First launched as a mobile kitchen and then converted into the dining room of The Bur Oak Club on Winnebago Street in August 2020, Oh — the project of chef Jamie Hoang and partner Chuckie Brown — is inventive. There are examples of restaurants that have had other businesses in Madison’s recent past (e.g. the now-defunct Cortadito Express combo at the elderly Cardinal Bar or Hot ‘n’ Spicy organizing gangsters at the Viet Hoa Market since 2018), but Ahan has found success over the year when the club it was located in wasn’t even open.
The restaurant’s name means “food” in Lao, as if customers were encouraged to EAT, EAT, EAT, like the flashing neon sign of the restaurant in an elderly Warner Brothers cartoon.
While restaurants’ Instagram feeds feature gorgeous photos of traditionally served food, service is still almost entirely done in takeout containers, even for dine-in dining. For summer rolls or a pile of pasta, this isn’t too much of a burden. But the sadness of spilling khao soi broth through the slats of a picnic table while pouring it incorrectly – it stings.
Khao soi, a soup that is perhaps more commonly found with a coconut curry base, is prepared in Ahan with clear chicken broth in the style of Luang Prabang in northern Laos. It is mixed with minced pork, slender rice noodles and vegetables commonly found alongside pho, and crispy puffed rice is added for garnish. The soup is tempting, alternating between sweet from the tomatoes and peppery from the chili oil, and it tastes almost like minestrone from Southeast Asia.
For now, you’ll have to pour and mix the ingredients yourself into a disposable bowl, but Hoang says she hopes to be able to eat halfway through the meal indoors with fully portioned portions in the front area (currently it’s just a waiting area for takeout orders). -August.
Over the past year, I have enjoyed drunken noodles frequently and breathlessly recommended them to friends. Fatty, slippery pasta with a uncomplicated mixture of both cushioned and slightly crunchy vegetables, this dish inspired the discovery of pasta. Ahan offers to pay extra for “extra noodles” and this is absolutely the right choice.
The same goes for udon with red curry and a tangle of firm, pleasantly chewy noodles. The blast of heat from chili flakes makes this a dish that will hot you up in the winter or chilly you down on a sweaty summer afternoon. Sweet notes of coconut provide a calming counterbalance to the spice. The food was a pleasure. So-called chicken sandwich wars have been on the rise across the country during the pandemic in foodservice, and this summer Ahan introduced one in its own idiom. As you munch on the fluffy tempura-like dough, you come across a marinated chicken thigh (Ahan loves murky meat chicken, just like I love murky meat chicken) topped with seasoned mayonnaise, fresh tomato, and lettuce. There’s a bit of heat, but nothing to take your breath away. Just a finely prepared fried chicken sandwich. For now, it is only available on Sundays and Wednesdays as a special offer.
The appetizer section consisting of crunchy and salty snacks best suits the club character of Bur Oak. Summer rolls (cushioned, not fried) are meatless, but at the same time handsome and hearty, with lots of fresh vegetables. Meanwhile, Laotian egg rolls are crispy and peppery. The pork dumplings carry with them a delicious kiss of aggressive pan-frying. Grab some – or heck, all – of these snacks and enjoy the show.
There is bún and more noodle dishes, additional soups such as the more familiar pho and tom yum, and the excellent homemade Panang curry sausage with pieces of crispy rice; the sausage provides real heat. For a diminutive kitchen, there’s a lot of creativity in there. The wonderful little dessert jellies called khanom chan change colors and flavors from month to month; you have to see them in person to fully appreciate them.
If there was one mistake, it was the salted lime. It may be a classic summer treat, but I found it unpleasantly peppery and salty, with only a lackluster lime flavor to justify the name. Never mind, there are other drinks at the bar.
Hoang has some earnest skills in the kitchen, but there’s something personal about Ahan. It’s the kind of uncomplicated but thoughtful comfort food you might get from a family member, always with the encouragement to eat, eat, eat.
Oh
2262 Winnebago Street; 608-867-4001
11:00-21:00 Tuesday-Sunday
$6-23
ahanmadison.com, IG: @ahanmadison
