Owl Owl Thai Lao Street Food

LAOS 🇱🇦
THAILAND 🇹🇭

COVID-19 UPDATE: There is one table in front in the shopping plaza. Indoors is open for dining, fast-casual style with orders made and paid for before taking a seat.

At the beginning of April, as the city began its move towards fully reopening again, a cute owl also opened its doors in Signal Hill and became another rare-ish opportunity to sample the foods of Laos. Unlike most places that have Thai and Lao in their title though, this does not seem to be a Lao restaurant also adding Thai food to their menu for greater reach.

Both cuisines, especially dishes that might be found by street vendors in each country, are featured just about equally on the menu, and the lingua franca on the day of this visit was definitely Thai. Before there is any food though, the vibe seems a bit off, or maybe they are just getting used to opening up to the world.

Despite having a seating capacity of about 20, they will not allow you to use their restroom, giving a lame excuse of needing a food handler's license to go through the kitchen and instead sending you to the barber shop next door or Office Depot across the street. Or perhaps you could try the guns & ammo store they share the plaza with?

When dishes like namtok ($12.99, above) start arriving, all is forgiven as the beef cuts are cooked to perfection and slathered in a spicy dressing of lime, toasted rice powder, chilis, cilantro, green and red onions, and tamarind.

Also full of talent is the moo ping ($9.99, above), five sticks of pork that have a delicious marinade and slight char from grilling. These really give the feeling of street foods they are going for, and the excellent nam jim jaew they serve with them for dipping is a spicy dream.

Less successful but certainly not a turn off, the Lao dishes sampled on this visit included a nice big bowl of kao poon ($10.99, below), a chicken curry noodle soup that is here made well on the sweet side with plenty of coconut milk.

Nothing automatically comes with sticky rice, which should probably go with many of the foods here, so do grab a side order to enjoy with dishes like their Lao sausage ($9.99, above). This is satisfying if not life changing, the pork links are full of lemongrass, galangal, and a bit of chili.

They offer Thai teas and coffees, as well as butterfly pea flower tea, but those might be hard to enjoy if your ride home takes a while. Hold it!

📍 2201 E. Willow Street, Signal Hill, Harbor.

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