September 16-22, 2004

food

Double Take

Laos on us: Michael Raethong, with galanga, sticky rice and tamarind sauce with garlic. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

Caf de Laos, the city's second Laotian restaurant, makes a scene on Washington Ave.

by Rachel Zuckerman

Michael Raethong jumped on the early-'90s Thai-food craze with several successful Philly restaurants. But the cuisine choice for his latest outlet is far riskier: It's native to a developing country, one of the poorest in the world, where only the heartiest of backpackers have ventured. Add to the mix that only one other restaurant in the city serves this type of food, and his choice seems puzzling.

But much like Proust's madeleine, Laotian food holds a special bookmark in Raethong's Bangkok childhood. His mother, who hailed from Northeast Thailand near the Laotian border, cooked this food, often described as a spicier version of Thai. And a sizable Laotian population in town eats similarly: According to Sam Noh, former executive director of the Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Asociations Coalition, 3,500 Laotians live in Greater Philadelphia, with most concentrated in South and North Philly.

Raethong's childhood food will soon be available in South Philly. Café de Laos, where he is chef and owner, is slated to open on 11th Street off Washington Avenue on Sept. 20. Nestled between a future Korean barbecue joint and a manicure supply store, the 16-table BYOB will open after seven months of city inspection red tape.

"Not a lot of Americans know about Lao food, because for some reason Lao people are afraid to show their cuisine," says Raethong, 45, who immigrated to Philadelphia from Thailand in 1988. Laotian food, also available at West Philly's Vientiane Café, borrows from the flavors of neighboring countries — Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Despite having no formal culinary education, Raethong dropped out of Temple University in 1990 to open Lemon Grass Thai Restaurant in Northwest Philadelphia. Since then he hasn't looked back: In addition to selling five of his Thai restaurants, Raethong, who lives in Berwyn with his wife and 15-year-old son, also owns Nooddi in Media and Royal Thai Orchid in Frazer.

For his latest venture, the chef drew from the techniques of his mother, some Laotian friends and his Laotian former partner from Royal Thai Orchid. He also traveled to Laos for the first time six months ago to become better acquainted with the cuisine. However, he won't serve two items he tried: ant-egg caviar and canned caterpillars.

"I had to adjust a lot of the recipes for the American palate, by making them less spicy but still preserving the main ingredients of lemon grass, kaffir leaves, chili and coriander," says the chef, who would like to return some day to the nation of six million people, roughly the size of Utah.

Café de Laos will be decorated with fresh flowers and statues and tapestries depicting elephants (looking to Laos' past name, "land of a million elephants") and almost everything on the menu will be prepared from ingredients purchased at South Philly Asian supermarkets. Raethong describes the 100-plus dishes — priced from $6.95 to $18.95 — as a fusion between Thai and Laotian cooking, leaning closer to Laotian. The appetizer section is the only one revealing this divide, with one half titled "Bangkok Kitchen," with several recognizable Thai plates including chicken satay, and the other called "Vientiane Kitchen," named for Laos's capital. On the Thai side, som tam, a sweet green papaya salad with thin carrot strips, ripe tomato wedges and chopped peanuts, steamed in fish sauce and shrimp paste, is fragrant and delicate. Raethong calls this dish one of his personal favorites for not being "too rich or too strong." On the Vientiane side of things, the kang soh — a bamboo-shoot salad prepared with cilantro, lime juice, onions and fish sauce — is strangely sour and fishy, and probably won't go over well except by those enamored of Sour Patch Kids.

All dishes are served with sticky rice, a staple of Laotian cooking. Raethong's rice is so dense and hearty, it can be cut with a knife and fork. None of the cooking is particularly greasy, since most foods are steamed in banana leaves or grilled. Coconut milk is rarely used, so it's much lighter than Thai fare. Several vegan, vegetarian and healthy options will also be available.

Only freshwater fish from the Mekong River is served in landlocked Laos. Raethong serves several varieties Asian-style with the heads, skins and eyes still attached. (Squeamish customers can request their removal.) All fish is served with a basket of fresh herb leaves, similar to lettuce leaves used in Korean barbecue places to pick up and eat portions of rice and fish.

The fried tilapia prepared with garlic, lime juice and chili is moist and crispy. Intense chili and garlic flavors immediately jump out of the pla neung manao — striped bass steamed in banana leaves. One of the more unusual selections, the amphibious snakehead fish, is shipped frozen from Thailand. Raethong prepares the fish — which resembles a cross between a black cobra and an eel — by covering it in salt for 30 minutes then washing it off before steaming. Despite its frightening appearance, this is one of the most pleasant dishes on the menu. The salt brings out the sweetness of the buttery soft meat, which is then dipped in a tangy, mauve-colored tamarind sauce.

Chicken laab — minced meat sauteed with fish sauce, green onions, garlic, chilies, pepper, mint and lime juice — strikes a balance by being spicy yet light and refreshing. Raethong's version tastes fresher than Vientiane's. The dish also comes in catfish, duck and beef versions. Also on offer: Laotian-style curries made with less coconut milk than their Thai counterparts. Kang sum, a red curry with fish, pumpkins and white mushrooms, is one of the subtlest dishes on the menu.

All in all, complex flavors leave one full but not stuffed, with a slight tingling sensation on the mouth and lips.

Café de Laos, 117 S. 11th St., 215-467-1546.