About Thip Khao
 Date-Night-Worthy |
 Good Drinks |
Chef Seng Luangrath’s Columbia Heights eatery often takes the spotlight from its more modest sibling, Bangkok Golden. We can see why: The cooking tends to be hotter and brighter, the dining room is spiffier, and the bar serves creative drinks that go well beyond staple Asian beers—split a liter carafe of luad, a blend of Malbec, sherry, and citrus. Adventurers should heed the call of the “jungle menu,” an exhilarating array of dishes that run super-fiery (shredded green papaya with dried shrimp), exotic (minced-alligator larb), or both, such as an addictive chilledpho salad with unfiltered fish sauce and crispy pig ears. Though such a trip is doable in the Cheap Eats budget, beware going overboard—pricier proteins such as local blue catfish, and cocktails, can add up.
Also good: Crispy-coconut-rice salad with steamed pig’s ears; shrimp-and-mushroom-stuffed chicken wings; duck larb; sour-tamarind soup; ceviche-style shrimp; grilled pork neck.
See what other restaurants made our 2016 Cheap Eats list. This article appears in our May 2016 issue of Washingtonian.
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
