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Weekend Pass | dining
Who would have thought you’d find some of the most authentic Lao food in the Washington area in a restaurant flanked by a tobacco shop and a nail salon? Or that one of the city’s best taquerias is a few doors down from a karate studio where little kids practice snap kicks?
TACO BAMBA
2190 PIMMIT DRIVE, FALLS CHURCH; 703639-0505, TACOBAMBARESTAURANT.COM
HOLLEY SIMMONS (E XPRESS)
BANGKOK GOLDEN
Bangkok Golden specializes in food from Laos.
6395 SEVEN CORNERS CENTER, FALLS CHURCH; 703-533-9480, BANGKOKGOLDEN7CORNERS.COM
There’s no shortage of stellar Thai food in the area. But Lao food? Not as much. You can get both at Bangkok Golden, where you’ll find a separate menu for each cuisine. (Combined, the menus contain more than 80 dishes.) Though it shares its western border with Thailand, Laos has developed its own style of cooking. “We use the same kind of herbs [as Thailand], like lemon grass and ginger and fish sauce, but the matter of cooking it is different,” says Seng Luangrath, who opened the 50-seat restaurant in March 2010. Of note is the Nam Khao (crispy rice salad) served with shredded coconut, lime juice, onion and ham ($9) and the beef larb served in a spicy sauce with lime leaves, rice powder, shallots and sticky rice ($11). Bangkok Golden’s success has come mostly from word of mouth, and Toki Underground chef Erik Bruner-Yang (no stranger to standout Southeast Asian food) is a fan.
Taco Bamba’s small interior belies the big flavors of its authentic ingredients.
Chef Victor Albisu’s position in Idylwood Plaza Shopping Center is an advantageous one: His mother’s market and butcher shop, Plaza Latina, is just a few doors down. “We get a lot of our ingredients there,” says Albisu, who also owns Del Campo, a South American grill in Mount Vernon Square. Albisu’s Latin American roots influence Taco Bamba’s offerings, which include Mexican standards like barbacoa, al pastor and carne asada tacos ($3 each), as well as inventive options like grilled pork belly and sweetbread tacos ($4 each). “We try to make sure our food is on-culture,” Albisu says. “Taco Bamba will never be anything but good Mexican.”
Try the carnitas (shredded pork) filling.
BRIAN OH
Some local restaurant gems are tucked away in nondescript mini-malls
GREG POWERS
STRIP
SEAN McCORMICK
HAVE A GOOD
Strip malls are most commonly home to a hodgepodge of tanning salons, tax prep offices and discount-mattress outlets, which may be why you’re overlooking the acclaim-worthy restaurants next door to those places. Because the rents are lower than those of stand-alone restaurant locations, strip-mall spaces often appeal to first-time restaurateurs. Many of the ones who made this list are first- or second-generation immigrants with a passion for recipes that reflect their culture. “People want to bring [their recipes] to their new home and share food from their country,” says Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University and author of “An Economist Gets Lunch.” Even better, Cowen says, the savings from these no-frills spots can get passed on to diners. We shine a spotlight on a few of our favorite eateries, chosen for their selection of fine-tuned dishes steeped in authenticity.
Miso is the most popular broth at Ren’s Ramen.
REN’S RAMEN
11403 AMHERST AVE., WHEATON, MD.; 301-693-0806, RENS-RAMEN.COM
Founded by chef Eiji Nakamura and his wife, Yoko, in 2009, this ramen house has gained a loyal fan base for its wokprepared ramen. Of the four varieties offered (miso, tonshio, shoyu and vegetable shio), miso is the most popular, Yoko says. It’s characterized by a rich, heavy, pork-based broth mixed with soybean paste, roast pork, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, scallions, onion and ground pork. What really separates the Nakamuras’ ramen from the rest are the thick, wavy noodles they use, which are imported from Hokkaido, Japan (all bowls are $10).
This story originally appeared in Express Sunday, a new weekend publication available for home delivery. To get the free paper, sign up at SavingsNow.washpost.com. To read Sunday stories online, go to readexpress.com.