ON THE TABLE
Left to right: Sone Phetsouphanh, Samuel Eugene and Amanda Young Phetsouphanh, and Nathan and Sophia Phetsouphanh in the Trading Post kitchen. Courtesy of Nathan Phetsouphanh
Takeout from the Trading Post
Young’s Kitchen brings Asian cuisine to the Hoopa Valley By Jennifer Fumiko Cahill jennifer@northcoastjournal.com
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f you’re looking for a bowl of khao poon noodles, pad thai or even basic Chinese beef and broccoli, Hoopa might not be the first place you look. But Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to around 7 p.m., it’s not unusual to see a line of cars, some from Willow Creek and Orleans, pulling up to the Hoopa Trading Post to pick up those dishes and more from Young’s Kitchen. On an average day, some 60 customers might come through for Thai, Lao, Vietnamese and Chinese food delivered curbside by Nathan Phetsouphanh and his wife Amanda Young Phetsouphanh. On a busy day, according to Nathan, it’s closer to 100. Since December, they’ve been hauling in propane — as Hoopa doesn’t have natural gas lines — and cooking in the Trading Post’s commercial kitchen, where, as long as they operate according to the tribal food code established in 2003, they can run their business legally and rent free. While they do have food-handling licenses, on sovereign land and under the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s regulations, they
didn’t have to navigate the same red tape, taxes and fees required elsewhere in Humboldt County. It’s an advantage Nathan and Amanda say is allowing them to start their business and help feed a community, even in a pandemic. “It was a way to connect with our parents,” Nathan says of the business. He recalls how, when he was growing up in Arcata, his mom, who was Thai and Lao, would cook enormous pots of pho and other soups, and invite neighborhood children to eat. “That’s how all these kids in my neighborhood became my brothers and sisters,” he says. “All these kids — Mexican kids and Black kids and Indian kids — all eating from one big pot.” Food was a profession in his family, too, and Nathan spent his childhood in the kitchen at the former Lui’s Chinese Restaurant on Fourth Street in Eureka watching his parents cook. After immigrating in 1989 from Thailand, his father, Sone Phetsouphanh, worked in a number of Chinese restaurants around Humboldt, and Continued on next page » northcoastjournal.com • Thursday, March 11, 2021 • NORTH COAST JOURNAL
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