Food & Wine USA - (07)July 2020

64 JULY 2020

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Law-Yone and Jacobson had spent every

day together since opening Thamee,

but since they shuttered the restaurant

in response to COVID-19, they have not

been able to see each other. Here is how

they’re spending their days apart.

JOCELYN LAW-YONE: “What this has

given me is time to breathe. It was just

crushingly sad; we were working at an

incredible pace, and the rug was just

pulled out from under me. I have been

using this time to catch up on all the

things I have wanted to do for a long

time: develop new recipes, make lots

of sambals, and dive deeper into my

heritage. I am finally writing down all

the menu ideas that have been in my

head and needed to be on paper.”

SIMONE JACOBSON: ÒI am working the

same hours I did while at the restau-

rant, except my day starts and ends

earlier. One of the things I am most

excited about is this series of virtual

happy hours I’ve organized with Hap-

pied, a company started by one of our

servers, where our bar manager and

bartenders show Asian and Asian

American riffs on classic cocktails. A

portion of ticket sales will be donated

to a number of Asian/Pacific American–

serving organizations.”

their pivot

from top: Jocelyn Law-Yone and

her daughter, Simone Jacobson,

co-own Thamee; steamed whole

fish with citrus and turmeric;

ohno khauk swe, a restorative

bowl of chewy lo mein noodles

and hard-boiled eggs swimming

in a coconut-lentil curry; the din-

ing room at Thamee

why we love them

At the restaurant she runs with her daugh-

ter, Simone Jacobson, Jocelyn Law-Yone

cooks soul food from her native Myanmar

(formerly Burma). The pickled tea leaf

salad is assertive and bright, goosed with

lime juice. For Ma Jo’s Spicy Tofu, Law-

Yone uses Burmese chickpea tofu; it’s best

spooned over the Golden Rice, yellowed

with turmeric and laced with fried shallots,

each grain loaded with comfort.

VIBRANT BURMESE FLAVORS

FROM AN UNSTOPPABLE

MOTHER-DAUGHTER DUO

washington, d.c.

THAMEE

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