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Cambodian cafe serves up memories of love and loss in Kentucky Keith Pandolfi Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Inside Kampuchea Kitchen, T.C. Long and his wife, Karen, are the only ones working. The lunch crowd has thinned out to the point where I’m the only one left in the dining room. On a television, a woman sings beautiful songs in a language that I will never understand. The restaurant is painted a deep shade of violet and decorated with trees and plants that I realize, upon further inspection, are artifi cial. Even so, the sunshine pouring in through the windows illuminates each synthetic leaf like an emerald, making them seem real. Buddhist statues are stationed throughout the room. Long tells me he and Karen wanted their restaurant to feel like a traditional cafe in Phnom Penh, where he grew up. And although I've never been to Phnom Penh, and this is Fort Thomas, Kentucky, I have a feeling they succeeded. The fi rst dish I order – a puff pastry fi lled with shredded chicken, mild curry and vegetables – is a sign that I haven’t been led astray by the good things I’ve heard about this place. The pastry is buttery, a little bit fl akey; the shredded chicken, peas and carrots immensely comforting and somewhat familiar as they remind me of Indian samosas. Next comes a bowl of cold rice noodles with pickled papaya in a sweet and sour fi sh sauce. It's seasoned with fresh herbs and delicious little hunks of stirfried chicken. It has all the fl avors I love – let’s call them clean fl avors: the fl avors of fi sh sauce, crunchy carrots and cucumbers. Cambodian cuisine can be hard to pin down since it shares similarities with the cuisines of other places, including Thailand, southern China, India and Vietnam. Like those other cuisines, Cambodian food tells the story of colonialism and occupation; confl ict and displacement; separation and heartbreak. In a way, it tells the story of chef Long, himself. Over a tall Khmer coff ee fi lled with pellet ice, he tells me how, after he was
TC and Karen Long, photographed in their restaurant, Kampuchea Kitchen, a Cambodian bistro in Ft. Thomas. AMANDA ROSSMANN/THE ENQUIRER
separated from his parents in 1979, he escaped the Khmer Rouge by fi nding a sponsor who got him to the United States. He tells me how he came to Cincinnati, alone, at the age of 14, in 1980. How much he missed his city and his family. “I cried every night,” he tells me. And when he says that, I can immediately picture him as the lost and alone boy he was at 14, instead of the 60something man who is sitting across from me. A few years later, he put himself through culinary school at what was then Cincinnati Technical College and is now Cincinnati State. Eventually, his parents found him and moved to Ohio. They lived long, happy lives here, but are now gone. Thankfully, his siblings are all still alive. Two live in Delhi Township, two in
Paris and one in New Jersey. He has four children. One from a previous marriage, the other three from his 30-year marriage to Karen. After graduating from CTC, Long worked in restaurants ranging from Dante's restaurant in Western Hills to a Holiday Inn in Orlando. He came back to Cincinnati and landed a job at Oriental Wok, where he worked for almost a quarter-century – eventually becoming its executive chef. That’s why you might have heard of Long before. He’s a big reason why Oriental Wok is the standard-bearer when it comes to Asian food in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. After we fi nish talking, I go home to read more about Cambodian food. I learn that its hallmarks are freshwater fi sh from the Mekong River, fresh fruits
such as the papayas and mangos and avocados that still grow on the streets of Phnom Penh. I read about the importance of lemongrass and galangal, ginger and kaffi r limes. “Cambodians don't have a pantry,” Long tells me, half-jokingly. “We grow everything ourselves.” I go back on a Thursday afternoon and Long makes me another Khmer coffee. Similar to Vietnamese coff ee, it is made with chicory-infused coff ee and sweet, evaporated milk. A man from Manhattan is eating alone at one table in silence; a group of four women sit at another table discussing presidential politics. I chime out the conversation and focus on the food. This time, I start with the bor bor, a See CAFE, Page 2A
COVID-19 vaccines shifting to primary care doctors in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky Terry DeMio Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Registered nurse Julie Nieman administers a Pfi zer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to RN Sean Kathman at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Fort Thomas, Ky., on Thursday, December 17, 2020. ALBERT CESARE / THE ENQUIRER
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If you’re looking for a COVID-19 vaccination you might not need to look further than your primary care doctor soon. Several Cincinnati area primary care physicians’ offi ces are being phased in as vaccine providers, to add to the array of ways to get a vaccine in the region. “In Hamilton County, a number of the hospitals are starting to off er COVID vaccinations at their primary care and pediatrician offi ces. The physician offi ces are typically focused on the patients of those practices,” said Kate Schroder, special adviser, vaccine coordinator for the Health Collaborative. “And patients who may be more comfortable getting a vaccine from their usual doctor’s staff should reach out to check availability.” In Northern Kentucky beginning June 1, St. Elizabeth Healthcare will shift its COVID-19 vaccine appoint-
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ments from its St. Elizabeth Training and Education Center, which has operated as a clinic sight since vaccines fi rst arrived in Kentucky, to St. Elizabeth Physicians primary care sites. The vaccines will become available at select offi ces through the fi rst two weeks of June, and will transition to all practices with primary care locations by midJune, offi cials said. Initially, the Moderna vaccine will be the only COVID-19 vaccine administered at the St. Elizabeth Physicians offi ces. Patients will have the option to receive their vaccine at their appointment when they see their provider, and appointments for the second dose will be made before leaving the offi ce. The hospital system will not initially vaccinate kids 12-15 with the Pfi zer vaccine, but St. E has has provided vaccine to other local pediatricians to help meet the demand, offi cials said. The Moderna vaccine has not yet been FDA-approved for kids this age, so See VACCINES, Page 2A
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