Here’s where I talk about cockroaches and sausages in the same story.
I hate cockroaches, but I love spicy sausage. And therein lies my dilemma.
There’s a restaurant in Garden Grove called Royal King Elephant. The sign above the restaurant reads “Lao and Thai food.” This is significant because restaurants that serve both Thai and Lao food typically put the word Thai in the first position.
But here Lao comes first. If you can’t handle the intense funk of Lao-style fish sauce, they’ll make a subtler Thai-style version of just about anything on the menu. This is first and foremost a Lao kitchen.
Spicy, sour, fermented sausage made with pork, chilies and sticky rice is one of the pillars of Lao cuisine (and northern Thai as well). But this place does something that I’ve not seen anyone else do. They deep-fry the sausage.
It turns a beautiful burnt-orange color. Its edges curl and contort in response to being dunked into boiling oil. It is vaguely crispy, and not as sour as it would have been if it were cooked any other way. It is absolutely, without question, one of the most delicious things I’ve eaten this year.
The day after I ate this sausage and vowed to return regularly, Royal King Elephant got shut down by the health department for a cockroach infestation. This was not the restaurant’s first run-in with roaches and health inspectors, as I would discover when I dared look at the restaurant’s inspection history.
The restaurant has since reopened because of course citations from the health department in Orange County are merely taps on the wrist.
I guess as long as it’s fried, it’s still safe? Food for thought.
Royal King Elephant
Where: 9924 Garden Grove Blvd., Garden Grove
When: Lunch and dinner, Wednesday – Monday (closed Tuesdays)
Cost: $7.99
Phone: 714-638-1887