Editor’s Note: The Tysons location of Sen Khao closed in July 2023 with the shuttering of food hall A Taste of Urban Space.Â
Posting enthusiastically on Facebook, chef Seng Luangrath, leader of D.C.’s burgeoning Lao food movement, shares a tantalizing picture of yaw deeb—summer rolls stuffed with a delicate, crepe-like omelet, vibrant greens (kale, lettuce, mint), banana blossoms, poached chicken and bean sprouts, and served with a spicy peanut sauce.
The dish is set to run as a special the next day at Sen Khao, a fast-casual restaurant that Luangrath and her son, fellow chef Bobby Pradachith, opened in November at A Taste of Urbanspace. That’s the Tysons Galleria food hall that replaced Isabella Eatery, which closed in August after a tumultuous nine-month run.
Here’s what happened: Starting in 2011, celebrity chef Mike Isabella built an empire that, at its peak, included 10 variously themed restaurants and several airport and ballpark outlets. In December 2017, he opened Isabella Eatery, a 41,000-square-foot extravaganza inside the mall, featuring nine mini-versions of his restaurants. Three months later, the star chef and several of his business partners were sued by a former employee for sexual harassment. Isabella aggressively denied any wrongdoing, but the fallout from landlords and customers was swift. By the time he settled out of court and apologized, it was too late. Isabella Eatery went dark at the end of summer, and by December his entire empire was gone, including a trio of ventures in Ballston (Kapnos Taverna, Yona and Pepita).
When Isabella Eatery’s doors closed, other windows opened. Urbanspace, a company that curates public markets—its U.S. headquarters are in New York—took over the sprawling food hall and offered deals to several local vendors. Among them: Andy’s Pizza, a spinoff of the D.C. startup Eat Pizza; Del Ray-based Stomping Ground CafĂ©; and D.C. favorites Ice Cream Jubilee and Donburi, a purveyor of Japanese rice bowls. The collective, called A Taste of UrbanÂspace, opened in December.
Luangrath and Pradachith, who own Padaek in Falls Church and Thip Khao in the District, were already busy preparing to open a third restaurant, Hanumanh, in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood. They took the Urbanspace offer after some deliberation.
“We decided that bringing our culture to that part of Virginia was really important,” Pradachith explains. “We had never done counter service before, so it was a good opportunity to see that side of the restaurant business.”
Sen Khao fills the space formerly occupied by Isabella’s Arroz (Spanish for rice). Ironically, Sen Khao means noodles and rice in Lao dialect.
“Everyone understands noodles and rice, but not necessarily the Lao part of it,” Pradachith says. Lao cooking uses ingredients similar to those in Vietnamese and Thai cuisine, but with more fresh greens, herbs and salad preparations; more heat; and more pungent flavors, such as funky fish sauce (padaek) and fermented soybean paste.
No build-out was necessary for the Urbanspace takeover; Isabella’s well-appointed kitchens and luxurious furnishings were practically brand-new. Luangrath brought in silk robes and panels, mortars and pestles, and rice baskets from her Springfield home as decorative elements.
Sen Khao’s menu, overseen by chef de cuisine Nyi Nyi Myint (Water & Wall, American Son, Kyirisan), is brief. It features two starters, a salad, two rice dishes and three noodle soups, plus a few daily specials, nearly all of which pack wallops of flavor.
The exception is an appetizer of curried potatoes inside two flaky pastry pies, which could use a bit more zing. But you can remedy that problem right quick by availing yourself of the condiment bar stocked with fresh and dried red chilies, sriracha, fish sauce, soy sauce and other seasonings.
Go to Sen Khao with a friend or two and order everything. The phak nam salad—crispy, deep-fried watercress leaves topped with Granny Smith apples, pan-charred cashews, puffed rice, sizzling garlic, dried shrimp and tamarind sauce—is a delight of crunch, tang, sweetness and herbaceousness. (A similar salad, bai mun, subs sweet potato leaves for the watercress.) Equally flavorful is nam kao, a crispy rice salad with sour pork or tofu, peanuts, herbs, fish sauce and lime dressing. Press a mound of it into some sticky coconut rice and pop it in your mouth.
Another sticky rice dish, siin haeng, finds top round beef marinated in palm sugar and fish sauce, dried into jerky and deep-fried. It’s essentially meat candy, made even better with a sriracha-vinegar sauce.
Chicken wing fans will love Sen Khao’s rendition, which are fried to crunchiness, then coated with jeow bong, a Lao fermented chili sauce, and a sprinkle of puffed rice. (Jeow bong shows up again in a daily special that I inhale—sliced breaded chicken cutlet over sticky rice.)
You also can’t go wrong with a teeming bowl of noodle soup with your choice of chicken, shrimp or tofu. I’m partial to khao poon, a medley of vermicelli rice noodles in chicken-lemongrass broth and coconut milk with red curry paste, although it’s meant to be more of a noodle salad than a soup, Pradachith says: “It has less liquid. You should toss it all together with its toppings: green and purple cabbage slaw, bean sprouts, sliced banana blossoms and fresh mint.”
Mee kathi, another vermicelli dish, is thicker and heartier, with more pronounced coconut and fish sauce flavors, and additions of chopped peanuts, scrambled egg, mint and cabbage.
But the standout is khao piak sen, a medley of homemade udon-like noodles in a chicken-lemongrass broth emboldened with fish sauce and loaded with shredded chicken. The noodles are cooked to order in the broth so that their starch slightly thickens the soup. This ensemble is then topped with cilantro, red and green onions, fried garlic, puffed rice and chili garlic oil.
Sen Khao doesn’t offer dessert—Danielle’s Desserts, with its terrific caramel cake, is steps away, as is Ice Cream Jubilee. Nevertheless, the food here raises the bar for food halls everywhere.
Some eye-roll-inducing commenters on Yelp have already complained about soup priced at $14. But guess what, folks? These are top-quality dishes with top-quality ingredients, prepared by top-level talent. Consider the deal you’re getting and enjoy it before you head off boutique-shopping at Prada, which is just downstairs.
What to Drink
Nonalcoholic drinks include sodas and cold Asian beverages, such as Oishi-brand green tea, coconut juice and lychee juice. Once it secures its liquor license, Sen Khao will serve beer, wine and Beerlao, a Laotian rice-based beer lager made by Lao Brewery.
Sen Khao
Tysons Galleria
2001 International Drive, McLean 703-775-2377
senkhao.com
HOURS
Monday through Saturday:
11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
PARKING
Abundant free mall parking
PRICES
Starters: $5 to $8
Rice dishes and noodle soups: $14 to $16 No desserts, no cash accepted