Nokmaniphone Sayavong’s Laotian-style grilled sausages are brute links of pork with a pronounced texture, intense spice and sour zing. Each bite is its own adventure. One piece may surprise with a quarter clove of garlic while another might be embedded with a whole piece of diced scallion. The bitter, floral sharpness of lemongrass is ever-present. The former restaurant server started selling sausages during the pandemic and opened her small restaurant in a Westminster strip mall in 2022. She coarsely grinds pork butt and aromatics for the sausages, building on recipes her mother taught her when she was a child in Laos. Dishes spark with acid and heat, whether it be the fish sauce and Thai chiles in the larb rib-eye or the lime-and-chile-intensive dipping sauce that accompanies the skewers or bits of fried pork belly marinated in coconut milk and ginger. She makes a version of the crispy rice salad you can find at many Thai restaurants, served with nuggets of cured sour pork and peanuts. But Sayavong’s rice is arranged in crunchy clumps that are soft in the middle and with a faint coconut flavor. It encourages an even more zealous appreciation for carbohydrate-intensive salads. — J.H.

9378 WESTMINSTER BLVD., WESTMINSTER, (714) 902-1338 l NOKSKITCHEN.COM

Fried pork belly with spicy house sauce.