Laotian restaurants?

13 or 15 years ago there was a very decent Vietnamese restaurant called Nhu Hoa Cafe at 1020 W. Argyle that served very interesting Laotian specialties.
Since it closed, about 5 or 7 years ago, I've not been able to locate any other restaurant in Chicago serving Laotian dishes.
Does anyone know about another Laotian restaurant in the city?

Sabai Dee
5359 N Broadway
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 506-0880

The Dolinsky report - http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sectio ... id=6826972

Unfortunately, Sabai Dee closed some time ago, as reported in the following thread:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=15566

I'm not aware of any other restaurants in Chicago serving Laotian food, although some of the Thai restaurants serving Northern Thai food will certainly serve dishes commonly seen in Laos.

Damn, that stuff looks really good. Now I want some Laotian food!

BR wrote:Unfortunately, Sabai Dee closed some time ago, as reported in the following thread:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=15566

Whoops - my bad.

Does anybody have any tips on Laotian that may have popped up in the last couple of years? Have a craving for Khao Poon, and surprised there isn't (seemingly) a place to get it in Chicago.

jordanhojo wrote:Does anybody have any tips on Laotian that may have popped up in the last couple of years? Have a craving for Khao Poon, and surprised there isn't (seemingly) a place to get it in Chicago.

A couple months ago I posted on Phongsavan, the Hmong mall in Milwaukee. Hmong cuisine has strong Laotian influences so it's not surprising that Phongsavan's food court serves khaub poob (Hmong spelling; the Bs are silent).



I'm not sure it's worth a drive to Milwaukee only for these noodles but it's not a bad bowl and a heck of a deal for $4. The market as a whole is most definitely worth visiting; there's nothing like it in Chicago.

Phongsavan — Milwaukee's Asian Market
6300 N 76th St
Milwaukee WI
http://milwaukeeasianmarket.com (warning: obnoxious sounds)

Does anybody have any tips on Laotian that may have popped up in the last couple of years? Have a craving for Khao Poon, and surprised there isn't (seemingly) a place to get it in Chicago.

Make it yourself! It's fun (and delicious). Here's a link to a website with a recipe for Khao Poon: https://sites.google.com/a/cuisinecrazy ... puhnsainam

I just made this for the 4th of July (it's my husband's favorite soup). The only thing I do differently is to put the salt and sugar in the mortar with the chilies and garlic. The granulated ingredients help grind the others to a paste.

Folks best bet for Laotian food is to go where they came. Both the Laotian and Hmong people of Laos came to Illinois as refugees in the 1970's. While most of the Hmong went on to Wisconsin to be with relatives, the Laotian's settled in Rockford and Elgin. If you were just driving by the White Pearl Restaurant which takes up on old Taco Bell location next to a gas station at a busy intersection in Elgin you wouldn't look twice. But a closer look reveals they serve a few different styles of Asian cuisine including Laotian.


Elgin, IL

I stopped thru on the rec of @shesimmers who praised their Lap Lao beef salad. I found it to be as good as the other off the radar Thai dishes she recommended in a Serious Eats piece she did last year. Being the National dish of Laos this was a good way to start exploring that portion of their menu, the "chef's specialties". The mint and perfectly cooked/chopped beef mixed with small bits of tripe was as good as advertised with a side of sticky rice.


Lap Lao Beef Salad

I took a return trip passing thru on the way back into the city recently and it was a winner as well. We got an order of egg rolls as well as some Laotian Sausage and a side of fried breadsticks (jap guay?) to start with.


Appetizers (Laotian Sausage, Egg Rolls, Fried Bread)

The deep fried sausage is fantastic, really, really good with lots of ginger kick and some crispiness that comes from the skin. Homemade egg rolls with pork and shrimp were fantastic as was the peanut dipping sauce they came with. The fried breadsticks tasted like fresh fried donuts so nothing not to like as far as those go. Most gringos I see inside are ordering off the Noodle or Fried Rice portion of the menu which looks good I should add. Some seem to like the pho. I'm not sure what ethnic background their house lo mein has. It comes with a lime/fish sauce and plenty of chopped peanuts and chicken and bbq pork meat served with an excellent bowl of chicken broth on the side. It pleased my palate. I didnt see Khao Poon on their menu but considering that soups are one of their specialties maybe someone should ask.


House Lo Mein

Of course Elgin is a bit of a hike just for some lunch but there's also quite a few Southeast Asian grocery stores around town so if you're ever in need of a special ingredient maybe you can find it here. I guess on Fridays they serve prepared to-go food at B&V Market which I popped into and found some Nam Khao sitting on the counter packed and ready to eat. Fantastic and really nice people but the language gap didn't allow us to communicate all that well. I bought some pork and rice fermented sausages and a Malaysian curry mix from Lucky Market which was a little bit weird, by the looks of all the headshots of young Asian ladies on the wall it felt like wife's might be for sale too. I'm guessing there's some good home cooking to be had at some of the local gatherings and festivals which I saw one of the Laos churches vends at. As far as Rockford goes, I googled around and it looks like the few Laotian restaurants that were around may have closed. Further investigation to come.


Southeast Asian Groceries


Crispy Rice Salad from B&V Asian Market in South Elgin

White Pearl Restaurant
265 S McLean Blvd
Elgin, IL 60123
(847) 695-3399

B & V Asian Market
347 N Mclean Blvd
South Elgin, IL 60177
(847) 931-7188

Lucky Asian Market
692 Villa St
Elgin, IL 60120
(224) 856-1143

I'm so surprised this thread is so thin. Elgin is home to the second largest population of Laos (as least it was back in the 2000s), and there were quite a few markets, video stores, etc, and the YWCA Elgin always hosts a Laos New Year festival celebration.

A friendly bump, cuz I do love the stuff.

Mike Sula wrote about Spicy Thai Lao a few months ago; it looks more compelling every time I read the article.

http://m.chicagoreader.com/chicago/subu ... d=12636300

[of course, Sula credits LTH forum members with unearthing it in the very same article. Ugh. Well, just trying to help]

syncretism wrote:Mike Sula wrote about Spicy Thai Lao a few months ago; it looks more compelling every time I read the article.

http://m.chicagoreader.com/chicago/subu ... d=12636300

And, even before that, you could have read about it here. It's well worth the trip to Burbank.