According to Kirk of Mmm-Yoso, Asia Cafe was recently featured on "Eden Eats" (along with Sultan and a few other SD places). We don't get the Cooking Channel, so I'll have to dig up that episode online...
Anyhow, it's nice to see this type of national exposure for Asia Cafe, which I'd read about back in 2006 (Kirk's blog of course)...
My dining companion for the evening is a very good friend of mine. She's also an educator and was game to try something different and to go somewhere that was not a frou-frou fancy place. Ooh, I love it when my friends let me decide!
We got off the menu items, such as the Laotian Beef Jerky, which we had with a side of sticky rice. I didn't realize the basket would be so huge!
I told my friend (she doesn't have a blog nickname...yet) that since we'd be hopping around tonight for our dinner, she needed to save room for Part 2 and for dessert! You can see the ginger fibers (used in the marinade of this wonderful dish). Chewy and salty and sweet and savory! We had a couple pieces each with the sticky rice. I was disappointed that we didn't get our normal Christmas plates. I just looked up several recipes for Lao beef jerky and it seems pretty simple. I want to try making this recipe one day!
So much rice!
I also ordered the Nem Khao (also spelled as Nam Khao). Also not on the menu. Usually served with dried red chili pods (the owner brought over a few later on the side), and sometimes a slice of lime, but not tonight. My friend was amazed by the dish and enjoyed the textures and flavors very much.
One of my favorite dishes...
Loved the crispiness of the rice and peanuts and the fresh herbs. We both refrained from eating the whole plate too. I hope she and her family enjoyed the leftovers. This was the first time I'd been here for dinner; it's normally lunch.
Because of the triple digit temps and the lack of A/C, we almost didn't go here. I had a Plan A, a Plan B and a Plan C for the night. I'm happy to say that the siren call of the Nem Khao was too strong to ignore and we stuck to Plan A. We still had it good though since we sat near the fan! Total for our dinner - $14 even.
For my friend, this was her first eating adventure (at least with me). She could now cross Laotian off her list. Our next destination - North Park!
3 comments:
I'm going to get myself here one of these days. Friends been wanting to go too.
Oo I need to try this place, too!
omg dennis, you haven't been yet? you have to go man!
hi minxi - i highly recommend asia cafe! the people there are very nice, the service is good and of course, the food is amazing!
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