Though Seng Luangrath earned a James Beard Foundation semifinalist nomination for her D.C.-based restaurant, Thip Khao, everyone here knows that now-nationally famous crispy rice salad started in the suburbs. The crackly rice and crunchy peanuts and slices of pork sausage and cilantro and garlic and the heat and it’s just the right combination to make every forkful just … right. That is one of those dishes ordered before even looking at the menu at this small restaurant in one of the many sprawling strip malls of Seven Corners. Stay on the Lao side of the menu to unlock the best way to eat, with bright, brothy noodle soups and sweet-smoky-tender pork grabbed with a horseshoe of sticky rice. And while Luangrath may spend most of her time in the city now, she knows where it began: “Bangkok Golden is the foundation of how I started.” • 6395 Seven Corners Center, Falls Church
(April 2017 Best Asian Restaurnts)
