The circle west; part 1

The conference ended around 5pm and David and I decided to locate little Phnom Penh in the LBC. We had heard from Zac Holtzman that 'Stacys' was one of the best Cambodian restaurants in the area. Our trip to Texas seemed to be coalescing on the horizon and this meal seemed to be the perfect dispatch.

'Stacys' was set in a large flat stuccoed building with terracotta roof tiles, the seating like a streamlined diner or a train-car. The junior waiter or food runner seemed nervous like he was waiting to make someone smile.

The first dish that came was Such KohNgeat (Beef Jerky), described in the menu as a slow cured beef that is made moist by deep frying. The dish came with a rice vinegar sauce with black pepper that added a slight sweetness to the deep beefy flavor of the dish, which was also more like extreme dry aged beef rather than say Jack Links, which is the unfortunate association to the word 'jerky.'

 

 The second dish was Thai Boat Noodles at medium spicy, which was barely tolerable for David. He said he felt like Bud from  Kill Bill when he gets stung in the face by a black mamba. This dish came with thinly sliced beef, tripe, and 'beef ball' which was sort of like a ball of bratwurst. The most enjoyable part of boat noodles must be the masochistic amount of heat derived from the fresh or sometimes fried chilies and paired with a rich beef broth. The dish also came with Chinese broccoli which set off a pleasant texture difference and slight bitterness to the soup. 

The final dish was Ngorm Sdao or sdao salad with 'three layer fat pork.' Sdao, something I've never heard of or had till today, seems like a mustard like green but had the flavor and feeling of bitter melon in the mouth, except slightly more refreshing than bitter but still severe. The dressing paired nicely for its simplicity: rice vinegar and fish sauce.