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i
T WASNT until after my mom died that
I learned her real name. She escaped
Laos and changed it so the government
couldn’t find her. Vieng Sai became Phaysane.
When she got to Texas, she opened her own
restaurant. She cooked Thai food because
that’s what was familiar to Americans, but
added Laotian touches—a little more fish
sauce, a little more funk—to make it her own.
She put love into every dish. Now I do the
same. I spend time on foraging and fermen-
tation. My boat noodles took five years to
perfect, and I’m still adjusting. I make all my
curry pastes from scratch. It takes a lot of
labor and love, but as my mom always said,
without those things, food has no soul.
When I was working in the corporate world,
I lost myself. I was pushing to make more and
more money, but I was miserable. My mom
saw it long before I did. “You’re not that per-
son,” she told me. “Happiness isn’t tied to a
job title.” It wasn’t until she got cancer that
I realized she was right. I took a leave of
absence and cooked with her every day like
when I was young. I found what I’d been miss-
ing. Cooking is like meditation for me. I forget
about everything: stress, money, problems.
I think that’s what my mom had planned all
along. She never forced me to be a doctor or
a lawyer. She just wanted me to be happy.
At her restaurant my mom used to work
back of house and front at the same time. No
servers. No hosts. No line cooks. Just her. But
she always made time to have a little con-
versation with every guest. That’s why they
kept coming back. And that’s why, at Khao,
I always greet everyone, no matter how busy
I am. At the end of the day, people just want
to be taken care of. My mom taught me that.
—AS TOLD TO HILARY CADIGAN
How I Got
Where I Am
Small dishes help
create a Lao street
food experience.
Sirisavath and his
friends designed
and built out the
space themselves.
Moutsayhang is
a play on Hawaii’s
Spam musubi.
None of Khao’s
staff ever worked
in kitchens before,
but you can’t
tell from visiting.
CLOCKWISE
FROM TOP
By DONNy SiRiSAVATH
