When chef Seng Luangrath opened an outpost of her Southeast Asian restaurant Padaek in Arlington Ridge in 2023, the building had a takeout window that caught her attention. She began using it to facilitate carryout orders, but says she always had bigger plans for it. Three years later, inspiration struck. Rising food prices were a catalyst.
“I put myself in the shoes of the diners,” says Luangrath, who also owns and operates Lao restaurants Thip Khao and Baan Mae in D.C. “I was like, ‘Why don’t we just create an affordable place where people come and grab some snacks?’”
Her new pop-up, Khao Nom (a Lao phrase meaning sweets and snacks) aims to do exactly that. Small bites are a cornerstone of the menu, along with sandwiches, rice and noodle bowls, and milk tea. The snack window operates on Saturdays and Sundays during lunchtime for both takeout and patio seating. It’s been in a soft opening phase for the past month, with a grand opening planned for the first weekend in October.
Affordable Lao Munchies
Khao Nom’s modest menu prices range from $5.99 for snacks to $12.99 for sandwiches and bowls. The offerings include finger foods such as pork jerky strips, Thai chive cakes with soy-garlic sauce, and house-cut French fries finished with tamarind salt.
Rice bowls, including one featuring grilled pork with spicy oyster sauce, have been early sellers. Sandwiches offer a playful Asian twists on American favorites, such as a Fi’Lao O’Fish, piled high with fried cod and a hybrid sauce of jeow bong (Lao chili paste) and mayonnaise.
The chef’s personal favorite is a breakfast sando that finds eggs, Swiss cheese, Lao chicken sausage and fish-sauce maple syrup nestled between two patongos. Patongos are a form of Lao fried dough adapted from youtiao, a Chinese cruller.
Luangrath says perfecting the patongo recipe was a process that long predated the Khao Nom concept. “It took me decades to figure out how to make it,” she says. “Finally, I found the right flour and the right technique. Hopefully, the patongo sandwich is something people are craving.”
The beverage list features seven sweet milk tea drinks, each with the option to add boba. Luangrath touts the Strawberry Shortcake, a blend of strawberry milk tea, strawberry jam and syrup made from the fruity Thai milk drink nom yen. Also popular: a plant-based Mango Sticky Rice blending mango milk tea, mango purée, and sweetened coconut milk.
“I do a lot of research—a lot of eating out and drinking at places,” she says. “I follow what people talk about … and also kind of see what the market is missing.”
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From Pop-Up to Permanent Fixture
Luangrath’s creative gears are still turning and the menu will likely evolve. Early fans should keep an eye out for a new burger, as well as a Lao twist on a classic Vietnamese bánh mì with pâté, jeow bong (chili paste) and Thai sriracha.
Although she is currently calling Khao Nom a pop-up, she is hopeful the snack menu will have some staying power. “Our goal is to keep it open,” she says. “Hopefully, it’s a permanent concept.”
Find Khao Nom at the takeout window of Padaek at 2931 S. Glebe Road, Arlington (Arlington Ridge).
