We Lost a King.
Remembering the beloved chef King Phojanakong with meals, sake, and lots of 80s music.
Many years ago, in 2003, I climbed the stairs of a small fairly unremarkable building on the Lower East Side. I was there to have dinner with two friends—Steven Hall and Quentin Bacon. We had come to visit my friend King Phojanakong who had just opened his first solo restaurant, a place called Kuma Inn.
I don’t remember exactly when I met King perhaps when he was at Danube, but I remember we bonded because we were both kids who grew up in the city. He went to Bronx High School of Science, but loved cooking, leaning into the culinary influences of his Filipino mother and Thai father. When he graduated from The Culinary Institute of America, King worked with Alex Lee and Daniel Boulud at Restaurant Daniel and was part of the opening team at David Bouley’s Danube.
When I wrote my review of my first meal at Kuma Inn on The Strong Buzz later that week it was full of praise. I’m including a bit of it here to give you a sense of who King was.
“King, who grew up in Stuy-town and went to Bronx Science, opened Kuma Inn a year and a half ago, after stints at Daniel, Bouley, Danube and The Grocery. He was about to take a job at Chez Panisse when he found this second floor space on a lonely stretch of Ludlow. It was a risk—no street signage and a sleepy, dark block—but he decided to hang up his own shingle and try his hand at a unique brand of Asian fare, an amalgam of the food he grew up on—his dad is from Thailand and his mom is from the Philippines,” I wrote.
I loved the plump steamed shumai filled with wasabi spiked pork, I still remember the platter of sautéed spicy Chinese sausages, sliced into oblong circles so they were easily swished through a Thai chile lime sauce that King made using a mortar and pestle.
“King’s version of Tonkatsu shows off his training at Danube under Schnitzel Man, Kurt Guttenbruner,” I continued in the review. “The pork is pounded down so it is lean and thin, and then gets shallow-fried to a golden crunchy crisp on the outside, but it remains moist on the inside. It is sliced into slivers and drizzled with a soy-mirin glaze and served on a warm bed of watercress salad dressed with lime butter. This Asian-spiked pork schnitzel is comfort food at its most simple and most effective.”
I went on about the Bihon, a silky Philippine rice noodle dish, tossed with mushrooms, hunks of soft pork, bits of sausage, and bean sprouts. And the crispy whole red snapper with Thai chile mango sauce. “We made quick work of it,” I said, “leaving a carcass that was sparkling clean and cat-ready”
“Steven, Quentin and I were saturated with sake, but when King came over and poured us some new sakes to try we could not turn him down, and so we indulged in a little bit more. Funny, I thought you could not get a hangover from sake. WAS I WRONG! I was a useless mess the next day. But that night, I was feeling no pain. As we passed around the sake bottles, King turned up the music—he was shuffling through a great 80s collection—and soon, we (well mostly me) were belting out the words to Wings, Steve Miller Band, Foreigner and more. (Really, who needs a Karaoke machine when you have enough sake?) I love Kuma Inn and that King, well, he can cook, and he is a fierce DJ.”
I think this snapshot of a night with King does a good job at showing you what a guy he was, that as good a chef as he was, the food paled next to King. This was a man who was so genuinely joyful, he practically wore it like a crown.
Over the course of his career, we stayed in touch, while he created the award-winning Bronx Hot Sauce, which is made from peppers grown in the borough’s community gardens and inspired Small Axe Peppers Hot Sauce, which partners with community gardens in 10 cities. He also made the recipe for The Bronx Salad, an initiative with The Institute for Family Health, and consults for Campbell’s Soup Company, San Miguel Produce, The United Soybean Board and The Culinary Institute of America.
I remember when he married Annabel and had his first child, Phebe. I remember visiting when he opened his other restaurants in Fort Greene. We’d run into each other at the playgrounds sometimes, or events and he’d give me a big bear hug; a hug from King was like a big warm cozy blanket. And that smile! I mean you can see it in the photos. He was just that guy. The one who made a room light up.
Yesterday, I saw the news that he died. My heart sank. I hadn’t even known he was sick. I thought of his kids and his wife. And the huge loss, that gaping hole in their home now that he is gone. It’s so devastating. Without King in this world there is so much less.
From his GoFundMe page, I learned that in late May/early June, King developed COVID. Afterward, he traveled to the Philippines to visit family, and while there, developed a severe headache. The headaches worsened over the next few weeks and by July 4th, he developed double vision. King began seeking medical treatment and went to NYU's Langone Hospital and checked himself into the ER.
King was admitted to NYU hospital with inflammation to the brain among other symptoms, including slight loss of hearing and balance issues. Doctors could not figure out the root cause initially, throughout several lengthy hospitalizations. King underwent multiple brain biopsies and craniotomies that revealed inflammation and lesions found to be due to a mycobacterium and a rare amoeba infection. Tissue samples were sent to doctors at The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the CDC in Atlanta, and leading medical universities.
His treatments caused severe issues. On some days he showed signs of improvement, but other days he developed new and alarming symptoms that confused his doctors. He was responsive most days and less responsive on other days.
King was a fighter! He battled through this, the multiple surgeries and all the taxing treatments with his wife and family at his side. His wife, Annabel and his mother, Emma (a retired nurse) were fixtures at the hospital.
King's 12-year-old daughter Phebe and 6-year-old son Eduard, miss their dad terribly. He was a hands-on dad, a doting husband, a wonderful son and a large presence in his community. King often dropped off and picked up his kids from school, took them to activities and made gourmet meals for his family and friends.
Many have asked how to support King’s wife and children with the enormity of this loss and what their future will bring. King’s sister and closest friends created this GoFundMe page to make sure his wife and children know we care and are here to support them.
King, thank you for bringing so much joy to this world. And for the meals and the sake and the 80s music. I’ll miss you but I am so glad I knew you.