Cooking doesn't get much simpler than this: steamed flounder seasoned with black pepper, ginger, cilantro, soy sauce, and lime juice. The preparation is minimal, but the flavors are fresh and bold. This is how Laotian-born chef Jeannie Ongkeo cooks her fish, and when she does, the fans come out of the woodwork.
Food like hers is rare in the U.S. outside a few small cities like Des Moines, where Lao communities have slowly grown since the 1970s and 1980s. In New York City, the only place to find homestyle Lao cooking is when Ongkeo helms the kitchen of her brother's restaurant Mangez Avec Moi, a modest Asian fusion spot in Tribeca that mostly caters to office lunchers.