Lao Street Food

By: Mely Ya

When I went to Laos Street Food, I did not expect the restaurant to be good at all. I thought that the restaurant food would not taste like the food in Laos because it is in United States. I asked my friend to go to Lao Street Food restaurant with me, and I was the one driving. Everywhere in Gwinnett county is a new place for me because I don’t live around here and only use Google maps to help me get wherever I want to go, but of course, I still got lost many times before we arrived at the restaurant. The first thing Google Maps said was I have arrived at my destination. I still could not find the restaurant because looking from the outside of the restaurant, there’s no sign of the restaurant’s name, so that made me drive all around the place. We arrived at the restaurant at ten-thirty in the morning. The restaurant opens at eleven in the morning to nine at night. They open on Wednesday through Sunday and close on Monday and Tuesday. The atmosphere where the restaurant is located is seemed to be a quiet place because people don’t live around there. Overall, the decoration inside the restaurant and the look of the restaurant made me felt the restaurant looked like an old styled of Laos houses and included with the best food their provided for the customers to feel like they eat the food in Laos.

By: Mely Ya

 Looking from the outside, while I was waiting for the restaurant to open, I could see the bright yellow light shine from the inside of the restaurant, and I was very excited to see what they had inside the restaurant. We went inside the restaurant right after the waiter opened the restaurant. When my hand pulled the door open, the first thing I saw was Mr. Thao, the son of the restaurant owner and the waiter. He was setting up the restaurant because all the chairs were still on the table not ready for the customers and we were the first customers at the restaurant. He turned on the music, which was what I expected to be Laos music, but he turned on an American music. I thought it was interesting Laos food and American music together and I thought that it would make people feel more comfortable with the music.

By: Mely Ya

The first thing that caught my attention when I went inside the restaurant was the decorations on the right side of the restaurant because it was full of Laotian traditional tools hanging on the entire wall. The tools were what most people in rural areas used for husking rice or separating the rice from chaff. The lights made the yellow golden tools hanging on the wall brighter. Everything around me just felt like it was silent because the tools made me felt nostalgic of my grandmother and how she taught me to use the tools. It was important tools for Laotian back then and they have it in the restaurant, which makes me very excited to see it again in the restaurant because right now as more people use technology, those tools are not being used in Laos anymore. Also there’s many pictures of Laos traditional clothes and the customers and the owner pictures on the wall, and I think it was a great idea to show people about that because it does not only provide people with the best Laos food, but also show many things about Laos culture as well. I have seen that the restaurant has a good connection with their customers in many different countries and encourage people to try Laos food. Also, it can support that many people love to eat Laos food and the restaurant food quality can be trusted for anyone to try Laos food.

By: Mely Ya

 The waiter at the restaurant was very nice and friendly with customers because right after I got into the restaurant, I began to tell him about my purpose of coming to the restaurant and he was very supportive of all the questions I asked him. I ordered two Thailand Drunk noodles for me and my friend. The restaurant not only had Laos food, but also included Thailand food, which Laos and Thailand food are very similar to each other because the two countries are next to each other. After ten minutes the waiter came back to our table with the food that I ordered and also came two free of Thai Tea for every customer. The food was scrumptious because I was also very hungry, that’s why the

food I ordered tasted incredible. The waiter came back to asked about the food and

By: Mely Ya

I asked Mr. Thao what they tried to show people about the restaurant and what they want the customer to feel when they come to this restaurant. “We want them to actually taste Laos food,” Mr. Thao, “Because a lot of people they don’t know what Laos food is, so we try to educate them what Laos food is and give them the closes taste of Laos food.” I think the main point is the restaurant tried to make people feel like they eat the food in Laos, even if it in the United States. Mr. Thao continued that the restaurant also had a food truck, which they used to travel around to many festivals in different cities in United States and provided food for customers to make them able to taste Laos food. After I knew about their purpose of making food for their customers, I decided to ask another question about the chef’s background experienced on cooking Laos food, and Mr. Thao told me that his dad is actually the chef at the restaurant and the chef inherited cooking skills from his family and according to the website the chef said that his team were learning how to cook for eighteen years. As Erica Strauss stated, “You have to love food enough to work for it.” Inherited food from family is not easy at all, and I think every meal and every step would take so much time to able to cook as perfect as the family inherited.

 Asian food ingredients are very hard to find in the United States, but some of them can be found in the U.S. As the name of Laos food, most of the ingredients are hard to find. Especially, if the restaurant has the traditional meal on the menu it would be very hard to find the ingredients. Most of the time they will have to buy straight from Laos and send to the United States. When I looked at the menu in the restaurant, the food that they offer is very simple and most of the ingredients are able to find here. Mr. Thao said most of the ingredients in the restaurant are from an Asian market, like ASSI and Nam Dae Mun Farmer Market. The ingredients are imported from Laos and Thailand because not all of them are in the United States. The restaurant’s food seems to be the kind of food that is not fresh for most people, but according to the website the owner, Vina S, said, “Our chefs chooses fresh-local ingredients meant to excite the palate. And leave you memorized, by the true flavors of Laos.” The vegetables and most of the product are fresh for the customers because they are brought straight from an Asian market. However, the vegetables in the restaurant are not organic because it’s not from an organic farmer.

By: Mely Ya

 There are many menus for customers to order at the restaurant and I asked Mr. Thao what is the most popular food that every customer would order when they come to eat in the restaurant. He answered that most people ordered Papaya salad because this is the most famous food in Laos and most of Laotian that live in Atlanta loves to eat it. As I have seen on social media, most people are very supportive of the restaurant because it is their culture food and they have been eating it since they were young and lived in Laos. For me, Lao Street Food is a place that I will recommend people who have not tasted Laos food before to try because most of the food in the menu is very interesting for non-Laotians people to try. I highly recommend that everyone try it because I think since we live in the United States and eat mostly American food every day the taste of Laos food will be another different taste for most people who have not known about it before. Laos food and American food are different from each other and American food is not spicy like Laos food, but I would not recommend ordering Papaya Salad if someone cannot eat spicy, instead I would recommend Lao Chicken Salad or Larb Kai with a medium spicy.

I learned many things about the restaurant and as my first time visiting, I was very impressed with the food and the waiter was nice and treated the customers with a friendly smiles and welcome everyone to their restaurant. They cook their food with a fresh vegetable for customers and gives the customer the closes of Laos food, and another thing was the decoration in the restaurant was unique to the place and it shows people the important tools that use in the processed of making food into life. Everything about the decoration of the restaurant was such a thoughtful idea because the tools also have the connection between the food and Laos culture.