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Lao Der

Super GemIrving Park · Lao / Thai Community-sourced, unverified
📍 3922 N Elston Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

Lao Der fills a gap that's easy to overlook until you notice it: per The Infatuation, it's Chicago's only current sit-down Lao restaurant, tucked into a small, wood-paneled, BYOB storefront on Elston Avenue that fills up fast despite a short wait.

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Nam khao (fermented pork salad, red curry, toasted puffed rice) at the city's only sit-down Lao restaurant — BYOB

The menu is a concise one-pager of Lao staples with a few Thai dishes mixed in, anchored by a nam khao — fermented pork salad built on red curry paste, peanuts, coconut, and toasted puffed rice — that reviewers single out as the must-order. From there it only gets more specific: esan sausage, a papaya salad called tum luangphabrang, a housemade-noodle chicken soup (khao piek sen), a lemongrass-and-galangal pork sausage served with sticky rice and tomato jeow, and a tamarind-glazed grilled chicken.

It's the kind of narrow, confident menu that only makes sense once you realize there's nowhere else in the city doing this cuisine as a sit-down experience.

Specials at Lao Der

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Hours

Hours not listed — check before you go
🥡 Takeout unconfirmed 📞 872-241-4879

Amenities & accessibility

❔Takeout: unverified
❔Wheelchair access: unverified

Location

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