{"id":5945,"date":"2021-11-10T06:05:19","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T06:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eatlao.com\/?p=5945"},"modified":"2021-12-13T05:15:05","modified_gmt":"2021-12-13T05:15:05","slug":"chef-donny-sirisavath-embraces-his-lao-family-traditions-at-khao-noodle-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eatlao.com\/chef-donny-sirisavath-embraces-his-lao-family-traditions-at-khao-noodle-shop\/","title":{"rendered":"Chef Donny Sirisavath Embraces His Lao Family Traditions at Khao Noodle Shop"},"content":{"rendered":"
Donny Sirisavath\u2014the chef and owner of lauded Lao restaurant Khao Noodle Shop<\/a> in Dallas, Texas\u2014has been interested in food for as long as he can remember. In fact, it was this curiosity and obsession with trying new things that landed him in the hospital to get his stomach pumped after mistaking a box of rat poison for Nerds candy (in his defense, he was around five and the rat poison made the same clanky sound as a box of Nerds).<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of my childhood was just trying to survive with refugee parents and eat what was available to us,\u201d he explains, chuckling. \u201cI was a curious kid and got into things that I didn’t need to get to.\u201d<\/p>\n Growing up, Sirisavath spent his childhood in the kitchen with his Lao mother, who always provided him with cooking tasks, passing on her knowledge to him. Sometimes he pounded chilies and garlic in a large wooden mortar and pestle, known as a krok, or chopped vegetables. He never shied away from funkier ingredients: \u201cMy mom just gave me all kinds of stuff\u2014fish sauce, shrimp paste, just funky stinky stuff.\u201d When Sirisavath\u2019s mom opened a restaurant in San Antonio, Texas after moving there in 1989, Sirisavath was there bussing tables and helping out.<\/p>\n