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The chicken foot is classified. It's not on the menu, but it'south sometimes secretly bachelor if you earned clearance. First, even so, yous should call ahead to make certain Nok's Kitchen isn't already sold out of the khao piak, a Lao chicken noodle soup. Chef/owner Nokmaniphone Sayavong makes this soup only on Fridays and Saturdays, and pretty much everyone who walks through the doors those nights is hither for that. With or without a chicken foot, the khao piak is delicious.

The soup's house-fabricated noodles could almost be described as dumplings. Hand-rolled and cut from a mixture of tapioca and rice flours, they are thick and chewy, no two strands exactly the same size or shape. The broth is fragrant of lemongrass and lime and studded with tender chunks of chicken. Information technology'due south garnished with a flurry of crispy fried pork rinds.

Khao piak, Lao chicken noodle soup, at Nok's Kitchen in Westminster (Photo past Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Annals/SCNG)
Family-style presentation at Nok's Kitchen in Westminster (Photo past Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Annals/SCNG)
Lao barbecue craven thighs at Nok's Kitchen in Westminster (Photograph by Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Housemade Lao sausage and ribeye steak skewers at Nok's Kitchen in Westminster (Photo by Brad A. Johnson, Orange Canton Annals/SCNG)
Lao papaya salad with eggplant, pork loaf and fried pork rinds at Nok's Kitchen in Westminster (Photograph by Brad A. Johnson, Orangish County Annals/SCNG)
Sticky rice at Nok's Kitchen in Westminster (Photo past Brad A. Johnson, Orangish County Register/SCNG)
Lao-way crispy rice salad at Nok's Kitchen in Westminster (Photo past Brad A. Johnson, Orangish Canton Register/SCNG)
Nok's Kitchen in Westminster (Photo by Brad A. Johnson, Orange Canton Register/SCNG)
Fried pork rinds with chilis and lime leaf from Nok'southward Kitchen in Westminster (Photo by Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Register/SCNG)

If you come on a mean solar day when the soup isn't offered (it'south listed on the card as simply Lao udon soup), y'all will eat but as well. The menu is gloriously short — fewer than ten items total — so you might also get i of everything, except perhaps double-up on the grilled sausage. The sausage is how this place came to be.

Sayavong began making and selling Lao sausage from home during the pandemic, a small cottage business concern that took off and grew to include sauces and snacks, ultimately leading to the opening of this 24-seat eatery in Westminster. She makes the sausage daily with pork, red chilis and lemongrass. Information technology is deeply soulful, each seize with teeth bursting with pork fat and just begging to exist dragged through a spicy Lao dipping sauce. I could probably survive on a diet of naught more than Lao sausage and sticky rice every day for at least three months before going insane. And for what it's worth, I don't retrieve I've ever encountered better mucilaginous rice anywhere else in Orange Canton.

As skilful equally the sausages are, the grilled chicken could finish upward being the thing that makes this place famous. They're called "chicken skewers" on the bill of fare, merely these are not simply kabobs. Whole, bone-in chicken thighs are pinched and tied between ii bamboo sticks and and then grilled. They are are marinated in what I assume is a slurry involving oyster sauce, evident in the slight sweet of the skin. These take awhile to cook, and so y'all can't exist in a hurry. And typically zippo is served here until the entire order is ready, so presented family fashion on a traditional woven bamboo tray.

You'll probably want to have some papaya salad in the mix, which is expectedly spicy only not funky like some Lao papaya salads can exist. Sayavong says she doesn't like the taste of shrimp paste, so she leaves it out. To become that umami depth, she adds pork loaf instead.

The ribeye skewers are indeed kabobs: proficient quality steak sliced into cubes and grilled. These come with hunk of dark-green chili on the stop, which upon showtime glance looks a lot like a piece of okra. I should accept looked more closely before popping it into my rima oris whole. Luckily I had a full glass of dragon fruit lemonade inside attain.

This is the Lao restaurant Orange County has been needing. Nok's Kitchen is tiny, and the service can be tiresome considering Sayavong is basically a ane-woman show in the kitchen. You lot might have to wait in line, just one time y'all order and sit downwards you will exist very well taken care of.

Nok'southward Kitchen

Rating: ★★

Where: 9378 Westminster Blvd., Westminster

When: Mon.-Sat., dinner only

Phone: 714-902-1338

Online: nokskitchen.com

What the stars mean:

0 = poor, unacceptable

★ = average, may take some noteworthy qualities

★★ = very adept, above boilerplate, a neighborhood gem

★★★ = outstanding, exceptional quality, a regional standout

★★★★ = transcendent, world class in every detail

Ratings are based on multiple visits and reflect the reviewer's overall reaction to nutrient, service and ambience, taking into account a eating place's unique sense of place and bespeak of view.