A pair from Laos recently opened a cafe and bar that serves Asian comfort and ease food stuff on Milwaukee’s northwest side.
Sia Xiong and Johnni Sihavong named their new organization AN OX Café after their birth calendar year: the Chinese zodiac 12 months of the ox.
The cafe specializes in Lao and Thai cuisines, and features starters, salads, soups, curries, noodles, entrees and a hot fudge s’mores cake for dessert, according to its menu.
Sihavong said one particular of the most preferred salads so considerably has been the Larb ($15.99), a “meat salad” that has slender-sliced beef, rice flour, refreshing lime juice, purple onion and fresh mint. For soups, he recommended the pho ($15.99), which is designed with rice noodles, beef soup, beef, meatballs and tendons.
A preferred entrée has been the volcano chicken ($16.99), he claimed, which characteristics evenly breaded chicken breast served on a mattress of sautéed cabbages and carrots and topped with the restaurant’s particular volcano sauce.
He also suggested the pad kee mao, AKA drunken noodles (which starts off at $14.99). It options stir-fried wide rice noodles, eggs, bell peppers, sliced onions, garlic chili sauce and possibly chicken, beef, pork or veggies. Shrimp expenses an excess $3.
The cafe, positioned at 7411 W. Hampton Ave., has two eating places, each with a bar that serves specialty drinks, beer and wine. The back again dining place and bar can be reserved for functions, this sort of as birthday parties and conferences.
Sihavong described the space as rustic, industrial and clean up. A patio place lit with LED string lights will open up for eating when temperatures warm up.
Xiong and Sihavong — who came to the United States with their families in 1979 — have been doing work on their restaurant since 2018. The town assisted aid the challenge with grants, according to Sihavong.
The restaurant was prepared to roll, then COVID-19 hit, he said, so they decided to hold off on its debut.
Following web hosting some soft opening occasions to see what necessary to be tweaked, the institution held its grand opening Feb. 2. At it, Performing Mayor Cavalier Johnson exposed his economic advancement proposal for the town.
“We’re energized that we could open up, and then officially open Wednesday,” Sihavong reported. “And also sort of relieved we strike the end line.”
The cafe delivers the two dine in and takeout. The kitchen area is open up from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.
For a lot more data on AN OX Café, visit facebook.com/anoxcafe.
Call Hannah Kirby at [email protected]. Stick to her on Twitter at @HannahHopeKirby.
