It’s difficult to imagine a more loaded question than, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Parents want their kids to climb the mythical ladder of upward mobility, believing that their kids’ lives will be easier and more fulfilling if they could just heed the advice of dear old mom and dad. This is especially true in the restaurant business, where nights, weekends and holidays offer no quarter from the toil of a hot kitchen. But what if the family-owned restaurant is already successful? What if the kids feel at home in it? What if they have some exciting new ideas to take the restaurant into the future? These questions are answered at Stiks.
THE FRESH ROLL SHRIMP IS BRIGHT AND DENSE, WITH A NICE ACCENT OF MINT COMPLEMENTING THE PEANUT SAUCE
Occupying the former space of A Taste of Asia on Tamiami Trail, which was owned and operated by Lam and Selina Lum for over a decade, Stiks is the freshly updated concept from daughter Nikki Lum-Kleiber and son-in-law David Kleiber. Rather than reinvent the menu altogether, the aspiring married pair transformed it into a brighter, more health conscious, customizable set of offerings loaded with gluten free, vegan and vegetarian options. What they did reinvent was the way that food is delivered, adopting a fast-casual model to go along with the hip décor that lends the space more the feel of an airy lounge than a sit-down restaurant.
THE LAO CURRY NOODLE SOUP THAT PUT A TASTE OF ASIA ON THE MAP RETURNS AS A CUSTOMIZABLE DISH THAT NOW COMES AS A VEGAN OPTION.
The most pressing concern for anyone savvy enough to have incorporated A Taste of Asia’s Lao curry noodle soup into their dining routine is whether or not the dish disappeared in the modernized concept. Fear not: the soup remains. “It was by far one of the most popular dishes at A Taste of Asia,” says Lum-Kleiber, “so there was no way we could get rid of that.” Bursting with lemongrass aromatics, the coconut milk broth comes loaded with enough housemade red curry base to excite the taste buds with a mild, well-balanced heat. Scallions and cilantro up the earthy tones, while rice noodles, bean sprouts and purple cabbage fill it out into a nourishing bowl of everything delicious about Southeast Asian cuisines. Stiks did make a conscientious addendum to the original Lum preparation, however, by offering both a vegan version (with vegetable broth) and non-vegan version (with chicken broth). To cap it off, diners choose between meat proteins, vegan proteins or shrimp.
SWEET POTATO GLASS NOODLES OFFER A STARCHY BASE FOR THE DELIGHTFUL TASTE OF WOK-SEARED SCALLIONS.
For noodle lovers, a wonderful pad Thai offers something familiar and perfectly acceptable when you don’t want to get bogged down in all the delicious permutations available on the menu. The sweet potato noodles, conversely, feels more like an event. Thin sweet potato glass noodles—so called on account of their transparency—get stir fried with onion, scallion, cilantro and bean sprouts, as well as the diner’s choice of proteins. The aroma itself whets the appetite immediately, a characteristic of onion seared over high heat that feels almost as primordial as grilled meat. Dense and filling, the noodles on their own add a good deal of heft to the dish that seems at odds with the small to-go container it comes in. But, when purchasing anything other than a soup, Stiks offers the option of little fried chicken morsels as an add-on. Rest assured, no meat is needed for this meal to bifurcate in two, but it is freshly fried chicken.
A REVAMPED MODERN SPACE INVITES A NEW WAVE OF FOODIES LOOKING FOR MODERN SOUTHEAST ASIAN CUISINE.
A nam sod chicken is about as bright and peppy as a top-40s chart topper. Made with diced chicken, julienned ginger, onion slivers, scallions, peanuts and cilantro, the whole collection of bits gets tossed in a tangy and savory mix of lime juice and fish sauce. Similar in flavor profile to Peruvian ceviche, this fresh and perky meal leaves a lingering fullness on account of its high-protein composition. Similarly, the fresh roll shrimp packs a lot of bright flavors into a seemingly small dish that belies its lengthy feeling of fulfillment. That brightness comes primarily from the fresh mint leaves inside the sticky rice paper, while the extended sense of feeling full comes from the shrimp and rice noodles inside.
STIKS, 4413 S TAMIAMI TRL., SARASOTA, 941-923-2742, TASTEOFASIASARASOTA.COM, @STIKSSARASOTA
But, if any dish truly exemplifies the way the young restaurateurs have found ways to freshen up time-honored dishes, it’s the orange chicken and orange tofu. Listed under the “sweet n’ sticky’’ section of the menu, the fried chicken bits or fried tofu cubes come tossed in an orange sauce that bursts with actual orange flavor (the Kleiber’s use copious amounts of orange zest in it) while retaining that familiar stickiness that makes certain sauces such a guilty pleasure. Of course, it’s also nice to bite into a piece of lightly breaded chicken at Stiks and immediately get to the meat rather than wonder if the morsel is really just a clump of breading like in many take-out joints.
For a cool sweet treat, Stiks offers an assortment of Southeast Asian staples like Thai sweet iced tea and boba. The taro boba, purple and silky like a satin pillowcase, tastes something like cereal milk infused with an earthy electrolyte drink, a combination that sounds odd on paper but is a joy in practice. A brown sugar black tea boba is truly exceptional, however. The combination of caramelized sugar with the slight bitterness of black tea makes this boba a case study in how to blend opposites. Though it helps that both flavors reside in a rich, creamy base, it is nonetheless an artful invention with lovely results.
Returning to the original set of questions, we find optimism and promise. As the Lum’s hand off their legacy to a second generation, the familiar flavors remain. But those flavors have been adapted to the modern fixation on dietary designations and clean eating, as well as the requirement in the “new normal” that a restaurant be nimble, adaptable, quick and casual. At Stiks, the kids are very much alright.
