Khe-Yo tauts itself as a Laotian restaurant and that was pretty exciting to me because I can't think of any other Laotian restaurant in all of NYC. Considering how many restaurants there are in NYC, it's shocking to think that I can't name one other place focusing on food from Laos. There are tons of SE Asian restaurants, but they are all focused on Vietnamese, Thai, Fillipino and occasionally Malaysian food. To be honest, the menu here wasn't so wildly different than most of those places. The menu is pretty small compared to most Asian places with only 5 appetizers, 3 salads and 6 entrees. There were 3 of us and we opted to get the fluke salad ($13), coconut rice ($10), chili prawns ($25), grilled whole sea bass ($33) and the grilled half chicken ($22). Yes, those prices were pretty horrifying, especially when you know that you can get similar Asian inspired food for 1/2 the price in Chinatown or Flushing. But hey, you're in Tribeca and it's a Marc Forgione restaurant, so that's what you're really paying for.
We started with a complementary plate of sticky rice and a spicy/mild chili sauce - this was their version of serving a bread basket and told us to eat it with our hands. I do love a good bowl of sticky rice, but honestly it just didn't make sense to me for it to be served as an appetizer. I would have preferred it to be served with my entrees because there didn't seem to be any side of rice option. Next came the fluke and banana flower "salad". It was really thinly sliced fluke served with fresh mint, kaffir lime leaf, and galangal chips. This dish didn't really impress me very much and was pretty forgettable. Next they brought out the coconut rice. I had visions of this being similar to the amazing coconut rice at Pig and Khao, but this turned out to be more like crunchy rice balls. I didn't taste a whole lot of coconut flavor to it but it was a nice bite before the main dishes. I was just a bit bummed that we ended up getting our main dishes without any actual rice - that's so against any traditional Asian experience. The grilled shrimp came out next and they were soaking in a chili/curry-like sauce and came with ginger scallion toast. Since Anuja couldn't eat the chicken, we let her eat most of this dish and so I can't vouch for the taste but there was a lot of them and it was served with the shells still on them. Next they brought out the sea bass and half chicken. The half chicken was delicious juicy dark meat cut off the bone. It was a bit on the salty side but it was oozing with juice and it was made even better with the refreshing honey/cucumber vinaigrette that came on the side. This dish was pretty freakin huge, so it would definitely fill up 1-2 or even 3 people. I'm usually not super impressed with chicken dishes in restaurants, but this one was an exception. On to the main attraction of the night, the whole grilled black bass. My preferred way to eat fish is whole, on the bone with the head on but you rarely get that unless you are in an Asian restaurant, so I was thrilled to be trying this dish (even though paying $33 gave me great pain). It was grilled really well with the meat inside pretty flakey and tender. We literally picked the entire thing apart, leaving nothing left on the plate. I was super full by this point and did feel a bit bloated from the salt but it wasn't as bad as my favorite food blog, Immaculate Infatuation, made it seem. I was a bit concerned because they had literally just put out their review that morning and it was not so favorable. While I didn't think it was innovative or jaw-dropping, I did enjoy what we had.
By the time we left, this place was packed to the gills, mostly with what looked like Citi and Goldman folk (i.e. lots of banker/trader guys in button down shirts). I would recommend making reservations early, especially if you want to eat between 6:15-9pm. When I made our reservation the only thing they had open was 6pm or 9:45pm, even on a random Wednesday night. The host was kind enough to let us sit at our table while we waited for our 3rd person to join without any fuss. My main gripe with this place is the cost. As an Asian, it offends me to be paying that much for Asian food, but it's worth a trip at least once if you're really interested. Total bill: $50/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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