So Saap
🇱🇦 LAOS / In a city with a wide range of Lao options, this sleek City Heights restaurant might be the most accessible for newcomers to the cuisine.
🇱🇦 LAOS
📍 4134 University Avenue,
San Diego, California
🅿️ Ample parking in plaza
🥤 Beer, wine, and sake
📸 All photos by Jared Cohee
for Eat the World Los AngelesQUICK FIXES are newly written articles a bit shorter than the regular long-form journalistic pieces. They are free to all subscribers. If you are on a free plan, please consider upgrading your subscription to continue to support the work done here. Thank you!It was less than two years ago when So Saap was so popular that it needed to move into this new space in City Heights. Even now the restaurant is regularly at capacity, making plenty of new customers here to join the legion of fans. San Diego may not be Fresno, but it is lucky to have a good variety of Lao restaurants to service the community.
So Saap is a little more user-friendly than a lot of its peers, making sure to ask about the spice levels new customers can take. It also has a good happy hour, and plenty of Thai food on offer, a cuisine that many Lao-curious folks might feel more comfortable with to start.
Gather at least a group of four to get as deep into the menu as possible, an array of Lao classics are all here. You can get larb and papaya salads at proper spice levels, although do be firm about your abilities as they might tone down things if they are not confident you can handle it.
Besides the dishes you may already know, make sure to try the mok fish ($14.99, below). This is catfish steamed inside of banana leaves with seemingly an entire box of aromatics. The fragrances of fish sauce also join this dance, a full party in each bite.
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