Weekend MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICE
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Family-owned casual Srasa Kitchen delivers fresh pan-Asian cuisine in an increasingly crowded market review by Elena Kadvany
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he New York Times declared earlier this month that “understaffed ‘fast-casual’ restaurants — frozen yogurt, cupcake and tea shops; pokÈ bars; and salad stations where customers order from the counter” are increasingly replacing mom-and-pop restaurants in Silicon Valley. Mountain View’s Srasa Kitchen would seemingly fall into that category. Customers order at a counter from menus displayed on flat-screen TVs and watch employees compile their customizable pan-Asian bowls from an assembly line of ingredients. They’re left to their own devices when it comes to service — get your own plastic silverware, chops ticks, Sriracha sauce or water. Yelpers compare Srasa to another local Asianfusion fas t- casual chain, Asian Box, and to Mexican food chain Chipotle. Yet Srasa Kitchen is family-owned and arguably still a mom-and-pop restaurant, just wearing different clothes. Continued on next page
photos by Veronica Weber
Srasa Kitchen is a family-run entry into the burgeoning fast-casual restaurant market. Its Bankok bowl tops brown rice with lemongrass chicken, charred corn, green beans, red curry sauce, papaya salad and fresh herbs.
September 30, 2016 Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q
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