About DC Restaurant Openings
A guide to the newest places to eat and drink.
Khao Nom. 2931 S Glebe Rd, Arlington.
Chef Seng Luangrath has focused on traditional Lao food at her flagship restaurant Thip Khao in Columbia Heights. At Baan Mae in Shaw, she branched out to other Southeast Asian cuisines (recently: Indonesian) and introduced more playful dishes (like “FiLao-O-Fish” sliders, a McDonald’s riff). Now, she’s leaning into the fun and doing more cross-cultural mashups at her newest concept: Khao Nom, a Southeast Asian snack-and-sweet takeout window located inside her Arlington Ridge restaurant Padaek.
Khao Nom—which translates to snacks or treats—serves small bits like pork jerky, curry puffs, or fried chicken meatballs with sweet chili sauce all for $5.99. A handful of sandwiches ($9.99) and bowls ($12.99) are also available. Among the highlights is a breakfast sandwich with a Lao-style chicken patty, scrambled egg, and American cheese. It’s served on youtiao, a Chinese doughnut that Luangrath has been trying to perfect for years. Meanwhile, Luangrath’s version of a cheeseburger includes a lemongrass beef patty, spicy mayo, and a Lao-style chili-lime sauce.
Luangrath is also riffing on Baan Mae’s popular “FiLao-O-Fish,” but with a full-size sandwich rather than sliders. The Khao Nom recipe is slightly different; She uses cod rather than catfish, which is battered and fried then paired with Lao chili paste and spicy Kewpie mayo (rather than Baan Mae’s tofu mayo). All the sandwiches can be upgraded to a combo ($3 more) with tamarind salt fries.
Sip your dessert in the form of a strawberry shortcake drink with floral “nom yen” syrup or a Thai green tea with boba, which differs from matcha in its jasmine notes. All the food and drinks are takeout-only, but you can grab a table on the patio and enjoy them there.
Right now, Khao Nom is only open Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 3 PM. But Luangrath says if it takes off she hopes to expand to weekdays. Eventually, she could see a standalone location too.
Luangrath previously opened a fast-casual Lao restaurant called Sen Khao in Tysons Galleria, but it was a “challenging space,” she says. “People are still asking, ‘Will you have something like that in the future?’ I’ve been thinking about that.”
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind DC’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
