KINGS BEACH, Calif. – What happens when two chefs from very different culinary traditions meet around a shared fascination with cooking over fire?

For one night only, Chef Earth (Saritwat Wanvichitkun) and Pastry Chef Pond (Chayanin Tanapradit) of Bangkok’s Saawaan are coming to Lake Tahoe for a special collaboration with Chef Koji Hanada and Pastry Chef/Culinary Director Matt Tinder of Smoke Door Lake Tahoe.

Saawaan is one of Bangkok’s acclaimed contemporary Thai restaurants, having held a Michelin star for four consecutive years. Its tasting menu explores regional Thai flavors through techniques including fermenting, steaming, boiling and charcoal grilling.

Chef Earth, a Phuket native trained in both French and Thai cooking, leads the savory kitchen, while Chef Pond brings a pastry approach that combines classical technique with Thai ingredients and flavors.

Recently, Earth has become increasingly interested in wood-fire cooking and the possibilities it opens up, making Smoke Door – and its fire-driven kitchen in the mountains – a particularly interesting place for this collaboration.

Rather than creating a conventional fusion menu, the chefs will cook side by side across eight courses, alternating between Saawaan and Smoke Door. The dinner becomes a conversation between two distinct perspectives: Earth’s modern interpretation of Thai cuisine and Koji’s contemporary Japanese cooking, connected by a shared curiosity about fire.

It’s an especially natural meeting point for Koji, who spent four years at Tokyo’s two-Michelin-starred Den before joining the opening team of wood-fired Jiu, where working with live fire and seasonal Japanese ingredients became central to his cooking.

Pastry will have its own dialogue as well. Chef Pond will collaborate alongside Matt Tinder, whose career has included leading pastry programs at The Restaurant at Meadowood, Saison and Coi, as well as earning a James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for Outstanding Baker for his bakery, Saboteur.

Saawaan x Smoke Door Lake Tahoe
October 15th
Eight-course collaborative tasting menu
$168 per person (+ tax, gratuity). Reservations via Opentable (under Experiences)
Two seatings: 5:00 PM + 7:30 PM