4 of the Best Laotian Restaurants in Los Angeles and Orange County

Lao food has been obscured in Southern California and all over the United States for too long, for a tangle of reasons. But a generation of Lao cooks is working to change this, with small food businesses and restaurants, social media campaigns and recipe videos.

Here are a few restaurants where you can find Lao cooks making a wealth of dishes to accompany sticky rice — from laap, the herbaceous, meaty salads seasoned with roasted rice powder (often Anglicized as “larb”), to thum mak hoong, the Lao-style papaya salad with an intense, umami-rich depth and tamarind tang.

Vientiane

The sisters Manoy and Kayla Keungmanivong used to work as cooks in their father’s restaurant, until they took it over about a decade ago. As co-chefs, they think of it as their mission to preserve traditional Lao flavors for their community and their elders, who visit the restaurant regularly. This means you can ask for bile in your raw beef laap, or for salted crabs with your Lao papaya salad, if you want. It also means deliciousness is everywhere — don’t miss the fridge full of relishes and housemade cured pork.

10262 Westminster Avenue, Garden Grove, Calif.; 714-530-7523; vientianelaothai.com

Musky Bilavarn’s fast-casual Lao barbecue restaurant has a tightly edited menu: just a few kinds of marinated and grilled meats along with a fishy, drippy papaya salad. Enjoy it all with your hands, using the sticky rice to pick up bites of food or swipe up chile paste.

1218 Magnolia Avenue, No. 110, Corona, Calif.; 951-268-6968; krazkais.com

Kop Jai Lai

Like many Lao restaurants, Kop Jai Lai might seem Thai at first glance, but Mannie Sithammavong has dedicated a section of her menu to Lao dishes like papaya salad, the slippery, aromatic steamed catfish dumpling mok pla, and a wide array of laap and noodle soups. The khao poon pla, made with catfish, is particularly rich and comforting. And the khao piak features a heap of Ms. Sithammavong’s housemade rice noodles.

15423 Chatsworth Street, Los Angeles; 818-891-1068; kopjailai.com

This roving pop-up in Los Angeles changes its name and menu with the seasons — you might know it most recently as Pholaosouphy, with a menu of hot curry noodle soups and comforting winter foods. The chef, Tharathip Soulisak, often plans his menus around what he craves at the moment, which might include nam khao tod, grilled sai oua or festive summery dishes.

Mar Vista Farmers’ Market and other locations; instagram.com/phakhaothip