Sok Sab Bai: Restaurant Guide 2014

By MARTIN CIZMAR

2625 SE 21st Ave., 971-255-0292, soksabbai.com

[BAI BAI BAI] It's not hard to get adventurous at Sok Sab Bai, which is, if not the only Cambodian restaurant in town, certainly the most reliable. Inside this little house off Southeast Clinton Street, you'll find little-seen dishes like banana blossom salad with chicken, bean sprouts, fried shallots and fish sauce, fried jalapeño gizzards, fried chicken skins soaked in the house's custom hot sauce blend and amok trey ($12), Cambodia's national dish, made from fish that's soaked in coconut milk, then steamed in banana leaves. You don't have to order anything more exotic than limey, minty beef ceviche ($8) or grilled chicken with rice ($12) to find something special, though, as that chicken is marinated in the house's magical char siu sauce and chargrilled to a perfect smoky-hot-sweetness. Or try the Cheeky Buns ($7) which find that marinated chicken with pickles, jalapeño, cilantro and a little piece of fried chicken skin in a delightfully squishy steamed bun. MARTIN CIZMAR.

Pro tip:

You can get the house's addictive hot sauce, known as Da Sauce, to go.

Wednesday-Monday 5- 9 pm. $$.

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