RIP TD Burger; hellooooooo Laos in Town! This place has some tenuous connection to Thip Khao, although I’m not sure what it is. At any rate, I’m always down to try the following things:
- Things I can walk to
- Things that are new
- Things that will burn my face off
The menu is small; much smaller than Thip Khao’s, but there looked to be about a half-dozen things we really wanted. Unfortunately, with only two of us, we were a bit limited. We settled on the pork sausage appetizer, the signature papaya salad, and the khua mee, the sausage and khua mee having been strongly recommended by our server. I also ordered their draft spicy margarita because spicy and because Friday (like I really need an explanation).
Oh, Laos in Town, how you (slightly) disappoint me. The sausage was good; very herbal and salty, and the pepper relish it came with was pretty spicy….like….5 out of 10 spicy. So, kind of sad.
Then came the papaya salad, one of my favorite things. Unlike similar dishes, this one had noodles. I can’t say if that’s good or bad, but there they were. It used that very intense authentic Lao fish sauce that basically creates cartoon-y stink-lines rising off the dish. I don’t love that flavor but I appreciate it. If you don’t, this is not the salad for you.
Finally came the khua mee. As advertised, it was served in a tiny wok, although it was purely decorative, so I’m not sure it added anything.
This was more like your traditional pad thai: sticky rice noodles, light scrambled egg, and a sprinkling of prawns. Not spicy, not very big.
Service was generally good during the meal, but it took about a million years for our check to arrive. Also, just as an aside, this place was crawling with small children in a way I’ve never seen in the city.
Price: $30 per person.
Bottom line: It’s close to home and serves small food, so I’ll probably be returning at some point, but it’s not worth a trip across town.
Ward Five Foodie 