Asia Cafe has slowly made it's way onto our "rotation". Apparently it has become a favorite of Ed from Yuma as well. You can read about His latest experience on Chowhound. On my previous posts on Asia Cafe, I noted the location, and ambiance.
Asia Cafe is really about good Laotian Home Cooking, and for Her fifth day of feasting, after the visits to China Max, Izakaya Sakura, Sushi Komasa in Los Angeles, and Ba Ren, the Missus was in the mood for some good home cooking.
We started with the Missus's favorite, the Nem Khao.
With this wonderful rice crust - sour sausage dish, you experience the best of both worlds. When wrapped in a lettuce leaf, and garnished with cilantro and mint, you have wonderful flavors along with a crunchy texture.
The Missus also went with the Yum Asia.
This seafood "salad", is served with a refreshing sweet, fish sauce based dressing. We always order ours with "clear noodles". Yum is right.....
Asia Cafe also makes very good sticky rice. One order is usually enough for the both of us.
One of my favorite dishes at Asia Cafe is the See Nam Tok:
A very simple sirloin or similar cut of beef, marinated, and pan fried, and served with a fish sauce based dipping sauce.
Today we ordered something a bit different. We asked about the whole fried fish we had seen on a previous visit. Though like the Nem Khao, it's not on the menu, the Fried Fish was available today.
Simply salted and deep fried to crisp perfection, the item that made this dish was the dipping sauce, consisting of (what else!) fish sauce, garlic, some chilies, and green onions. Very nice!
When we entered, the "Chef", the Wife of the Husband and wife team that along with their two sons make Asia Cafe "tick", greeted me with a "Hi, I haven't seen you in a while!" And while we were eating, Johnny, one of the sons brought a plate of noodles over, and said "We're doing some catering tonight, so my Mom wanted make sure you tasted some of this."
He called it Mee Lao, very tasty simple noodles stir fried with soy sauce and bean sprouts and topped with fried egg.
The damage? All of the dishes above with a pot of tea(Jasmine) for $27. Needless to say, we had a ton of leftovers.
I once asked a friend of a friend why there weren't more Laotian Restaurants, and he told me that everyone believed that their Mother made the best Laotian food, so why eat out? Well, since I can't call on a Laotian Mom to make great home cooked dishes for me, I'll have to rely on Asia Cafe, my little gem of a restaurant on the corner of 47th street and Market street for great home style cooking.
Asia Cafe
4710 Market St
San Diego, CA 92102
Kirk,
Your laotian food is interesting. It is similar to Thai. Do you know of any Lao resto. in OC? I think I should try some.
Posted by: Beach | Tuesday, 13 June 2006 at 06:26 AM
Hi Beach - Funny you should mentioned that. In San Diego, many Thai Restaurants are "manned" or usedto be manned with Thai Cooks. The only Laotian Restaurant I remember is one in Anaheim called Sang Dao on La Palma - I don't know if it's still there, but you might want to check it out if it is.
Posted by: Kirk | Tuesday, 13 June 2006 at 07:15 AM
looks like what Thai Naikorn serves.. Yummy
Posted by: nhbilly | Tuesday, 13 June 2006 at 09:00 AM
Never had Laotian food. I'll have to query the hounds to see if there are any in OC. Although the one you mention is "unverified" in Google...which means it's probably gone.
Posted by: elmomonster | Tuesday, 13 June 2006 at 01:34 PM
All those pictures make my mouth water! I had a craving for Laotian food last week. We ended up going to Sang Dao because they had the fried taro chips and desserts for sale.
I always appreciate your recommendations. We went to Asia Cafe in early April based on your experience - We loved the food and definitely plan to go back.
Posted by: Reynila | Tuesday, 13 June 2006 at 04:57 PM
You never said if the Mee Lao was any good. Also, I don't understand what sticky rice is. So what is it? I ordered it once at a Thai place and it just seemed like undercooked rice.
Posted by: Ted | Tuesday, 13 June 2006 at 05:33 PM
Hi nhbilly - Really, Thai Nakorn serves this stuff up??? Hmmmm....
Hi Elmo - Well, it's been more then a few years since I heard that restaurant mentioned...too bad if it's gone....
Hi Reynila - Seems like you've become something of a Laotian food fanatic. ;o)
Hi Ted - The noodles were tasty, though I don't think I'll ordering them anytime soon. Thai Sticky Rice or Glutinous Rice(I don't like calling it that....it really doesn't have any gluten in it), is a type of long grain rice, known as "kao neuw" literally "sticky rice". It is soaked overnight and cooked by steaming in a bamboo basket over a conical spittoon shaped pot. The rice is very chewy and has a slight nutty flavor. I actually use my hands to eat the rice. I have a large clump of rice in one hand, while using a spoon or chopsticks to pick up food in the other...don't know if that's right or not, but it works. I love sticky rice that has been made well, it is very chewy, but not hard, and a bit moist.
Posted by: Kirk | Tuesday, 13 June 2006 at 07:16 PM
Kirk
According to one of my Laotian students, using your hands to eat sticky rice is the way to do it. No spoons, no forks, just your hands! Kind of like how my Filipino parents like to eat their fish and rice! Kamayan style!
Posted by: reynila | Tuesday, 13 June 2006 at 09:48 PM
Hi Reynila - Ha! Instinctive eating wins out again.
Posted by: Kirk | Tuesday, 13 June 2006 at 10:16 PM
Kirk,
Sticky rice, have more sugar ( glucose)than the normal rice therefore they are a little sticky. I would pick up sticky rice with my hand and use a chopstick on my other hand to pick up other foods. I do not think it is proper etiquet but it is very efficient. Thai Nakorn cooked sticky rice with coconut milk and added mango to make it a dessert.
Posted by: Beach | Wednesday, 14 June 2006 at 07:19 AM
Ted,
I bought a Thai steaming basket a while ago and I usually have a bag of Thai sticky rice on hand (you can find it at Vien Dong and some other Vietnamese markets), but it is hard to get right.
Perhaps the restaurant you tried didn't soak it long enough, or miss-timed the steaming. It should be clingy and still a little firm, but not uncooked.
According to my cookbook, in Laos and northern Thailand the whole meal is organized around sticky rice. Each person gets a big ball of rice, kept warm in a little covered basket, and shares several flavorful vegetable dishes, and maybe a meat dish. You take a little ball of the rice in one hand and use it to pick up a bit of meat or vegetable and the flavorful sauce. Sometimes you also have herbs or lettuce to use to pick up tasty bites. There is usually also a soup or stew with a surprising bitter addition to the usual salty/spicy/sour/sweet balance, and you should get spoons for that. So you've got it right, Kirk.
Mmm... I should start soaking some right now.
Posted by: Joseph E | Wednesday, 14 June 2006 at 08:33 AM
Hi Beach - Whatever works, right? BTW, if you have a chance, I thought the sticky rice and mango was really good at the Thai Wat Temple's weekend foodcourt in Hollywood.
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 14 June 2006 at 08:33 AM
Hi JosephE - Thanks for the info.
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 14 June 2006 at 08:34 AM
Hi Kirk: I like this entry and the ones prior to this. Thanks for sharing. You take nice pictures. What camera do you use anyway?
Posted by: Ben | Wednesday, 14 June 2006 at 07:49 PM
Hi Ben - Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I use a Panasonic Lumix FX-7 ultracompact. It works well with natural lighting, but not so well under other situations. It does have Optical Imaging Stabilization, but does not do well in situations where a full sized digital should be in use. I'm still searching for the perfect camera that won't cost more then 2k! BTW, I've heard the latest model, the DX 8 has a setting for "food", go figure!
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 14 June 2006 at 11:15 PM
I really have to get over there, just haven't had the chance to.
Posted by: Jack | Friday, 16 June 2006 at 05:31 AM
Holy cats, man! That Nem Khao stuff is amazing!
I read this post at work today and everything looked so good I had to stop by on my way home.
I was a litle nervous of going in there because I'm SO WHITE and I felt kind of silly, but the guy (one of the young guys?) was super nice.
He didn't even laugh at me when I described it as "that thing with like, crunchy rice and sausage?"
I also got the Lard Nar (which is excellent), and a whole thing of sticky rice, which is one of my favorite things ever and I can't seem to get it right if I make it at home.
Thanks for the recommendation--I certainly would never have found that place on my own!
Posted by: Jenne | Friday, 16 June 2006 at 06:41 PM
Hey Jack - Gotta make down there soon!
Hi Jenne - Glad you enjoyed yourself - the family that runs the place is very nice, and the food is pretty darn good as well.
Posted by: Kirk | Saturday, 17 June 2006 at 06:30 PM
Hey kirk, all that food looks fantastic. We really have to hunt hard for laoatian food, not to mention good lao food here in Oz. Lucky you that you have Asia cafe close to home :D
Posted by: Rachel | Sunday, 18 June 2006 at 06:47 AM
Hi Rachel - The food is really good home cooking.
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 19 June 2006 at 08:54 AM