Hey, Ayah!

I'm pretty sick of Asian food never getting any mainstream respect in Sacramento. Most of this city's food writers dedicate far more space to farm-to-fork hoopla, craft beer and charcuterie plates than the exceptional Asian eateries popping up all over south Sacramento. As a result, I see Asian restaurants throughout the city serving up derivative stuff like Korean barbecue tacos (see “A tale of two food ethnicities” by Garret McCord, SN&R Dish), tandoori chicken pizza and seafood nachos just to attract customers and attention. Between that and American cafes serving mediocre banh mi sandwiches and “Asian salads” and being praised for it, the lack of culinary understanding continues to grow, and everyone suffers for it. Thankfully, there's Ayah! (http://ayahayah.com), a blog whose mission is to explore Asian food and culture around Sacramento, to cover the beat. Launched in September 2013, Ayah!—a word which in Mandarin is an expression of exasperation but is also common in many other Asian languages—is run by blogger and KCRA producer Soreath Hok. Welcome to the (incredibly small) party, Hok. Ayah, right?