Laab gai at Thip Khao, photo courtesy of the restaurant’s Facebook page.
Dish of the Week: Laab (also known as larb or laap)
Where: Thip Khao, Beau Thai, Doi Moi, Little Serow, Soi 38
One sure way to beat the cold is to warm yourself from the inside out. Enter laab or larb, a spicy Lao/Northern Thai salad of minced meat or fish, chiles, rice powder, lime juice, and herbs. Tangy and floral, this protein-rich salad packs a serious flavor punch from a splash of fish sauce and finishes with a slow burn from the chilies.
Diners may be familiar with laab (also sometimes written as larb or laap) from Thai menus, but the dish is actually Laotian in origin. Thip Khao (3462 14th Street NW), D.C.’s only Laotian restaurant, is an ideal setting to try a variety of authentic laab preparations. Diners should be comfortable with nose-to-tail eating as the three flavors include beef tartare and tripe; pork, pork skin, and pork liver; or guinea hen skin, liver, and heart. Last weekend they even featured a special laab made with tree ant eggs—as in bug larvae. All salads come dressed with mint, cilantro, toasted rice powder, and a healthy dose of heat.
Doi Moi (1800 14th Street NW) is also a good bet, serving a rich laab made with ground duck and duck liver. For something a bit more tame—but still tasty—, try the chicken laabs at Beau Thai (1550 7th Street NW or 3162 Mount Pleasant Street NW) or Soi 38 (2101 L Street NW), the latter being made with minced fried chicken. And this week’s Little Serow (1511 17th Street NW) menu features a catfish laab covered in a hail of chopped herbs and crispy fried shallots.
Small Bites
100% locally-aged vermouth
Be among the first to taste Vinoteca’s (1940 11th Street NW) first batch of house-made vermouth at a complimentary tasting on Monday between 7 and 8 p.m. Bar manager Horus Alvarez will be tapping his first barrel of homemade vermouth, having aged it for four weeks with lemongrass, wormwood, and cinchona bark. The tasting is part of a larger vermouth aging effort: the next barrel will be tapped after four months or so.
Happy Ewe Year!
Late February marks the beginning of the Asian Lunar new year, and The Source (575 Pennsylvania Avenue NW) is celebrating the Year of the Sheep with a dumpling-making class followed by a kitchen takeover featuring famed Chinese toque Peter Chang. On February 18, the Source will offer a dumpling class at 6 p.m. followed by a special dim sum menu by Chang and Chef Scott Drewno and beer pairings from Atlas Brew Works. Tickets for the dinner are $50 and include food and drinks, or you attend both the class and meal for $100.
If you can’t make the Peter Chang event, there will be even more festivities on February 19. To mark the start of the Chinese New Year, the restaurant will transform into a night market replete with lion dancers, guest chefs, and a special menu featuring cumin lamb and whole fried rockfish. Tickets to the market dinner are $85 and can be reserved by calling 202-637-6100.
Bone broth is the new cupcake froyo cronut cakepop
In a world where everything old is new again, that stock your grandmother has been making for years is suddenly a hip new health food. This week, Red Apron (709 D Street NW) joined the meaty fray and now sells cups of 36-hour simmered bone stock at their Penn Quarter location. An eight oz serving will run you $4.25, but it’s infinitely more satisfying than a Starbucks latte on a cold day.
More Filipino pop-ups
The District seems to have an unquenchable thirst for Filipino food. Fans will get another chance to sample local dishes at a late-night pop-up being held at Daikaya (705 6th Street NW) on February 7 between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. The menu will focus on Filipino street food, and guests are encouraged to request their favorite dishes via social media.
