When Chakriya Un and Alexander Chaparro took over the old Ursula space in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, they halved the kitchen space but left it open to the dining room. Two weeks before the first night of service, Un decided they needed to partially enclose it with a wall, making the kitchen even tinier. Chaparro was hesitant, but Un said, “Trust me.”
“I like working in smaller spaces,” Un shares. “You have to really force yourself to be very organized. Being able to pivot behind you for a tool, pivot to the left, pivot to the right — that feels efficient.” They also created a hidden storage space they refer to as their “bodega.”
The Khmer food they cook, however, presents unique challenges. It relies on layered and complex sauces and pastes like kreung, which is made from lemongrass, turmeric, lime leaves, galangal, shallots, and garlic. At Bong, they fry it in advance. “On the pickup, it’s already seasoned and cooked down, but you’re still getting the flavor of the kreung,” explains Un. “You really just have to toss in the vegetables and the clams. It decreases the cook time from what would be maybe 20 minutes to five.”
The team has also adapted dishes to work with the equipment they have (or don’t have), which consists of a six-burner stove, an oven, and a fryer. The chefs at Bong sear pork chops and serve them with a dipping sauce of tomatoes and fish sauce.
But the accommodations come with their upsides. “I think that’s the fun part — making things happen, just being resourceful. I really find joy in that. I feel like that is cooking,” she says.
Dining and Cooking