Adventure 37: Lao Laan Xang

Lao Laan Xang (website)
1146 Williamson St
3 Adjectives: Cozy, adventurous, flavorful.
Price: entree (9-16)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisonatoz, vegguide, ...
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Located slightly East of the Capital, Lao Laan Xang (pronounced: la-OW long zang - rhymes with 'dang!') is unique in that it is one of those restaurants that serves a cuisine found nowhere else in town. Despite the lack of pressure in competition, the restaurant shines in its specialty: Laotian.

The restaurant resides in a cozy house-like building decked out with Christmas Lights around the window on Willy Street nearly right across the street from the Willy Street Co-op. There are about ten tables in the restaurant so, if you have a larger than four or six party you might want to try their Atwood location about a five minute drive East.

The menu at Lao Laan Xang features a variety of curries, stir-fry-like dishes, rice dishes and soups. In addition, there is a four star spicy system from one star (timid) to four stars (native Lao). The system is definitely spicier than ones you will see at other restaurants in town so pick one star lower than what you normally have. Another tip is to go spicier on curry but less so on the non-curry dishes.

The singular dish that is a must-order is their curry squash (photo above). It is a delicious mix of creamy butternut and acorn squashes with eggplant and zucchini. After talking to the staff, we found out that their basement is actually chock full of squashes so they can prepare this high-in-demand dish all year long. If you are a little more adventurous, try out their house specialties. I had the Tom Som (photo) on my recent visit and thought the dish tasted very unique. The hot and fresh chicken breast was paired with a tasty crispy cold salad. It also came with a cute container of sticky rice that you could eat once the spicy salad got to you. Its a rarity a restaurant around here will go out on a limb and serve food with unique ingredients such as tamarind and unripe papaya rather than go with dull over-sweetened Americanized Asian food. One thing I would recommend avoiding at Lao Laan Xang is their stir-fry-like dishes. My few encounters with them have always been rather mediocre. If you are at a Laotian place, you might as well try something exciting rather than the run of the mill Chinese-like stir fries.

Lao Laan Xang gets four stars for it delicious food and its dare to be authentic attitude. I would highly recommend checking this place out. Both the 3 and 4 (and on weekends 7) go out there in case you don't have a car.

Lao Laan Xang has loads of delicious vegan dishes. Tossy has only had two or three herself, but is sure the rest are wonderful as well. Her favorite are the mock duck and whatever the tofu dish is with six billion different kinds of mushrooms. Actually, there are only three, but it is still delicious.