yummyrice's Profile
My Tuesday Project: Oakland Chinatown Duck Noodle Soup Roundup
Daveena, thank you for introducing me to Gum Wah's duck noodle soup. It was absolutely delicious. The duck, the broth, and the noodles were all great. It was a very tasty soup. The broth wasn't bland at all and the duck was oh so yummy and full of flavor!
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Gum Wah
345 8th St, Oakland, CA 94607
Vientiane Cafe in Oakland for Lao?
They've actually updated the restaurant name to reflect their Lao offerings. There's now a new sign above the restaurant.
The restaurant is now called "Rose Garden Restaurant: Lao-Thai Cuisine".
ISO Lao Sausage links for cooking at home
I take that back. I shouldn't have based the price on the number of links because there isn't a standard link size. Therefore, if comparing the price per pound, the Lao sausages sold at Sun Hop Fat 1 are roughly the same price or slightly cheaper than the ones sold at Lao markets.
ISO Lao Sausage links for cooking at home
Thanks. At Lao markets they're only about $1 per link. =)
ISO Lao Sausage links for cooking at home
About how many links were in that package?
My Tuesday Project: Oakland Chinatown Duck Noodle Soup Roundup
That's a good point. I guess I'll just have to try both places and offer my own reviews, too. =)
Favorite Dishes at Bay Area Lao Restaurants [Split from San Pablo: That Luang Kitchen thread]
Heng Fath was raided? I had no idea! No one in the community has mentioned anything about it being closed, so I'm sure it's still in business.
And yes, I don't like too much sugar in foods. So far, Lao cuisine in the U.S. hasn't gone the "overly sweet" route meaning it hasn't become too Americanized, YET! Thank, goodness! Let's keep our fingers crossed. =)
I used to enjoy eating at this one Vietnamese place when it seemed more authentic, but recently their dishes have become so sweet now that I rarely eat there anymore. But interestingly, I noticed more Westerners dining there. Coincidence? I think not.
more sugar in dishes = more Western clientele (i.e. more business)?
Favorite Dishes at Bay Area Lao Restaurants [Split from San Pablo: That Luang Kitchen thread]
I think you're asking about Lao hog plum in the Lao papaya salad. In Lao, it's called "Mak kok". In Thai, it's called "Makok Lao".
Angkor Grill review (Alameda)
Khmer cuisine isn't "bland", but when compared to cuisines like Lao or Korean, it may seem bland only because it is not as aggressively seasoned.
I've heard from some Cambodians that each Khmer dish is typically "balanced". That is, it's not too sour, salty, sweet, bitter, etc...so the dishes can be eaten as standalone dishes and don't need to be paired with an opposite element that is customary in Lao cuisine.
In addition, many Cambodians seem to know how to make Lao, Thai, and Viet dishes at home so it is possible that daveena's friends have fed her other neighboring dishes besides Khmer.
Angkor Grill review (Alameda)
It's nice to see there's a new Khmer place for me to check out. Thanks for the review.
Angkor Grill review (Alameda)
You think so? From what I've seen, standard Thai places typically do not have condiments on the table unless it's a Thai-Chinese noodle house. However, condiments on the table are more common at Lao, Viet, and Chinese places.
Khmer and Thai places typically lack condiments on the table.
ISO Lao Sausage links for cooking at home
Now it makes sense why Sun Hop Fat sells Lao sausages. Are the prices reasonable at that market? Or are the Lao sausages cheaper at a typical Lao, Thai, or Khmer market? I'm just curious because some of my friends live in that area and would like to pick up some frozen ones. I usually would recommend a Lao market because common sense dictates that a native food item would be cheaper when purchased directly from a Lao market, but then again Sun Hop Fat is probably a big market and therefore should be able to offer a better deal on the Lao sausages.
My Tuesday Project: Oakland Chinatown Duck Noodle Soup Roundup
I love duck wonton noodle soup. It seems that daveena prefers the duck wonton noodle soup at Gum Wah, but you seem to prefer Gum Kuo's version. So which one should I go to?
I'm leaning slightly towards daveena's rec only because she's familiar with some Lao noodle soups so her Chinese noodle soup recs should be compatible with my palate.
To anyone else on here, Gum Wah or Gum Kuo for duck wonton noodle soup?
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Gum Kuo Restaurant
388 9th St, Oakland, CA 94607
Gum Wah
345 8th St, Oakland, CA 94607
ISO Lao Sausage links for cooking at home
Hehe that would be very interesting to see indeed. =)
ISO Lao Sausage links for cooking at home
Really? I'm surprised because isn't Sun Hop Fat 1 a Chinese market?
Lao, Thai, and Khmer markets typically sell frozen Lao sausages, but I've never seen them available at a Chinese market before.
Anyway, Mekong Market (Houa Khong) by the Grocery Outlet in San Pablo sells Lao sausages too.
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Houa Khong (Mekong) Market
2049 23rd St, San Pablo, CA
San Pablo: That Luang Kitchen Lao Cuisine - wow !!!
I'm glad you found the information helpful and thanks for doing that.
Laos Food: Searching for a Lost Cuisine
Actually, Melanie was the one who provided that F&W link. I just merely re-pasted it and provided my comments. =)
Luang Prabang cuisine definitely deserved its own attention, but there's more to Laos than just Luang Prabang. I would like Emily to explore Vientiane and Savannakhet as well to share more Lao regional dishes with her readers.
Laos Food: Searching for a Lost Cuisine
*CORRECTION*: I didn't mean to type "Khao Piak Sen" in my initial comment because the noodles in Khao Piak Sen are typically short, thick, and chewy, so only a spoon is needed to eat this noodle soup and, therefore, chopsticks are optional. For Khao Poon, however, chopsticks are necessary.
San Pablo: That Luang Kitchen Lao Cuisine - wow !!!
In that article, I believe Emily was referring to Luang Prabang-style sandwiches (with Jaew Bong) found in Northern Laos and not just any common Lao-style sandwiches available in Laos. I don't know of any Bay Area Lao restaurants that sell Luang Prabang sandwiches because in Luang Prabang the breads are made fresh and the chicken and other meats are grilled fresh as well. I doubt that any of the Lao restaurants in the Bay Area would take the time to bake their own breads, but who knows?
With that said, the closest thing I suppose would be the sandwiches sold at That Luang Kitchen (TLK) in San Pablo. The sandwiches are those generic French-inspired Asian sandwiches common in Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia...the kind with pate known as "Khao Jie Pate" in Laos, "Bahn Mi" in Vietnam, and I believe "Num Pang" in Cambodia.
The sandwiches sold at TLK aren't specifically "Luang Prabang-style" because the chef isn't from Luang Prabang, but you might want to try asking the chef to skip the pate and instead spread some of TLK's own Jaew Bong on their chicken sandwiches to kind of make them more Luang Prabang-inspired.
Or better yet, print out this recipe and share it with the waiter or chef. Since TLK already has Jaew Bong, the recipe should be quite simple to follow.
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/lao-style-chicken-baguette-sandwiches-with-watercress
I think TLK should add Luang Prabang-style sandwiches to their list of sandwiches. More customers should ask them to offer Luang Prabang-style sandwiches.
By the way, according to that article, Emily is actually San Francisco-based.
Laos Food: Searching for a Lost Cuisine
Laos Food: Searching for a Lost Cuisine
http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/laos-food-searching-for-a-lost-cuisine
As far as the article above is concerned, Emily has done a wonderful job at capturing the essence of Laos, its people and Laotian cuisine especially when she mentioned that Jaew (dipping sauce) to the Lao is like butter to the French. The article is wonderful, however, there are some things touched upon in the article that I would like to elaborate on as well as some quirks in the article that I would like to point out:
1) I noticed that Emily decided to pluralize Jaew as "Jaews". In our language, we would never add an S sound to the end of words, whether singular or plural, so seeing Emily spell it as "Jaews" to pluralize it in the English language still looks very peculiar to a Lao like me...hehe.
Also, Jaew is definitely pronounced "Jaew", not "Jaw", which is why we don't romanize it as "Jaw" in English. I've no clue why Emily said Jaew is pronounced as Jaw. Anyway, Jaew is usually one of the spicy components in a traditional Lao meal. However spicy the Jaew is determines how little we would spice the meat dish because we never want the meat dish to compete with the Jaew. That is why our Ping (grilled) dishes tend to be non-spicy because they're meant to be eaten with spicy Jaew.
2) In the article, Emily mentioned that the French chef in Laos named Rubis decided to present the Lao dishes in courses as opposed to all at once. To me, serving them in courses is a shame in this case because to experience a true Lao meal, everything except snacks and desserts should be presented all at once. I had previously mentioned that eating the Lao way is all about balancing the dishes with one another in a communal setting.
i.e.
- spicy soup like Tom Sua Gai can be paired with a non-spicy dish like a Ping (grilled) item.
- spicy meat dish like Laap/Larb can be paired with a non-spicy and gentle soup like Gaeng Jeud. You can also pair Laap with a nice assortment of refreshing raw veggies as the cooling element.
- spicy Lao papaya salad (Tum Maak Hoong) can be complemented with a non-spicy component (i.e. a grilled meat dish, cabbage, other raw veggies, sticky rice or rice vermicelli noodles, etc).
- non-spicy Lao riverweed snack called Kaipen goes great with spicy Jaew Bong.
In short, just remember to balance a hot and spicy component with a cool and refereshing component in the meal. Also, a tangy component (i.e. sour soup) should be paired with a non-tangy component (i.e. Ping item).
I think you get the idea, which is why I would never serve the dishes as separate courses because they're meant to be eaten all at the same time to allow the palate to be excited by the "tangy or spicy" items and then cleansed and refreshed by the "mild" items including raw vegetables...with this pattern cycling back and forth throughout the entire meal, which keeps the meal exciting.
3) I also noticed a quirky recipe name in the article. Emily's decision to name one of the recipes as "Lao Omelet with Dill, Scallion and Thai Chile" looks quite strange to me because Laos has its own Lao chiles locally grown in Laos. We don't use Thai chiles. To make the recipe sound authentic, Emily should've used the name "Lao Chile" for her Lao recipes, since her article is about the cuisine of Laos. The name "Thai Chile" should be reserved for Thai recipes, not Lao recipes if authenticity is important. But of course, the readers may substitute Thai chile for Lao chile depending on whatever they have available to them.
4) According to the article, Chef Rubis said that Lao people eat with their fingers and don't use chopsticks, so please let me clarify his statement for you.
Emily and Rubis were eating at a Ping (Lao barbecue) spot, so Rubis should've been more specific by saying that Laotians don't use chopsticks when eating large, Ping (grilled) items, since we definitely use chopsticks when eating our Lao noodle dishes like Khao Poon, Khao Piak Sen, Khao Soi, etc. Laotians would never use our bare fingers to eat our curry noodle soup like Khao Poon because that would be very messy! Laos is in Asia and like many Asian countries, we definitely use chopsticks for our noodles. For small, grilled items that are cooked by the customer himself, then chopsticks are also used.
We also use forks and spoons for our stir-fried dishes and when we eat steamed rice as opposed to sticky rice. To explain this in another way, French people eat sliced bread with their fingers, but this doesn't mean that they don't use forks or spoons for other dishes. The same thing applies to the Lao. We love using our fingers, but only for snacks or things eaten with Lao sticky rice since it's dry and clumpy. We definitely use utensils for noodles, soups, and other dishes requiring utensils.
Here are some simple rules to remember:
- sticky rice / Jaew / Kaipen / ping items / Laap / raw veggies / breads = finger foods
- regular steamed rice / saucy stir-fried dishes = fork and spoon
- soups = spoon
- noodles = chopsticks
5) Lastly, Luang Prabang does not represent the entire cuisine of Laos. Luang Prabang is just one region in Laos. The regional cuisine of Luang Prabang tends to be more mild and wonderfully veggie-rich due to Luang Prabang's close proximity to the forest. The other regional food hot spots are Vientiane and Savannakhet, which are far spicier than Luang Prabang regional cuisine. Lao fish sauce (paadaek) is also more prevalent in Vientiane regional cuisine and especially in Savannakhet regional cuisine.
I know I've written a lot. =) Despite my comments above, Emily's article is wonderful nonetheless.
San Pablo: That Luang Kitchen Lao Cuisine - wow !!!
Thanks and you're welcome, but I decided to join this site after I had read several posts by you and others regarding Lao dishes. Some questions about Laotian cuisine had been asked so I decided to join Chowhound to provide some insider knowledge. So you, Melanie, and some of the other 'hounds pretty much got the ball rolling and therefore deserve any credit relating to that article. =)
Looking forward to reading more of your Lao food adventures in the Bay Area.
Laotian Lunch at Pho Daravan in Charlotte
You're welcome. That sauce is also known as "Tuk Trey" (Cambodian), "Nam Jam" (Laotian), and "Nam Jim" (Thai). The sauce is commonly eaten with eggrolls and lettuce wraps.
I'm sure you already know that eggrolls are very common in Asian cuisines especially Chinese and SE Asian cuisines like Laotian, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai, and Filipino. I don't think those eggrolls are specific to any one country, but they look that way as a matter of personal preference or presentation. I've seen very small and tiny eggrolls, thick and stubby eggrolls, and long and skinny ones, etc. Therefore, the shape doesn't matter all that much as far as determining the cuisine they belong to. So those eggrolls may be Laotian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai, or Filipino; however, the owner of the restaurant gets to decide how to market them.
San Pablo: That Luang Kitchen Lao Cuisine - wow !!!
I can't help but think that Melanie's and rworange's many fine posts regarding their discoveries and experiences with Laotian cuisine helped to spark Emily Kaiser's own interest in discovering Laotian cuisine for herself. Now, there's a wonderful Food & Wine article about Laotian cuisine with beautiful photos of the foods from Laos.
Thanks, Melanie and rworange!...and others like sfbing for showing your interest in our cuisine! =) Hopefully, there will be more articles about Laotian cuisine in other magazines.
Laotian Lunch at Pho Daravan in Charlotte
Awesome photos, Melanie! I'm hungry now...hehe
By the way, that basic SE Asian dipping sauce that came with the eggrolls can be found in Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia, but since you referred to it as "Vietnamese-style", I guess you're more familiar with Vietnamese cuisine? =)
Jaew Bong (Laotian chili paste) at That Luang Market in San Pablo
Jaew Bong is meant to be very spicy, but I've had some tame, "tourist"-friendly versions of Jaew Bong that wasn't even spicy at all...so if it's not spicy, then it wasn't made for Laotians, but rather foreign tourists in Laos. =)
Thanks for sharing that photo and mentioning about the food festival next week. It's funny that in the photo, they spelled Jaew Bong as "Jai Bong". Here's a tip: "Jaew" means sauce, whereas "Jai" means heart..."Bong" means something like pickled. So why on earth did they decide to spell Jaew Bong as "Jai Bong" (pickled heart)???...LOL!
Pad Lao in NYC? Or anywhere?
You're welcome!
Most Thai chefs are familiar with Laotian dishes since most Thai restaurants in the U.S. have at least a couple of Laotian dishes on their menus for variety. Therefore, you might be able to get the Thai chef to make you a special Laotian-style dish by explaining to him or her that there aren't any Laotian restaurants in your area. Since Thai cuisine is kind of similar to Laotian cuisine, it doesn't hurt to ask, right? =)
Anyway, to answer your question regarding the brown-colored sauce, Laotians use caramelized sugar and thick soy sauce (aka sweet soy sauce) to make Khua Mee / Mee Lao / Pad Lao, etc. In addition, Laotians love cooking with herbs, so remember to use fresh, minced (or crushed) garlic in the sauce.
So first caramelize the sugar and then add oil and garlic...cook the garlic until golden brown and then carefully add water, thick soy sauce, tamarind sauce, fish sauce (or salt), Laotian chillies, etc.
If you're making Mee Lao (Khua Mee), you might want to omit the tamarind sauce and chillies, and be sure the noodles are cooked until fairly dry and charred.
Again, there isn't a standard recipe so every Laotian household has its own secret family recipe. Some families will add even more ingredients to their "secret" sauce. =)
Noodle Palace
Aww you're too sweet, Melanie! I missed talking about food with my fellow Chowhounders so I'm glad to be back on Chowhound. I noticed several awesome new posts by you since the last time I had posted on here so I decided to join in on the fun again. =)
From what I've read, you've become quite the expert on Laotian cuisine now! Kudos to you and your adventurous palate. I don't get to travel all that much so I've never been to Laotian restaurants in other states. So in a way I'm now learning from YOUR experiences, too. =) What were you doing all the way in North Carolina??? I'm jealous of your travels!
If I'm ever in Charlotte, I'll definitely check out that new Laotian restaurant. So far, it seems that your taste buds are compatible with mine...hehe...so I trust your recs on Laotian cuisine.
Jaew Bong (Laotian chili paste) at That Luang Market in San Pablo
Awesome. Thanks for telling me about the fridge in the dining room. I didn't know they were still selling the chili paste. Their Jaew Bong is definitely the best of the best....true Laotian-style...it's not Westernized at all. Anyway, you can also spread it on sticky rice (cooked the Laotian way) and serve it like how you'd serve sliced cheese and ham on crackers as hors d'oeuvres. Sticky rice morsels topped with Jaew Bong, a thin slice of Laotian sausage, and a tiny bit of cilantro, which in a way is similar to your sandwich, but served as an appetizer.
Noodle Palace
I've never eaten there before. It's good to know that there's a new place for Asian noodles. However, it's a shame that they would add the garnishes for you because khao poon is traditionally served with the vegetable garnishes on the side so that the person gets to choose their own garnishes and how much to add. That's how khao poon is served in Laotian homes.
Jaew Bong (Laotian chili paste) at That Luang Market in San Pablo
The Laotian restaurant side of the business is still there, but the market doesn't exist anymore. For Laotian spicy wood, try going to a Laotian market on 23rd Avenue in Richmond called Heng Fath, which carries more Laotian specialty items.
