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September 23, 2012Local Tofu Gems in Seattle, Vancouver, Portland
Among the terrific unintendedconsequences of going on the book tour were the local tofu tips that people volunteered.Before I left for the Pacific Northwest, I got insights from tofu lovers. Onthe road, some people shared their favorite sources for good local stuff, particularly in Seattle.
Beatriz S. already owned the bookand had signed up for the DIY tofu class at Book Larder in Seattle. She’d readthe book and sent me a “Welcome to Seattle!” email with a list and comments onlocal options. After I got to the city, SeattleTimes staff food writer NancyLeson also shared her picks, and so did chef/restaurateur Eric Banh and authors Pat Tanumihardja and Michael Natkin. I was delighted to haveall these people on the tofu train! I had a rental car and took a look myself in Seattle.Even if you don’t live in the cities covered in this post, you’ll glean ideasfor finding good Asian food and ingredients.
NorthwestTofu and Chu Minh Tofu
Seattle’s International District (“ID”)on Jackson Street is where a number of the city’s Asian markets are. It’sscruffy and is slowly being upgraded. Drive up the hill and under the overpassand things may seem somewhat downtrodden and ghetto. But around 7th, Viet Wahmarket has an okay selection of tofu. Skip it and drive a little further to anondescript strip mall for Chu Minh tofu.I’d bought Chu Minh’s tofu at Uwajimaya grocery store and it was very good alittle on the too firm side to be “firm”. It’s sold on Styrofoam trays wrappedin plastic. To get the very fresh stuff, you can pop into the shop itself andbuy from a bean curd source.
Continue further up Jackson to20th, outside of the ID. There’s a gem called Northwest Tofu. Ilike this place because (1) they make some exceptional products and (2) theysell dumplings. How can I not love a tofuand dumpling shop? Order tofu products at the counter or grab it from the fridge. Food such as dumplings and salt and pepper tofu need to ordered from the stuaff.
They sell Chinese-style tofudirectly from the store, which advertises itself as a deli and restaurant. WhatI loved was the seasoned pressed tofu (in the lead photo) that’s brown on theoutside from being marinated in soy sauce and spices. There’s a thin and thickone. The thick one is tender and creamy on the inside and well-flavored, resembling excellent pressed tofu (dou fu gan) in Taiwan. I cut slicesof it to nibble on, drop into noodle soup and tuck into sandwiches.
Eric Banhused the thinner firmer brown tofu (it’s just pressed harder) to stir-fry withrapini and roast duck at Monsoon restaurant’s Asian Tofu luncheon. The fresh tofu was of medium-firm texture,sold in a plastic bag just like in Asia. I used the soy milk to make short cuttofu and it was just fine, though a bit more watery than Thanh Son’s.
What I didn’t get to try fromNorthwest tofu was their fresh tofu skin. They’re one of the few small shops inAmerica that make tofu skin (often called by its Japanese name, yuba). Nancy Leson said it wasphenomenal. They’d run out when I got there, they said. Here’s a photo thatNancy ran with her 2011 tofu storyin the Seattle Times.
Anna Chen of Northwest Tofu making tofu skins. Photo by Ellen Banner/Seattle Times
ThanhSon Tofu
I picked up some of Thanh Son’s soymilk at Uwajimaya for shortcut tofu at the Book Larder class, where I comparedit to tofu I made using from scratch soy milk. It was very good soy milk, a tadbetter than Northwest Tofu’s. I tracked down the factory on 12th,which was easily noticed by the mural on the side of the road.
Alas, it was notopen that day, a Tuesday; chains on the doors made the point. A bit of tofu gossip from Eric: ThanhSon will be opening a new and larger facility soon.
Since I didn’t get to try ThanhSon tofu from the Seattle shop, I’ll provide you with Beatriz’s comments:
This is my favoritefresh tofu store - I keep going back again and again.It’s owned byVietnamese people. They sell fantastic tofu pudding, with pandan flavor andplain with ginger syrup. Their blocks of tofu and soy milk are somehow alwayswarm when I go there, it doesn’t matter which time of the day. They don’t evenkeep them in the refrigerated section - I assume it sells before there’s a needfor that. They also have fried tofu with different flavors, but those I preferto fry myself at home. In addition to tofu,they serve some prepared foods and sell Vietnamese ingredients. You can get their tofuat Uwajimaya (the big Asian chain supermarket in the area) but it’s not nearlyas fresh. Always refrigerated, never warm.
What Thanh Son does is veryVietnamese. It’s different from Northwest Tofu, which is Chinese, and Chu Minh,which is in somewhere in between.
Philip and Jun Jo Lee of Readers to Eaterstold me about Tofu 101 that just opened in Bellevue. I didn’t get a chance tostop by but people I queried said that it was very Taiwanese, though they didn’thave stinky tofu or tofu noodles, per current Yelp reviews. Theirwebsite is not helpful. Tofu 101 sells Taiwanese snacks for the somewhat tonyChinese population in Bellevue.
For Japanese style tofu, try Tacoma tofu, which I bought in tubs atUwajimaya. Labeled momen (cotton inJapanese), the medium-firm was lovely and tender. The firm was great too.Tacoma’s website has photosof their factory shop floor, in case you’re interested in the tofu-makingprocess.
Vancouver and Portland
In Vancouver, there were mostly Chinese-style shops. I spent nearly 20minutes at T&T market inChinatown trying to figure it all out. There’s a tofu ghetto in the back of thespic-and-span store (one in the major Canadian chain) and I got stuck there in bewilderment.
The labeling in Canada for tofutexture is not the same as in the US. It tends to be softer, with a silky-firmtexture due to combining gypsum and glucono delta lactone. The best way for meto figure out the textures was through the protein count on the averageserving. See the little table in AsianTofu in the “Buying Guide” section.
The tofu that I was most impressedby in Vancouver on this visit was a smoked pressed tofu made by Sunrise Soya. It’s as good as what Ihad in Sichuan China. It tasted like smoked gouda and is what I used for thestir-fried smoked tofu, pepper and pork that I demoed on City TV in Vancouver. You’ll see itthere on screen. Sunrise is a tofu powerhouse in western Canada. I saw theirproducts sold in Seattle’s Asian markets too, though the smoked tofu was nowhereto be found in the U.S. I took some across the border to eat in WashingtonState.
In Portland, I found Japanese-style Otatofu at Whole Foods in downtown. It looked really good. Years ago,Oregonian food columnist and writer IvyManning took me to Thanh Son,which had great Vietnamese-style deep fried lemongrass tofu. I also noticed Bui Natural Tofubut didn’t get a chance to check it out.
That’s my tofu roundup from theroad. Do you have thoughts on these spotsor have ones to add? We’d all love to know your insights.
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Comments Local Tofu Gems in Seattle, Vancouver, Portland
Among the terrific unintendedconsequences of going on the book tour were the local tofu tips that people volunteered.Before I left for the Pacific Northwest, I got insights from tofu lovers. Onthe road, some people shared their favorite sources for good local stuff, particularly in Seattle.
Beatriz S. already owned the bookand had signed up for the DIY tofu class at Book Larder in Seattle. She’d readthe book and sent me a “Welcome to Seattle!” email with a list and comments onlocal options. After I got to the city, SeattleTimes staff food writer NancyLeson also shared her picks, and so did chef/restaurateur Eric Banh and authors Pat Tanumihardja and Michael Natkin. I was delighted to haveall these people on the tofu train! I had a rental car and took a look myself in Seattle.Even if you don’t live in the cities covered in this post, you’ll glean ideasfor finding good Asian food and ingredients.
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