100 Very Best Restaurants: #61 – Thip Khao/Padaek

Check out Thip Khao's Laotian happy hour for tasty cheap food and drinks. Photograph by Scott Suchman

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It’s been a decade since Seng Luangrath introduced Washingtonians to the spicy flavors of Laos. What started with a secret menu in a strip-mall Thai spot has evolved into a handful of Laotian restaurants. It’s a testament to Luangrath—and son Bobby Pradachith—that so many diners have been turned on to, say, rice salad with fermented-pork sausage. And that they—and we—keep coming back for more. Inexpensive.