for how these ingredients changed the cuisine of the world," said Chef Skinner.
To learn more about Th Prsrv and view the prix fixe menu, visit www.thprsrv.com.