In LA, you can’t walk far without stumbling upon a taco stand that’s offering some of the best tacos you’ve ever had. I was inspired to start my own food cart, Thum and Thum, in the heart of Koreatown. Instead of tacos, though, I sold the kind of street food you’d find in Laos, like spicy, pungent papaya salad bursting with bold flavors. LA’s rich diversity is an exciting playground for culinary innovation, a place where foods from different cultures evolve naturally, and sometimes intermingle. A few years after I started Thum and Thum, this laab taco was born, a product of my love for both Lao food and LA’s taco culture. The crispy rice paper shells are filled with flavorful pork laab and topped with a cooling avocado crema. Each bite perfectly captures my Lao- Cali experience.
This colorful salad is a feast for the eyes. Full of veggie goodness, the sweetness and spice are beautifully balanced with the fresh dressing that has a slight kick to round things out.
This dish is the ultimate mash-up between two gold-standard sal- ads: the classic steakhouse wedge (think iceberg lettuce and way too much creamy dressing) and the feta-flecked, veggie-stuffed chopped salad I grew up eating. I definitely surprised myself a lit- tle bit when I reached for iceberg lettuce as the base, but once I loaded it up with cherry tomatoes and cukes, fresh mint, and garlicky bread crumbs that work their way into every crevice and cranny, I realized it was the only choice. But the real star is the rich, creamy feta and yogurt dressing. I highly recommend serving some on the side for extra dunking, in addition to keeping a batch in your fridge for an impromptu salad or dip moment.
I think of salads in two distinct camps: 1) the classic tossed salad, where everything is added to a deep bowl and moved around to evenly distribute, and 2) flat salads built in layers on a shallow platter. The latter is best when you have delicate greens (like butter lettuce) that won’t take well to tossing. Building in layers also means that the construction of the servings will be roughly the same if you are the first person to be served or the last—no more lettuce-only bites for the last in line.
The Green Onion Salad recipe mentioned above:
Ingredients
Don’t tell me you’ve never had a salad sandwich!
Jeanette’s special recipe uses lots of fresh lemon juice, her homemade dried mint, and hints of clove.
There's still a little chill in the air when the first peas are ready for picking. This soup is perfect in the spring when young lettuces are around.
This fish, with its haunting edge of smoke, is a showcase recipe for a beautiful piece of salmon, or other oil-rich fish.