BREAKING: Ma Der Lao Kitchen is NOT perfect

But it might be the best restaurant in Oklahoma

Despite what last year’s tax receipts showed, there’s always been something about dining at Ma Der Lao Cuisine that’s bothered me.

I can assure you it’s not the nam khao, laab, or sai oua sausage. Neither is it the daily soup specials nor the generally atomic spice levels the kitchen presents. Whatever was bothering me, didn’t stop me from going back and seemingly enjoying each experience more than the last. But after at least 20 meals, I realized the flaw I felt without seeing or tasting had to do with space and time.

It took lunch with bestselling author who never mentioned physics during the meal to fully recognize the dim, loud rectangular hole the restaurant space presents to the deliciously well-rounded culinary peg that is the menu.

Author Kevin Kwan was in town on the dime of The Library Endowment trust, which made him its keynote speaker for a Literary Voices event last week. I was honored to join Kwan along with Ba Luong, Jaqueline Sit, and chef Jeff Chanchaleune for lunch at Ma Der Lao Kitchen beforehand.

None of them knew I’d been working on a review of Ma Der for months. It wasn’t until this lunch in the restaurant’s coziest corner, splashed in natural light allowing Kwan to share his enthusiasm on Instagram, that I finally detected the glitch in space and time.

Kwan proved to be terrific lunch company. The author of Crazy Rich Asians and its two sequels China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems was astounded by the succession of greatest hits from Ma Der’s menu that followed. Chanchaleune presented Nam Khao, Beef Jerky, and Cheun Gai, both both jaews and sticky rice. He also made some off-menu magic withl chicken, pork skewers, Wagyu beef and a Lao interpretation of Tiramisu for dessert.

After that, Kwan had numerous compliments and questions. More on those later. The spectacular lunch was a reminder how we are living in the time of Ma Der’s menu. Don’t take it from me, take it from Bon Appetit, The New York Times and the James Beard Foundation. They all recognize it, so should the rest of us.