The line is long in the back half of Stoup Brewing’s Capitol Hill location, but everyone’s chatting excitedly, even strangers with one another. They’re all united by curiosity, waiting to try Chef Kevin Top’s fast-casual menu of restyled Cambodian dishes, which he’s also been serving in a dinner party format as a popup called Seila.

Top grew up in Dallas, the son of Cambodian refugees. Seila was his given name, but his parents legally changed it to “Kevin Seila Top” because Seila was too difficult to pronounce.

Today, he embraces his name, which means “foundation stone,” but at the time, he says, “I wanted nothing to do with the name Seila. (But) my mom adamantly told me, ‘It’s a part of you and will define your story.’” 

He was a late bloomer when it came to embracing Cambodian food culture. Classmates made fun of him for the lunches his family sent him to school with. “My grandmother once packed me some kroeung-and-fish-sauce wings on rice,” he says, and when it was heated up, “my teacher was holding her nose while my classmates were pointing and laughing.” He says he told his grandmother, “I’m not going near anything fish. Stop packing me Asian food!”

Things have changed. Top’s popup — whose full title is “SEILA: A Celebration of Resilience and Roots”— switches between daytime casual bites and night-time multi-course prix fixe menus. Top tells his story through his menus, honoring his Cambodian heritage while mixing in Southern flavors and Pacific Northwest ingredients. One is duck somlar kor kor, a deconstructed take on a ratatouille-like Khmer stew with duck breast, matsutake mushroom, and kabocha puree with the mushroom dashi broth served on the side.

Another is his tongue-in-cheek take on scalloped potatoes, wherein he sears a shio-koji-brushed scallop and then serves it on a single scalloped slice of potato, alongside celeriac, heirloom tomato, rice paddy herb, Mountain Rose apple, red kampot pepper, and a drizzle of tamarind chicken jus. The twists he adds to traditional Khmer dishes spotlight the haute cuisine skills he’s honed throughout his career at destination restaurants such as Canlis and Cedar + Elm. 

Innovative Cambodian-inspired dishes at Seila.

At Stoup Brewing, though, we got just a small, exhilarating taste of Top’s repertoire on his casual daytime menu. The event showcased two dishes — a smoked duck congee made with Carolina gold rice and a salted duck egg; and a fried chicken-thigh-and-shiitake sandwich with yellow kroeung (Cambodian curry) accenting the chicken patty, as well as pickled mustard greens and fermented chili aioli on a brioche bun. Both dazzled the group I was with, and put Top’s unique skill set and creative innovation on display. It’s like no fried chicken sandwich I’ve ever had.

Seila next pops up at Table for 12 in Edmonds, which hosts cooking classes and other foodie events, sometime in mid-February. There, he’ll feature dishes including a dish inspired by pork and winter melon soup: green kroeung-marinated pork cheek, braised winter melon that’s been painted with chrysanthemum amazake, jujubes (red dates), and grated white truffle, all inundated in Phnom Penh soup, an umami-heavy broth made from pork, dried shrimp, and dried squid. The rest of the menu isn’t yet known, but it will be an elaborate affair. 

Top is just getting started, having debuted Seila in late November 2024, and I can’t wait to see where he takes this project. The profound pride with which Top serves these dishes — through which he celebrates his culture, his family, and Cambodia itself — is as delicious as the food itself. 

Follow @seila.seattle on Instagram or check out his website at www.iamseila.com.