Pho for Project MANA

Join Project MANA for a Community Dinner As We Raise Funds for Project MANA While Experiencing Soul-Satisfying Pho. Enjoy authentic recipes taught to local chefs by Mai Doan, retired Vietnamese Pho Master. 

KYNBO™, a local tech startup is teaming up with Project MANA to help fight hunger in our Tahoe/Truckee through a very special and unique fundraiser, Pho for Project MANA, at the iconic Cottonwood Restaurant on October 10th, 2017.

Kynbo’s Cofounder, Thao Doan, begged her mom, Mai Doan, to come out of retirement at 76 to teach five lucky local chefs how to make authentic Pho soup.  Mai Doan was the head chef at one of the first Vietnamese restaurants in California in the late 70’s called Saigon Inn.  Pho is a complex and soul satisfying dish that is very difficult to master, and those who have mastered Pho’s preparation, including Mai, don’t usually share their hard earned knowledge. But for Project MANA, the chefs will be provided a rare opportunity to ask Mai about anything related to Vietnamese/ Asian cooking as Mai is willing to share her cooking secrets, even ones that have been in her family for generations!

Mai was reluctant about participating in the fundraiser until she learned how Project MANA, Tahoe/Truckee’s local food pantry, helps hungry people in need through the distribution of food in our community, similar to the help her own family received when they emigrated from Vietnam in 1975.  As Mai, her husband, and their seven children left everything behind to start a new life in America, Mai and Thao are grateful for the support of organizations such as Project MANA, and are excited for the opportunity to raise funds for Project MANA helping to keep Tahoe fed.

The selected chefs, which include Dave Smith (Cottonwood Restaurant), Steve Anderson (NorthStar Restaurants), Jason Lee (Margs Taco Bistro), Carolyn Newman (resident Chef at Tahoe Food Hub and formerly with Manzanita), Priya Hutner (The Seasoned Sage), will join Mai in Cottonwood’s kitchen the morning of October 10th to prepare and start cooking the Pho beef broth, which can take up to 8 hours to perfect.  They will also make a traditional Vietnamese chicken salad, Goi Ga, with locally sourced produce from the Tahoe Food Hub.

The Pho and Goi Ga will be served to the community for dinner at Cottonwood as a fundraiser for Project MANA. Chefs and their helpers will return to Cottonwood that afternoon to prep for community dinner service, which begins at 6:30pm. 

Tickets for the community dinner are $40 /person and are available for purchase at www.projectmana.org. 

All proceeds after food expenses will go to Project MANA to help Keep Tahoe Fed.