Lao gas station food. Is it a thing? I suppose the answer to that depends on whether you consider two enough to be considered a trend. In any case, it looked good, so we ate it. Call it a guiding principle.
We happened to notice these things as one does in Fresno, by just driving by. On one side, we have Vai Vai Lao, sharing space with a Shell Station on Nees and Ingram Avenue, just east of Palm. On the other, Sandy’s Chili, on Ashlan and Cedar, sharing a wall with a 76. They also have another location, Sandy’s Chili 2, at McKinley and Cedar, also attached to a 76 (I guess that makes three examples). At any one of them you can grab a waxy bag full of egg rolls while you fill up a gas tank, something I never knew I wanted before now.
While “gas station food” generally conjures images of microwaved frozen burritos and slow–rolling hot dogs that have presumably been there since a previous presidential administration, in many Central Valley places, they’ve evolved into modest starter spaces for aspiring restaurateurs. Let us not forget that Mega Texas Barbeque, one of Fresno’s most-acclaimed food spots, was originally selling out of an Arco. It was there that they built, as I like to call it, a gas-roots following.
For Norida Somphoune, owner/operator of Vai Vai Lao, opening a restaurant was something that’s been on her “bucket list” for years. She developed a passion for cooking through hosting dinner parties and cooking for relatives passing through town, but her husband worried that opening a restaurant would mean long hours, seven-day work weeks, and non-stop bills (probably not entirely unfounded). Then seven years ago she left a job as a project manager at AT&T and suddenly found herself with some more free time.
“I love it when family or friends call or text me, ‘I’m hungry, can you make me Pad Thai,’ or whatever,” Somphoune says. “Having to cook up a storm to satisfy their cravings, those are my happiest days.”
She opened Vai Vai Lao about a year ago, which allowed her to bring her food to the community without the level of commitment a full-sized restaurant operation might require.
While Fresno has a sizable Hmong community, with many originally coming from Laos and other places in Southeast Asia, Somphoune’s food is strictly Lao and Thai. Lao food seems to tend more sour-sweet rather than strictly sweet, as well as more pork-forward than Thai, with the ubiquitous sticky rice as a staple side. The glutinous rice (which, FYI, doesn’t contain actual wheat gluten) is a bit more substantial, and holds together more than your Chinese takeout rice – better suited to being used as finger food, for dunking and mushing, sort of like injera in Ethiopian cuisine. That also, arguably, makes it easier to eat in your car or on the go.
Does that make the gas station uniquely suited to introducing Lao food to the masses? Hard “maybe.” All I know is, cheap, quick bites aren’t easy to find these days, and both places have those, plentifully and flavorfully.
Now then, onto pitting them against each other, as the format requires.
The parameters
For this Showdown, I couldn’t quite order the entire menu (the Sandy’s Chili menu is particularly expansive) but I did attempt to test “the hits,” doing my best to get an accurate cross-section of each and a basis for one-to-one comparisons.
The Competitors
Vai Vai Lao
Location: 525 W. Nees Ave., Fresno, inside the Shell.
No seating, but you can wait for your food near the soda fountain or mill around outside.
Sandy’s Chili
Location: 4245 N. Cedar Ave. Fresno, attached to the 76.
Definitely more of a mini-restaurant here, with a few tables where you can dine in and a more extensive menu.
Vai Vai Lao
Pork steak & sticky rice, $14.95
Little bites of seasoned pork, with side veggies and sweet sauce. The meat is very fatty, even for a fat appreciator like me. Lots of porky flavor. It has an Asian bacon quality to it, which is growing on me. The side cabbage is kind of superfluous. I squished the meat into some of the sticky rice and dunked it in the sauce for a home made sushi-roll-kind-of-thing, and, oh yeah, baby, that’s the ticket. I think this is The Way. Overall, a little more fat than I’d prefer – like more fat than meat – but solid.
Fried chicken, three pieces for $6.50
This doesn’t seem too breaded, if at all. It’s not quite what I think of when I think “fried chicken,” but lack of expected crunch aside, it’s super juicy and flavorful. Mildly sweet, excellent spice level (five-spice-ish flavor?). It tastes like it was probably fried earlier this morning (I got it around 1:30p.m.), so some of the thigh pieces are a little dry. When this is fresh, I bet it kills.
Somphoune notes that Lao fried chicken is traditionally non or lightly breaded. She uses rice flour (making it another gluten-free option), and says they usually cook it up late morning, ahead of the lunch crowd.
Laab gai (chicken salad) & sticky rice, $14.95
Shaved grilled chicken and herbs with red onion. Very fresh tasting and with a spice level that builds. I ordered medium and it’s definitely pretty spicy. I like this a lot. It feels healthy but flavorful, like something I could grab for lunch and not feel guilty about.
Lao pork sausage & sticky rice, $9.95
This sausage looks basically similar to the one at Sandy’s Chili (long and curved), though it has more char on the outside, which is nice. It’s a little more dense on the inside, with more unrendered fats. This one is sweeter, with a smokiness that comes through and a little more sticky on the inside. Very different from the other version, not as spicy or herbaceous, more meaty/smoky/sweet. Also very good. I went in planning just to sample and ended up eating the whole thing.
Vegetable eggrolls, four pieces for $5
These are more like Chinese restaurant egg rolls, sort of breakfast sausage-sized, with mushy veg on the inside and a sweet-and-sour dipping sauce that tastes like bottled sauce. It wasn’t entirely what I was expecting and is a bit of a step down. That being said, they’re fried beautifully and the wrapper is crunchy on the outside and so I’m probably going to eat them all in a matter of minutes.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10.
A couple items aren’t quite all the way there, but there’s definitely potential here. They’ve only been open for a year, after all. The laab is a nice little lunch, herbaceous and spicy and flavorful. The sausage is not quite on par with Sandy’s Chili’s, but still very good, and another tasty, simple, cheap lunch. The fried chicken was solid, though next time I’d show up a little earlier for it. The egg rolls didn’t exactly have a made-in-house-today flavor, but they hit the spot all the same. Definitely great for gas station food.
Sandy’s Chili
Fried chicken, $2 per piece
Similar vibe as Vai Vai Lao, as in: juicy but not breaded or crunchy. Sandy’s version seems a little fresher. It also comes with a sweet tamarind pepper paste that’s very good, but also a little hard to get on the chicken. Wasn’t my favorite dish here and I still destroyed it.
Lao sandwich (Kao jee pa te), $10.15
This is like a banh mi with all the fixins – steamed pork loaf, roast pork loaf, shredded pork, head cheese, pâté, mayo, sweet-and-sour sauce, chili oil, cilantro, and pickled carrots and daikon. The French bread roll doesn’t look as fresh as some that I’ve had, but it’s flaky on the outside and doesn’t taste stale. On the inside, there’s a mix of sweet tamarind, mayo, pickled veg, spicy chili, all the various porky meats, and pâté that is really doing something to me. That is… maybe the most perfect mix of ingredients I’ve ever had on a banh mi-type sandwich. Hot damn that’s good. Decently spicy, too (ordered medium). …Is this the best sandwich in Fresno? I am a fan.
Pork larb salad
Blood sausage in there? A bit much for me. Not quite as much lime or herb flavor in this as the Vai Vai Lao version, plus the iron-y flavor of the sausage is a little strong for my tastes.
Sausage & sticky rice plate, $9
This is a longer, curved sausage, shaped sort of like a linguica. The interior is very herbaceous and spongy. The flavor… lemongrass bomb, nice spice even without the chili paste that comes with it. Wow, that tastes fresh, not heavy or overly salty or sharp like some sausages can be. This is like a meal in a bite. I didn’t know sausage could be that good. I give this one the clear edge, but only because it’s one of the better sausages I have ever had.
Basil stir fry pork
Looks like your classic ground pork stir fry, which you can order with an egg on top (which I did). It’s tasty enough, but doesn’t wow me. Could maybe use more sauce? It’s fine.
Papaya salad, $9.23
Meh. Lots of fish sauce and spice flavor, but kind of uninteresting and watery outside of the spiciness. Looks like there’s more cabbage than papaya.
Pork egg roll, four for $5
Is there anything better than a fresh-from-the-fryer egg roll? I say no. These are a little bigger, like fat cigars. They come with a watery sweet/spicy sauce, looks like nuoc cham. On the inside, looks like glass noodles, pork, and julienned carrots. These are just what I expected, crispy on the outside, savory on the inside, with an extra spicy/fishy/sweet kick from the sauce. I could eat about 1 million of these, no notes.
Overall Rating: 8.5/10. The larb salad is definitely not as good as Vai Vai Lao, but it’d probably improve if I just ordered it without the blood sausage (I want to like blood sausage, I’m just not quite there yet). The fried chicken a little better, the papaya salad I would not order again. But the sandwich is truly fantastic, as is the Lao sausage. Vai Vai Lao’s sausage is good, this is just better.
The Verdict
Thanks to the sandwich and the sausage (both best-in-class), Sandy’s Chili gets the clear nod in a head-to-head matchup. That being said, Vai Vai Lao makes a fantastic laab, solid sausage, and even the egg rolls were very satisfying. It also has the advantage of being closer to me, on the north side of town. Both were a great introduction to Lao food in general, and Lao gas station food in particular.
