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As one of Seattle’s premier vegetarian restaurants, Café
Flora is the perfect place to go for a gourmet vegetarian dining experience.
Thanks to Catering Chef Dawnula Koukol, it’s also the place
where you’ll find sensational vegan fare for any catered affair!
Specializing in making “you and your guests feel nurtured with
lively, tantalizing, and deeply satisfying dishes from around the
world that are made without the use of meat,” Café Flora
Catering is known for drawing from many diverse world cuisines, while
still infusing its dynamic and inventive dishes with the freshest
local produce and herbs that are in season. Chef Dawnula prides herself
on preparing fare that is both “hearty and elegant,” while
integrating color and texture so that each meal is a pleasure for
the palate and a pleasure to behold on the plate. Menu favorites include
a cannelloni bean and seitan cassoulet
topped with bread crumbs and fried “Gorgonzola”
arancini over a bed of Arborio rice. |
Chef Spotlight:
Dawnula Koukol
Restaurant: Café Flora
Age: 29
Q. Do you have companion animals?
A. Yes, almost all of my friends have cats and dogs that I love, take
on walks, and sit with when needed.
Q. How long have you been a chef?
A. I’ve been cooking for 16 years and [a] chef for about four
years.
Q. What type of cuisine do you focus on?
A. Not one in particular—world cuisine.
Q. Do you have a personal specialty?
A. Brunch and tea parties.
Q. What
are the most important elements in cooking great vegetarian cuisine?
A. Complexity and diversity in the look, taste, and feel of the food.
Q. What is the key to getting meat-eaters to enjoy vegetarian food?
A. I think just focusing on creating great-looking, [great]-tasting
food and not trying to make it taste or look like meat.
Q. What, in your opinion, is in store for the future of plant-based cuisine?
A. I think the demand can only grow and [become] more seasonally and
locally based.
Q. What are your favorite ingredients to work with?
A. Fresh herbs, spices, unconventional vegetables like kohlrabi and gai
lan, and other Asian products.
Q. In your opinion, what vegetarian dish or type of food is most frequently poorly prepared and why?
A. Tofu, because of [not] pressing it to remove [the] liquid, cooking
it too softly, and not marinating it.
Q. Fun question of the day: If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only eat one kind of ethnic food, what would it be?
A. Thai.
Q. Do vegetarian restaurants have any special obstacles that they face versus meat-based restaurants?
A. Attitudes and expectations about vegetarian cuisine, lack of open-mindedness,
and the increased [preparation time] in the kitchen.
Q. Can you give us one great cooking tip for aspiring vegetarian chefs?
A. Test and experiment … with different kinds of food, and cook
with friends.
Q. What are some food ingredients you recommend
that vegetarians and vegans should have in their kitchen for cooking?
A. Olive oil, flax oil, legumes, garlic and onions, fresh herbs and spices,
tempeh, seaweed, and tamari.
Q. Are there any newer vegetarian products on the market that you are
particularly fond of?
A. Soy sausage.
Q. Can you give us some tips on how
to prepare tempeh?
A. I like to simmer the tempeh in a broth of peppercorns, bay leaves,
onions, garlic, star anise, and cloves for about 30 minutes. Remove the
tempeh, then reduce the stock by half and strain. Add a little tamari
and cornstarch slurry, and you have a sauce. Then you can cut the tempeh
into strips, … grill or broil until crispy, and brush with the sauce.
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Chef: Kimiko Ikeda
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