Little Uncle

*** THIS RESTAURANT IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED ***

In a city known for its deep bench of Asian restaurants, Little Uncle is at the top of the must-eat list. Located in the very busy Capitol Hill area, it is a small place with no more than ten tables. Nearby parking ranges from really hard to impossible.

The menu is Thai Asian with a twist, every dish elevated above the usual by intricate seasoning. There are staples like Pad Thai and Noodle Bowls, but also dishes that are rarely seen. Pla Tord Nam Pla is a crisp herring doused with fish sauce and palm sugar, topped with green mango salad. Dungeness Crab Fried Rice is so prefect a duo that my scribbled field notes boil down to “why has no one done this before?!”

Dom Yum Wun Sen is a large bowl of bean thread noodles mingled with roast pork, ground pork, topped with fried won ton skin, peanuts, and wedges of lime. The flavors are not subtle. The menu and I warn you that the broth is spicy and intense. It is a perfectly realized dish in both taste and texture.

It  is hard for me to come back to Little Uncle and not order the same thing every time. That thing is Khao Soi Gai: coconut chicken curry with egg noodles and red curry paste topped with house pickled Chinese mustard, ginger, sprouts, and fried shallots. At first taste, Khao Soi Gai seems like Thai comfort food; but then its heat starts to kick in and opens taste buds to the multilayered ingredients.

If you get one of Little Uncle’s spicy dishes, make sure you end the meal with superb shaved ice. It is frozen condensed milk mixed with rhubarb and basil seeds.