Big Bowl Create's Kitchen Lab:

Big Bowl has never been your standard pan-Asian restaurant content to rest on any laurels. Although the format and atmosphere may feel casual and familiar, the mini chain goes above and beyond the call of duty to delve into Asian cuisine and history, source responsibly, and provide high-quality products to customers. Going even further, Big Bowl's Gold Coast location kicks off a weekly Kitchen Lab series starting May 13 under chefs Patricia Yeo and Marc Bernard. Designed as a way to simultaneously educate diners on the evolving layers of Asian cuisines, as well as entice with a rotating array of new regional creations, Big Bowl's Kitchen Lab is the next rung in the restaurant's impressive ladder of culinary efforts. 

(Big Bowl, big aspirations)

Every Tuesday starting May 13, Yeo and Bernard team up to concoct a special menu of three or four dishes that go beyond the regular Big Bowl menu. Dishes may change every week, but rest assured they come from the same wholesome, sustainable sources, many from Bernard's Rustic Road Farm in Elburn, Illinois. Plenty of the dishes promise to draw inspiration from Yeo's Chinese and Malaysian heritage, as well as culinary influences from adjacent countries near Thailand and China. Customer feedback with servers and on social media is encouraged. Depending on how well liked certain items are, they may make it onto the seasonal specials menu or even the regular menu. 

Although Yeo has experimented her fair share since joining Big Bowl last year, implementing new dishes and getting crafty with the menu, the Kitchen Lab affords the chefs more opportunity to improvise. Starting May 13, visit the Gold Coast Big Bowl location for dinner to sample Kitchen Lab experiments and taste the evolution and depth of Asian cookery. 

- Matt Kirouac