Where The Chefs Eat: Penny and Doug Mufuka

Penny and Doug Mufuka have been on a tear – opening a new Thai restaurant every couple of years since 2021.

There’s stunning sister operations, Bamboo Penny’s (5270 W. 116th Place) and Aqua Penny’s (11652 Ash St.) in Leawood’s Park Place.

Penny’s in the Village (The Shops of Prairie Village, 4160 W. 71st St., Prairie Village) opened in January. They also own KC Thai (12250 W. 135th St., Overland Park).

To keep the older concepts garden-fresh, the Mufukas also keep rolling out tweaks here and there.  

Aqua Penny’s has a new seasonal menu that turns some fan favorite entrees into small plates for sharing – “Pass them around the table, or keep them for yourself.” They include mini lobster rolls, fire-roasted octopus and peppers, beef sliders and crab fried rice.

This summer Bamboo Penny’s will remodel its patio and refresh the interior. 

But even with their jam-packed schedules, the couple take time for date night. 

Favorite restaurant meal: ABC Cafe in Overland Park (10001 W. 87th St.).

Penny opts for the dim sum and is especially fond of the barbecue pork puffs. 

But both favor ABC’s Salt & Pepper Flounder, under the restaurant’s “special dishes” category. ABC Cafe’s owner Derrick Lam says the dish is a whole flounder, so not a top order.

“People don’t get it all the time. They usually get it when they come with their family – two, three, four, up to eight people,” he said. “It’s a really good shareable dish.”

The kitchen fillets the meat off the fish and slices it into bite-size pieces. Then they deep fry the bone. The meat also is deep fried with jalapeno, garlic and scallions, then served on top of the fried bones, mostly for presentation purposes only although some customers do eat the bones, Lam said.

As for the barbecue pork puffs, they are a top-order with ABC’s diners. 

“Barbecue roast pork, a pretty common Cantonese staple, chopped up and cooked with onions for a saucy filling similar to a savory pie. Then baked,” Lam said. 

ABC Cafe has built a zealous following since it opened 15 years ago. Lam said one of his most popular menu items are the siu mai dim sum – an open-faced shrimp, pork and mushroom dumpling.

Tips from Penny Mufuka’s kitchen:

• Favorite kitchen ingredients: Garlic, and Thai basil 
• Essential kitchen tools: Woks, and sharp knives (When she started out, she cut every finger at least once. But no longer.) 
• Never uses: Butter is not used in Thai cuisine.
• Favorite dish to make at home: Gaprow
• Favorite take-out order: “I love curry, I do love curry,” she said, either from her restaurants or ABC Cafe.
• Food mentor: When she started 29 years ago at Thai Place in Overland Park, it was owner Ann Liberda, “She was a strict teacher, that’s how you get a good student.”  
• Never eats: She’s allergic to beets.
• How do you handle pressure: Kansas City restaurants have been wrestling with rising costs this year and particularly brutal weather. When tensions are high, the couple said they separate – Penny in the kitchen, Doug in the front of the house, and talk later, “when the smoke clears.”
• What’s your management style: “I treat people like family. I say ‘Can you do this for me? Thank you.’ I say thank you before they do it.” 

Doug noted that saying thank you before it is done, it goes without saying that it is going to be done.

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