‘We’re sharing staff’: Dallas restaurants impacted by labor shortage, in need of job applicants
At Khao Noodle Shop off Bryan Street in Dallas, the owner, Chef Donny Sirisavath, is having a hard time finding new employees for his Laotian restaurant. Author: Tiffany Liou Updated: 8:31 PM CDT June 22, 2021
DALLAS The restaurant industry is feeling the impact of the nationwide labor shortage.
In June, the U.S. Department of Labor released data showing the number of job openings reached a high of 9.3 million at the end of April.
At Khao Noodle Shop off Bryan Street in Dallas, the owner, Chef Donny Sirisavath, is having a hard time finding new employees for his Laotian restaurant.
“My favorite memory of the Songkran festival was in Thailand. People celebrate Songkran by splashing water around on each other on the public streets in Bangkok. I traditionally [celebrate] by gently pouring water on to my family members which they [receive] with good luck words. Songkran festival in Thailand is usually celebrated with family. Most people go back to their hometown and parents cook for the whole family. Most of the celebrations foods for the meal are tom yum goong soup, pad Thai noodles, spicy grapao, ba mee moo dang, or barbecue pork noodles it really depends on what recipes are specialized for individual families.”
What’s comforting to you? Getting an aging parent a second dose of vaccine is pretty damn comforting these days, so I suppose it can change with the times.
But generally, comfort food is tied to what you grew up with or a dish that reminds you of a feeling of belonging or of being restored. In America, the genre has been stereotyped to Stuff White Midwesterners Eat at the Holidays, but it’s easy to see that gumbo or ropa vieja or carbonara all fit somebody’s definition.
“People are looking for comfort food, both because of the pandemic and now because of the weather,” chef Donny Sirisavath (pronounced just like it’s spelled; I swear) tells me. But his evanescent noodles didn’t travel well. Where have we heard that before?
‘I feel closer to my roots’: Three Dallas Cuban-owned restaurants that remind fans of home
Try these extraordinary Cubanos and other dishes.
A dish of Ropa Vieja, shredded beef in a tomato sauce, with red, green peppers and onion, center, and a Cuban sandwich with sliced pork, ham and Swiss cheese, served with fries, from Caribbean Cuba restaurant in Carrollton(Ben Torres / Special Contributor)
It’s not about achieving a badge of authenticity. It’s more of an emotional thing for Ernesto Vélez, owner of the Havana Cafe in Casa Linda, to source the right cheese, the right bread, to slow-simmer the pork in the cauldron of sofrito. Cooking with the right ingredients not the ones you feel like you must cook with, but the ones that make you feel something is one way Vélez keeps his heart and soul connected to his home of Holguín, Cuba.