Category: Lao Restaurants

The recent warm spell had the Missus and I craving some Lao and Thai food. So, we decided to head on back to what had become our favorite Lao Restaurant in the area, Spicy Lao Kitchen. I had heard that there had been some changes in terms of the management and kitchen, so I was interested to see if our favorite dishes still held out.

The one young man working the front of house was so very nice. Strangely, there was only one other table during our entire meal.

And sadly, the food didn't measure up. We actually ordered three of our favorite dishes! Which had enjoyed back in February. 

Since these were dishes we'd had several times during our visits over the last couple of years, and that we had ordered the same three dishes during our last visit, I thought it would be interesting to post first, the dish from this visit; than a photo of what the dish looked like during our February visit.

Things came out of the kitchen fairly quickly; starting with the Moo Tod, the "usually" crispy pork belly.

First off, this more thickly sliced and unevenly fried; some parts really hard, not crisp, other parts barely fried. It was on the bland side and missing the dusting of chili powder it used to have….like back in February.

Never was the difference more evident than in the Goong Nam Pla, which had been a favorite dish of ours since our first visit.

The shrimp itself was fine; but was sorely lacking in spice….we ordered medium spice like we always do and this was just plain overly sour. Also missing was that herbaceous-spicy-savory – fish sauce forward topping and sauce which I swear….I could dip my rubba' slippahs in and enjoy.

Less than five months ago, this is what it looked like. Look at the mint and other herbs on this version. All of this was MIA!

And of course the Nem Khao. Whenever that Missus and I would get a decent version of Nem Khao, we'd always talk about that wonderful meal we had on the banks of the Mekong all those years ago. Food can do that, spur memories, feelings, return you to a special time and place. And then to have it taken away…..

The charred rice wasn't crisp enough and on the chewy side. The dish lacked a sufficient amount of sour sausage, though it was super sour. It lacked seasoning and spice. This was truly a disappointing dish.

Especially compared to what we'd had in February.

I'm not sure what happened here. I know that business had been up for sale, but I thought it had been resolved. Though I've heard from sources that one of the owners is no longer involved and has moved out of state.

This was so disappointing, since Spicy Lao had become our favorite Lao restaurant in San Diego. I guess it's time to get back out there trying other Lao style places. 

Spicy Lao Kitchen
5375 Kearney Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

I know that "FOY" Junichi has also been a regular at Spicy Lao; I'm wondering if he's visited recently and if so, what his experience was like?

In my post on Pha Khao Lao this past Wednesday, I mentioned enjoying like dishes at Spicy Lao Kitchen a bit more and that we needed to do a return visit to compare. In the comments of that post, "FOY" Junichi mentioned how warm the weather has been recently, perfect weather for some Lao food. Well, I'm thinking Junichi is psychic (perhaps he should be the true owner of the Ojai Psychic Friends Network t-shirt?) because guess where we went?

Yep, Spicy Lao. We got there right past opening, a few minutes after 11.

We ordered a load of food, getting our favorites, which I won't dwell on too much since I've done several posts on Spicy Lao already. I'm going to focus a bit more on dishes we hadn't tried before.

The Nem Khao was perhaps even better than what we had on our first visit to Spicy Lao.

And the Moo Tod always delivers…..

As does the refreshing, spicy Goong Nam Pla. My goodness, the spice, acidity was spot on. This was so refreshing!

Remember we wanted to order the Heavenly Beef on our last visit, but they were out? Well, guess what we got? Yes, the Sien Savanh.

Well, these folks own JL Jerky in the same strip mall, so you'd expect the flavor to be spot on; which it was. Not overly salty, good savory tones, hint of sweet. The spicy-fish sauce that accompanied the beef was good. You will need some good teeth for this though!

As I noted in my post on Pha Kao Lao, we've yet to have some decent Mok Pa in San Diego. Though we had never had the version from Spicy Lao.

So, of course we finally ordered it.

This looked a bit different from versions we'd had before, but the Missus really liked it!

The fish was super creamy, good dill, kaffir lime leaf, and I made out some lemongrass as well. Slight amount of heat, decent savory tones, though it was a bit on the salty side for me. The Missus did say that this was better than what I make at home. So I guess we've got another dish on our "Spicy Lao list".

And even though the woman working apologized in advance for possible slowness since she and one cook were the only one's working, we actually got our food faster than on previous visits. I guess Spicy Lao is currently our favorite Lao restaurant in San Diego at this time.

Please note the new hours.

Spicy Lao Kitchen
5375 Kearney Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

Postscript – I've recently read that Spicy Lao's future is currently up in the air. I'm hoping that they stay in business!

Back in December I heard about a new Lao restaurant opening in Rolando named Pha Khao Lao. The Missus and I usually go for Lao food during warmer weather, so I was going to wait a bit. But then, the last month, the weather has been unseasonably warm, so we decided to head on out and pay Pha Khao Lao a visit.

We liked that the restaurant opens at 1030, so we could beat the typical lunch crowd and there's ample parking in the strip mall that always seems half unoccupied on University. The restaurant is basically located next to the location of Lee's Sandwiches, which Cathy posted on two years ago.

The interior is quite spacious and the tables spaced out well.

There was only one nice young lady working on both our visits. It was kind of funny when I was looking at movies of Vientiane playing on the big screen and mentioned it to her. She told me, "I hope to go there one day!" I came to find out she's actually Thai!

Of course we went ahead and ordered "the usual"; our favorite items at local Lao restaurants; starting with the Nem Khao (of course – $18.95). We thought the presentation was quite nice and were surprised at the amount of sparkling fresh veggies provided.

The portion size was quite generous. I do prefer a bit more crunchy, crisp rice in my nem khao, the flavors were a bit on the milder side; but there was a good amount of sour sausage provided. This was pretty good, though we prefer the version at Spicy Lao Kitchen.

And yes, we got the Sai Oua ($13.95). We ordered the spicy version.

This was a bit too chewy and dry; lacking in the kaffir lime leaf-lemongrass-ginger tones we enjoy. That Jeow Mak Len had quite a kick though! 

And we also ordered the Mok Pa ($14.95); you see, we really haven't had a great version outside of Laos; though the Missus said I make a decent version which I learned at the Tamarind Cooking School in Luang Prabang (I still treasure the three little pamphlets of recipes from the class). And this one was also disappointing.

The fish tasted muddy and was strangely really chewy. There was a distinct lack of dill, kaffir lime leaves, and I believe they put coconut milk in this version.

Overall, a decent meal, the nem khao was quite good. I mentioned our meal to Candice, who recommended that I try the Luang Prabang Papaya Salad. So, having a day off, I headed back over to Pha Khao, and ordered the Tum Luang Prabang ($14.95).

   Which was quite interesting as the papaya was sliced into wider strips and I loved the appropriate use of Lao Eggplant; slices of the small green orbs of goodness. This was nice and pungent so it was obvious they used a good amount of fermented crab and fish sauce. I ordered it just medium spicy…which was still pretty hot! I then noticed that there was a combination of two chilies in the salad. Both Thai bird and another. When I inquired the gal laughed and said; "yes, it's more spicy because the chef also uses dried chilies as well!" 

The pork rinds provided a savory reprieve from the spiciness. As usual, Candice's recommendation was spot on.

I enjoyed my meals and the warm, friendly service at Pha Khao and it is perhaps my second favorite Lao restaurant in San Diego. While the presentation at Pha Khao is better, we prefer Spicy Lao Kitchen. Of course, now we're going to have to head over there….for comparison sake….yeah, that's the ticket…..

Pha Khao Lao Cuisine
5801 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92115
Current Hours:
Daily 1030am – 9pm

After returning from our latest trip, there was one place the Missus wanted to eat at…..Spicy Lao Kitchen. It had been six weeks since our initial foray and we were interested to see how things were coming along. Based on our last visit, which took a bit over two hours, we decided to arrive a bit later and got there at 130pm.

Things were a lot quieter this time around as only half the tables were full.

There was one woman working the entire dining room, a different one from the last visit. This time there wasn't a wait to place our order. However, just like our previous visit, it took 45 minutes for the first dish to arrive.

We had seen the Moo Tod ($10) on the menu and though it might be a good dish to try.

Man, this was delici-yoso! The pork was crisp at first bite, but not hard, and kinda melted away into a nice, pork-bellyish creaminess. Great array of flavors; coriander-garlic-chili. As before, the Jeow Mak Len was the weak link, being too mild, and not spicy enough. It wasn't really needed.

Our next dish came out a few minutes later. Now, I'm not sure why the Missus ordered the Chicken Satay ($9)?

But this was our least favorite dish of the bunch. The chicken was dry and bland. The sate sauce was really thick, like miso paste, and overly sweet.

Of course, we had to get the Goong Nam Pla ($17). This time we got it at a "3" heat level. And though it took a while to get to our table, this was even better than what we'd had on our previous visit.

The tender shrimp had a decent amount of "heat"; but it was also seasoned better, great sour tones, loved the spice, and the presentation was also quite nice. This dish is a keeper.

And then there was a pause in the action……and 30 minutes later, our last dish, the Nam Khao ($15) arrived.

We were just thankful the dish arrived. The couple behind us had already been eating when we arrived and was still waiting for their papaya salad! They finally cancelled that dish, paid, and left.

The nam khao was a confluence of textures, different variations of crisp, toothsome, and crunchy, with nice sour tones. We enjoyed the spice and the pungency of the onion. Sadly, this time, there wasn't quite as much sour sausage in the dish, and we missed that.

Spicy Lao Kitchen still seems understaffed as indicated by us having another 2-hour lunch here. We're hoping that things get better as this place as we enjoy the food and the folks working a bit harried but nice. But we don't always have time for 2-hour lunches.

The place still opens at noon, but now is closed on Sundays.

Spicy Lao Kitchen
5375 Kearney Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123
Current Hours:
Mon – Sat 12pm – 8pm
Closed Sundays

**** You can find an updated post on Spicy Lao Kitchen here.

In the comments section of  an old post, "FOY" Junichi mentioned that Spicy Lao Kitchen had gone into soft opening mode. And a few days later info was posted on Eater stating the same thing. I mentioned this to the Missus who was excited at the possibility of having decent Lao food within 5 miles of the house. The question was whether to wait a bit, or to just check things out while the place was in soft opening mode? Well, the answer was easy, we'd been waiting for this place to open since March of 2022. Yep, we were going to make the time to check the place out!

We arrived at around 1230, the place currently opens at noon.

And the place was fairly full. I guess we're not the only one's waiting for Spicy Lao to finally open? In fact, we had to cool our heels at the doorway waiting to be seated. A couple behind us, pushed their way past us and just took a table. After about 15 minutes or so, the super busy young lady told us we could have a seat, but it would be at least 30 minutes before we could place an order. The couple who cut in front of us heard this and immediately left. The Missus and I didn't need to be anywhere, so we decided to have a seat and wait things out.

We watched and waited as food trickled out of the kitchen. The young women were working quite hard, but it was easy to see that they ere quite under staffed. On the good side, the Missus and I saw Xiāngjiāo and her hubby MichaelFC at a table! Man, it had been so long since we'd seen them! It was nice to have some time to chat, I've really missed them! Eventually, we placed our order and just decided to wait things out. Having to look the menu over several times; well, we ended up ordering quite a few items.

After about another 45 minutes, our dishes started trickling out.

Starting with the Sai Oua ($13), Lao sausages.

  The sausage had a firm, "snappy" casing. The filling had some good herbaceousness but was quite dry and overly chewy. Not a bad version by any means, but definitely not great. We tasted the Jeow Mak Len, the tomato dipping sauce provided which was mild, tasting like a weak tomato salsa and decided not to use it.

From here, it was another 30 minutes before our next dish came out; the Chicken Larb ($15). We ordered all dishes at a heat level of "3" on a scale of 1 to 5.

While a bit on the sweeter side of things for Lao larb, this was pretty good. The roasted rice powder added that touch of nuttiness and the lightest of crunch. There were slices of toothsome chicken gizzards in the larb, which while mild in flavor really added another toothsome dimension. I thought the heat level was pretty good, but the Missus told me that I had gotten whimpy in my old age. The young lady was dropping off our next dish and laughed when she heard this!

The Lao style Papaya Salad had arrived ($14). The young lady who delivered this was the one working the register and seating folks. We had noticed that she delivered all the papaya salads and inquired about that and was told that she makes all the papaya salads! Oh my….

You could tell that the papaya was cut by hand. The pounded tomato tasted quite good. Nice spice, at least for me (see the Missus comments above). While it looked the roll, this missed the mark a bit as it wasn't quite a pungent-funky as we're used to for the Lao version and like the larb was a bit on the sweeter side for this style of papaya salad.

Next up was the Goong Nam Pla ($17), the "naked shrimp".

This was a winnah! The shrimp was very tender and perfectly "cooked" in a lime forward "dressing". This could have been a bit more spicy for me and perhaps it could have used more pungency; but the texture of the shrimp was what made this a good dish. We'll definitely have this again.

And of course, you know we had to get the Nam Khao ($15). 

This was nice and crunchy; the Nam was spot on fermented sour which the Missus loved…in fact "XJ" sent me a text later on saying that while she was eating the nam khao all she could think about was the Missus's obsession with Nam! Lol! There was a hint of coconut, mild pungency, and spice. And while this was also a bit on the "sweeter" side and could have used some herbs and pork skin for added textural contrast; this was possibly the best version we'd had in San Diego in a while. And while the nam khao isn't even close to what we had on the banks of the Mekong in Vientiane or even Vientiane in OC this was quite good.

All in all we left the restaurant at around 230pm. It had kind of emptied out by then. So, I'm thinking until they get things under control, we'll be visiting during "off hours". Yes, we will return.

And hopefully, things will keep getting better. Right now it seems that you should probably plan on a nice slow, long lunch when you visit.

Spicy Lao Kitchen
5375 Kearney Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123
Current Hours:
Daily 12pm – 8pm