San Pablo: There's something about Kaoneow Cafe (Lao Thai) - Sour sausage, beef tongue, chicken feet salad, lod chong ... pho?

[rworange]

I just ate and stopped by to pick up a menu at this new Lao Thai restaurant that replaced another short-lived Thai restaurant at that location.

First, it is probably the nicest looking restaurant in San Pablo ... though there's not much competition. It is a cut above and would fit in nicely in Berkeley.

They have Thai beef jerkey for an appetizer and a few dishes that aren't the norm.

Pretty cups of green lod chong sat on the counter, waiting for someone to order and add ice.
A picture of lod chong and description apres ice.
http://dishaday.blogspot.com/2008/01/snack-day-2008-snack-26-lod-chong.html

More info about lod chong on the General Board
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/547859#

While the standard Thai dishes are there, there are some out of the ordinary ones like those mentioned in the title. The menu says they grill the beef tongue and serve it with homemade hot sauce ($5.95)

All the dishes are reasonably priced in the $4.95 - $6.95 range.

Interesting that the same menu that has kao poon luerd (rice noodles served with ground pork, pork intestines, pork blood in pork blood soup) also has crab Rangoon, pineapple fried rice and suki yaki ... and pho.

Very nice people ...very,very very pleasant.

Unfortunatly, I'm probably not going to get here anytime soon so I thought I would give a heads up since the other restaurant never got any business (tho that one never seemed like anything special).

Also, I don't know a lot about Thai food, so it would be interesting if a Thai fan ate there and reported what they had. Actually I haven't tried Thai food that I really like a lot. However, the menu here looks interesting enough I do have it high on my list to try.

[bigwheel042]

Pho is widely eaten in Laos in addition to Vietnam. It sometimes is garnished differently, though.

Sour grilled pork and buffalo sausage are Lao/Isaan dishes so I wonder if this is really a Lao restaurant padding the menu with more Thai dishes a la Champa Garden.

[Melanie Wong]

Hope someone tries the grilled tongue. I loved that dish at an Issan restaurant in Orange County.

[rworange]

If no one else gets there before me, that was the first dish I was planning to try along with the Mussamam Curry.

Looking through there seems to be some Islamic influence. However, with my limited Thai knowledge and the fact they mainly use the English translation and the Thai alphabet, I'm on uncertain ground.

Googling around I found that Drunken Noodles are Pad Kee Mao a standard Thai dish ... I think ... at least they have it on the other Lao restaurant in the area, Phin Thong (they make their own Thai sausage and have nam wan).

Both are so close I'm dying to try them, but my schedule just isn't going to allow for this for a while. I'm hoping someone will give me a virtual taste.

[Melanie Wong]

Those two are both Thai restaurant standards . . . nothing unusual or Lao about them. Be sure to ask if the massaman is fresh ground from herbs or canned curry paste before you order.

[AntarcticWidow]

I went today to grab a late bite (2:30ish) and there were two three-tops sitting for lunch. I ordered the Lao sausage, sticky rice and Glass Noodle Salad. I asked about the grilled tongue, but the server said they didn't have the grill set up yet. I wasn't sure if that meant it was too early in the day to order or what.

While I was waiting, a bowl of pho floated past me. It smelled a little different from the Vietnamese version, and did not notice that it came with a separate plate of herbs or bean sprouts. I'm not sure if it was all added into the bowl or if I just didn't see the separate plate follow up behind. A chicken cashew nut also wafted past me which made me question my original order.

I chatted up the owner for a bit, he was quite friendly. They just opened on the 5th. I got the impression that he has a restaurant in the Vallejo area. He said to try the Tom Kha Gai (chicken in coconut milk soup) next time I come in. He mentioned that a lot of his Filipino customers (in Vallejo?) seem to order that soup.

He also showed me the back room they are remodeling; it can be rented out for parties and such when it is ready. The walls are brightly painted in lime green and purple or magenta, I wasn't really paying attention to the colors. Having never been there before, I don't know if the colors are a holdover from the previous tenants.

The salad was tasty, albeit a tad salty. The menu says "glass noodle with minced pork, red onion, tomato, garlic, lemongrass, lime leaves, peanuts with Thai spice sauce". It didn't have any tomatoes or peanuts, but there was sliced red bell peppers. Minced pork was replaced with tender slices of pork. There was also fresh mint and green onion. The noodles themselves were a small diameter, not the fatter noodles my mom used to make.

The sausage is very nice, not greasy. The dried peppers add a bit of heat, but not too much for my taste. I think it must have been pan-fried. The ends were sliced off on a diagonal and the middle portion of the sausage sliced lengthwise into three slices, arranged on a couple of lettuce leaves, two large thick slices of cucumber with slivers of red bell pepper, garnished with cilantro leaves and freshly roasted peanuts. This would have gone great with a beer.

The sticky rice was a workout trying to eat it out of the container! I think they steam it in a bamboo steamer (at least that is what the server showed me). The plastic utensils they packed in my to-go bag would have broken off in the rice. Lucky for me I keep a pair or chopsticks at work, so I kept jabbing at it and pulling chunks of rice out and eating it with the sausage.

They offered me a 10% discount on my order so the whole thing came to less than $15. Overall, their prices are quite reasonable, their appetizers and salads are $3.95 - $6.95, entrees, curries over rice are mainly in the $5.95 range (ala carte is $6.95).

[DezzerSF]

Traditionally, sticky rice is eaten with your fingers but I myself, make feeble attempts with a fork or chopsticks.

[AntarcticWidow]

Today I called and ordered to go # 47 - Kao Piek Sen. The menu description is "boiled rice noodles with fried garlic, green onion, cilantro and black peppers". They asked if I wanted chicken (as opposed to beef or pork I guess) and offered to pack the soup separate from the noodles. I also asked for #11 - Beef Tongue but they still do not have it available.

I am always on the lookout for a good chicken soup and this one did not disappoint. The smell drove me crazy while driving back to the office. When I finally opened up the containers, I found slivers of fried garlic floated on the clear broth, the green onion and cilantro added to the perfume. I put the noodles into a bowl, poured the hot broth over them with several pieces of shredded chicken. Splish-splash ~ in they all went.

The broth was full of chicken-y flavor, not too salty. The homemade rice noodles had a nice thick and chewy texture, and was not gummy. It is a nice homey dish, one I know I can make at home. But it sure is nice to know that I don't always have to.

[MaeNang]

kao piek sen is one of my favorite comfort foods; my mom usually made a huge pot of the soup with a whole chicken, sometimes with bloodcake (I think that what it's called) and I sometimes helped with kneading the dough. It's surprisingly simple, just equal parts rice flour and tapioca flour, if I remember correctly, and boiling water. Even though I didn't like kneading the dough, I sucked it up because I didn't want to stand around waiting when I could help speed things up. We just bought a stand mixer and we also have one of those manual pasta machines which should make the process much easier. I plan to cook some up soon. My mouth is watering! If it doesn't come out right, I'll give it to my niece for playdoh but I'm going to ask mom for the recipe to avoid that.
Also, I'm surprised that some have been willing to eat the tripe in beef larb; we used to make it that way but customers would just pick it out and leave it on the side. Kudos to sfbing for trying it. My favorite larb though is pork, complete with the organ meats and most importantly, the pork skin.

[Melanie Wong]

"My favorite larb though is pork, complete with the organ meats and most importantly, the pork skin."

I love that style of larb. Have you found it at any restaurants around here? The thai temple in San Bruno includes the pork liver.

When you get th e recipe fromm our mom for kao piek sen, please do share it with us. I enjoy the comforting simplicity of that dish too.

[Scrapironchef]

Based on two visits, a lunch and take out dinner, this place rocks! Had the sausage app and papaya salad at lunch. Sausage lightly grilled then sliced, very tasty and all the flavors came through nicely, papya salad was a great rendition of this classic.

Dinner was Nam Kao, beef salad, pepper garlic chicken and drunken noodles. Every one a hit, my camera wasn't charged up or I'd have posted pictures. They were all beautifully plated even in the styro containers. Wifey who had had a late lunch and wasn't that hungry had an appetite resurgence and puts this place up in her top 10 locals.

[rworange]

Thank you and AntarticWidow for the feedback. I still haven't make it over there and since I know very little about Thai, better to have more credible reports. Anyone know what is up with that grill and the tongue. Do they only make it at certain times or do they just not have a grill period?

Also, do you know if they make their own sausage. The Thai place on San Pablo near the med center makes their own and I've been considering a sausage taste-off.

[AntarcticWidow]

When I tried to order on my second visit, they said that they didn't have the grill set up yet and didn't have a timeframe of when it would be installed.

I don't know if they make their own sausage, but it is yummy. The only other place I've had it was about a year ago at Kao Sarn in Point Richmond. It was a special on their menu for a short time and they made their own. For a while there, I was making MY own and came up with a pretty good version (according to my co-workers) using chicken instead of pork.

[savan]

When you said Thai beef jerky, did you actually mean to say Lao beef jerky? I've never been to a Thai restaurant in the U.S. that had beef jerky on the menu. However, Lao beef jerky is a common dish served at Lao restaurants (and Lao-Thai restaurants, as well). Lao beef jerky is traditionally eaten with sticky rice.

I've tried their Lao dishes like the Lao sausages, Chicken Larb salad, and Kao Piek Sen (chicken noodle soup). Despite the Kao Piek Sen being a standard Lao dish, the version they serve at the restaurant is a tad too sweet, which isn't typical of Lao cuisine. The Lao sausages were very delicious especially since I ate it with sticky rice.

I also saw other standard Lao dishes like Kao Poon (curry noodle soup), Nam Kao (Fried Rice Ball Salad), Lao Pho (similar to Vietnamese pho, but with different condiments), etc... However, I didn't get to try them at the restaurant. I hope that the Nam Kao is as good as the one served at Vientian Cafe, a Lao restaurant in Oakland.

[ThaiNut]

Stateside Thai restaurants, at least along the east coast, often have Thai beef jerky but on the menus the Thai name (เนื้อแดดเดี่ยว) is usually phoneticized as 'Nya Daed Diaw' or perhaps called 'sun dried beef.' I imagine both the Thai and Lao make it the same, i.e. dry the strips of beef in the sun for a day and then fry them with a couple of spices just prior to eating. Great beer food!

[DezzerSF]

Have you tried Nam Kao at Champa Garden? I've never tried it at Vientian, so I'd like to know how it compares.

[twocents]

While hardly universal, it is not uncommon at Thai restaurants in SF and the East Bay. It's #7 on the Thai House Express menu, and I've had a version in Richmond (Sawadee Thai? Not Sa Wooei). There may be more. Prep varies somewhat, sometimes it does seem more like the sun dried beef, deep fried, but other times it seems like marinated beef deep fried. Also, the cut of meat and how the meat is cut varies quite a bit. I have had really delicious pork versions of this dish at Sapp Coffee House in LA and Sanamluang Cafe in Van Nuys.

I am not knowledgeable enough to say for sure, but I would not be shocked if this dish is really "Lao" more than "Thai," given the tendency for overlap in these two cuisine's menus, at least on the West Coast, but then again maybe that distinction is not too meaningful anyway given the cultural overlap in the border regions.

[savan]

You'd be surprised to know how often Lao dishes are mistaken for Thai dishes. Many standard "Thai" dishes are actually Lao dishes that have become popular in Thailand...i.e. Papaya Salad, Larb Salad, Pork Sausages with Lemongrass, Grilled Chicken (Gai Yang/Ping Gai), Sticky Rice, etc....Unfortunately, customers in the U.S. tend to assume that those dishes are Thai just because they had been exposed to "Thai" cuisine first and also because they didn't know the origins of those dishes and the overlap in the border regions where ethnic Lao people live on both sides of the Mekong river (in Laos and in Thailand). So the next time someone goes to a Lao restaurant, please don't assume that a majority of those dishes are "Thai" just because you're used to seeing them on Thai restaurant menus. Take away the "Thai" prefix and you might be shocked to know that they are actually Lao dishes being marketed as "Thai" food. However, there are some dishes that are shared by both cuisines like green curry, red curry and other dishes due to the Indian/Khmer influence on both cuisines. Other shared dishes in both Lao and Thai cuisines are actually Chinese-influenced dishes like Pad Si Eww, Khao Mun Gai, Lard Nah, BBQ Pork, Fried Rice, Spring Rolls, Pad Lao / Kua Mee/ Pad Thai, etc...

[Sam Fujisaka]

NE Thai (Isaan) and Lao food are the same because the peoplle in both are all Lao.

[sfbing]

Went here last weekend. I think it is definitely more Lao than Thai. The beef larb had little bits of tripe and had that mildly smoky and bitter flavor that I associate with Lao cooking, (which is why I think I like it much better than Thai which I find kind of sweet). The lao sausage was good, but a little fattier and less spicy than Green Papaya in Oakland. I have not yet had a chance to try the Nem Khao at Champa Garden, but the Nem Khao here was very tasty, not too greasy, and had mustard leaves for you to wrap the salad in. I was also pleasantly surprised by the Thai eggplant with pork dish my companion insisted on ordering.

[alfredck]

We had an early dinner here on Saturday. Unfortunately, we were the only diners, and there were only two take-out orders during our time there. The owners are definitely Lao; the very nice server said that they did not serve Lao food at their other restaurant further North. We had the

Beef Larb: ground beef and tripe without the intense saltiness and sourness I've had in other larb. A faint bitterness from bile. Accompanied by lettuce, basil, and cilantro.

Nam Kao Tod: very nice sour sausage with crispy rice, peanuts, chili, and shredded pork skin. Somewhat of a conflict of textures with the crunch of the rice and the peanuts subdued by the moist, chewiness of the skin.

Papaya salad: delicious; the one dish we polished off.

Veggie Pad Woon Sen: pleasant and competent glass noodles with tofu and carrot, green onion, and cabbage.

Kao Poon Luerd: billed as rice noodles with ground pork, pork intestines, and pork blood in pork soup: soft, thin rice noodles with minced pork, fish balls, and several chunks of pork blood in a coconut broth. Served with shredded cabbage and bean sprouts. Again, competent, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Sticky rice: dry, chewy, great with the papaya salad and larb; very much more enjoyable eaten with hands rather than utensils.

Our server recommended the sour sausage and pho; she also explained how the paintings on the walls contained images of Lao temples, the Lao king, and a New Year's celebration (Year of the pig--go and you'll understand).

Total before tip was $35 for a huge amount of food.

Next time (if they are still there), we'll have the chicken feet salad, the beef salad, possibly the beef tongue, and the grilled whole tilapia (call ahead).