**** 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
Yes, this is "half-rice" at Nanay's. The rice, which is predictably not of the best quality was decently cooked.
'
When this arrived, the Missus and I gave each other a "look". This didn't seem quite right. And yes, it was overcooked, lacking in flavor, the filo like pastry was hard instead of crisp. And that egg; that poor overcooked, unseasoned egg. 'Nuff said.
The Missus ordered the combo with banh cuon trung, with eggs folded into the wrapper and the ground dried shrimp. First things first, the nuoc mam cham was way too sweet and really watered down. It was in dire need of more fish sauce and spice. In fact, the Missus was hatching a plan to possibly sneak in our own stuff next time.
This was interesting in a way. The banh mi was nicely heated, a light crusty-flaky-yeasty, all that better to soak up the rather mild tomatoey "sauce-gravy".
The hot dog cracked me up. It was….well, a hot dog, like something you bought at the grocery, a salty-sodium laden, tubular mystery meat. My favorite item by far were the meatballs which, while laden with filler were moist, tender orbs of beefy goodness. The eggs had a bit of "fishiness" to them and lacked seasoning, obviously not of the best quality, but decently sunny side up.
Shriners Hospitals for Children will sponsor this float, "Believe In Tomorrow", keeping with the Theme of the 2024 Parade, "Celebrating A World Of Music, The Universal Language". Floats are colored in to help with decorating.
"A Lovely Day for Hope", presented by the City of Hope hospital system was tested for mechanics and maneuverability with 'weight' on board. 
The 2024 entry from Trader Joe's is titled "a-one, a-two, a one-two-three-broccoli" and includes Trader Joe (collapsed at the back of the float, now but will be raised for the Parade) conducting a trio of broccoli and various vegetables playing musical instruments. The beaters in the yogurt cup at the front will produce bubbles along the parade route. Another beautiful float.
A new entrant in the Parade for 2024 is from Coding for Veterans. Unsure about the title. The center looks like it will have a screen. The outlines of aircraft are a H-60 and F-35. 
This entry is from Western Asset. It is backing into the barn. You can see the Driver of the float (who proceeds down Colorado Boulevard by looking down and following the Rose Colored Line on the street) to the right in the photo and the Spotter (who looks out the front, communicates with the Driver via a headset) to the left. You can see rectangular vented 'windows' at the fronts of the 'completed' floats, where the Spotters are seated.
Walking inside, we were directed to the last open table. Tam's opens at 8 a.m.
The breakfast menu was handed to us. 
At the top of the menu, beverages are included! (Iced beverages are an additional $1.50). The tea was good and strong and kept refilled constantly.
From the menu, "C"- vermicelli with Satay Beef plus scrambled egg & bun with butter (the price was $12.99, not the $13.99 as on the menu). Great broth with tender, flavorful beef and non-mushy noodles. The scrambled eggs were soft and fresh made (I did add some chili crisp to them after a few bites) and the steamed, soft bread was just enough.
"F"- beef stew with steamed noodle too plus scallop congee ($13.99). I saw the noodles being rolled in the kitchen when I went to the back toward the restroom. Fresh, soft, a thin layer…really nice. That beef stew was excellent, tender and such flavor. The scallop congee was really a great version. The scallops were dry/shredded and interspersed throughout each bite. 
Well, along with lines, I found that ASA likes their signs. Like the one above that states only 3 pastries per person. Good thing I didn't promise anyone else some goodies from here right?
This is baguette in name only and absolutely does not have any attributes of bread. It was hard as rock….hope you have good teeth if you get this. You basically didn't tear this; you cracked it into pieces. The chocolate was fine, not too sweet, but since whole macadamia nuts were used, the distribution was haphazard and you'd only occasionally find one.
This was a decent sandwich. I’ve always liked the thin shaved turkey and even though the bacon is in “bits” there’s a good amount of it in the sandwich.
My order was ready when I arrived….I just sauntered in, gave my name, and headed back to the car and office.
From previous experience I knew what was available from what was on the white board.
