First, real quick: I used to read the Boston Chowhound board regularly when my then-girlfriend still lived in Boston a decade or so ago (she has since moved to Nashua and married me). I recognize a few names and undoubtedly owe you for some of the great recommendations I got from lurking.
Post-quarantine, we’ve been making more of an effort to poke around in neighboring and less-neighboring towns, which is how we found Laos Thai in Lowell—it’s on the same block as the Lowell location of Sophia’s, with that amazing Greek yogurt. Usually I go to Lowell for Cambodian food, and I think it’s safe to say that’s what most food writers associate the city with. Totally understandable, but I also wonder if it’s why Laos Thai seems to be under the radar, because the food is absolutely amazing. The first time we visited, it was literally days after Le Bernardin, and I don’t want to oversell it, but … I’d just been to Le Bernardin, a top two or three restaurant experience for me, and I was still raving about the nam khao here.
I get the nam khao every time we go, even though I really want to explore everything on the menu. I can’t help it. It’s one of the best restaurant dishes I’ve had, it’s so perfectly balanced: crispy rice, flecks of fermented pork, crunchy peanuts, lime juice, chiles, so many herbs (cilantro, mint, rau ram). I’ve tried to make this dish before. It was fine. But this … ahh, man. It’s become so difficult to go anywhere else in Lowell because it means not getting this. I’ve had it in the dead of winter, I’ve had it on hot summer days, it’s just always good.
The tapioca balls filled with radish and pork are nearly as good. Both the tapioca balls and the nam khao suffer from one problem: they don’t survive well as leftovers. The nam khao is okay, the rice just loses its crispiness. The tapioca balls become tough, though. You need to finish them at the table.
I used to live just outside Little Vietnam in New Orleans, so papaya salad has been a comfort food for me for almost 30 years. The thum lao is in that general family, but with noodles, snap peas, etc. It’s very funky with, I think, shrimp paste (maybe it’s crab). The only reason we don’t order it more often is there’s a lot of overlap with the flavors of the nam khao and the tapioca balls.
Caitlin is a big laksa fan, so the khao poon is right up her alley—it’s got a similar flavor profile to curry laksa. Lots of lime leaf and galangal.
Probably my second favorite dish so far: the bamboo soup or gaeng nor mai (at the bottom). Spicy, a little funky, a little thick like gumbo can be. The menu said okra, though I didn’t see any; maybe it’s ground up. Lots of mushrooms, delicious bamboo shoots.
Super friendly staff, proximity to Sophia’s—those are great things, but all I need is that nam khao. I will probably end up suggesting we go back this weekend now that I’ve brought it all back to mind.
) that would work; the toasted chilis in this dish crumble much better than the ones I find in Sichuan cuisine. The nam khaos I’ve had before came “pre-heated”, as it were, often well beyond brightening, so it’s good to know folks can adjust the spice level to taste here.
taste great too and add a good bit of fire as well. Little extra Lime never hurt either.
