Crying Tiger — Signature
A grilled steak with a name that gets a lot of theories. The real story is older and quieter than the legend — Northeastern (Isaan) farmers grilled tougher cuts of beef hard, sliced them paper-thin, and chased the smoke with a sour-fire dip called jaew.
Where it comes from
Suea Rong Hai (เสือร้องไห้) literally means "crying tiger." Most people repeat the romantic version: the steak is so good it would make a tiger cry. The older Isaan story is the opposite — the cut used was traditionally a tough piece of brisket, called the "tiger cry" cut because even a tiger would weep trying to chew it. Pounding it tender, grilling it hard, then slicing thin across the grain was the village fix. Northeastern Thai cooks paired it with jaew — a dipping sauce of toasted rice powder, lime, fish sauce, and a serious amount of chili — and ate it with sticky rice and a bottle of lao khao. Our chef learned it from her uncle, who ran a roadside grill outside Khon Kaen and refused to use anything but rib-eye after he moved to California. "If you can afford the rib-eye," he told her, "the tiger doesn't cry anymore." We use his rule.
How to eat it
Eat it the Isaan way: roll a small ball of sticky rice between your fingertips, dip it lightly in the jaew, then pick up a slice of beef with the sticky-rice ball and eat the whole thing in one bite. Don't soak the rice in the sauce — the rice should be a spoon, not a sponge. A bite of cabbage between mouthfuls resets your palate.
What's in the bowl
- Prime rib-eye, grilled over open flame to a hard sear
- Jaew dipping sauce: toasted sticky-rice powder (khao kua), fish sauce, lime, chili flakes
- Fresh mint, cilantro, sliced shallot
- Grilled cabbage wedges and sticky rice on the side
What goes with it
To drink
A bold Thai iced coffee or a smoky mezcal — both pick up the char from the grill.
On the side
Sticky Rice · Som Tum Thai · Pink Milk for the kids
Good to know
Contains the following common allergens — please flag any sensitivities when you order and we'll adjust:
“My uncle said the test of a real crying tiger is the moment after the first bite — the sticky rice, the smoke, the lime, the chili — they should hit one after the other, like a small parade. If they all hit at once, the cook rushed it. If only one hits, the cook was scared of the grill. We are not scared of the grill.”