For LA’s popular Thai hot-spot Night+Market Las Vegas debut at the new Virgin Hotels last month, Chef Kris Yenbamroong recruited Avenue Interior Design to nail the Sin City version of its signature eclectic, best-after-party-in-town vibes. Details such as electric orange paint, custom oil cloth-inspired tabletop patterns, and a polished chrome bar fully clad in marble took inspiration from the award-winning eatery’s homage to Thailand culture mixed with nightlife and just the right amount of kitsch. And—because Vegas—look up and you’ll find a disco ball suspended from the ceiling covered entirely in polished chrome panels. On the walls: a poster of Night+Market’s patron saint, Cindy Crawford, and Thai movie posters. “Avenue took my dream of combining a Thai countryside eatery with a French disco brasserie and made it better than I could have imagined,” said Yenbamroong.
In honor of its new venture, we asked the (multiple) James-Beard-Award-nominated chef to share his Pastrami Pad Kee Mao recipe. “I don’t think anyone quite knows where the ‘drunken noodles’ originated. Pad means “to stir-fry” and kee mao is a great Thai phrase that means ‘someone who is prone to drunkness,’ i.e., many folks who come to Vegas to celebrate. Are they called drunken noodles because they’re meant to feed people stumbling out of bars at night, or because some Thai cooks add a glug of Chinese cooking wine? I’m not entirely sure. What I do know is that we sell a ton of pad kee mao at NIGHT + MARKET, especially to the late-night crowd. This dish is not as iconic as pad see ew or pad Thai, but it does have many of the aspects people love about Thai food: it’s spicy, fragrant, and carb-heavy enough to function as a post-drinking meal.”
Ingredients
Pastrami Pad Kee Mao
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp minced fresh bird’s eye chiles
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/4 large red bell pepper
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and cut into strips
- 8 oz fresh wide rice noodles (chow fun), separated into strands
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp stir-fry sauce*
- 6 oz sliced pastrami (1/4 inch thick), cut into 1 x 2-inch ribbons
- Fish sauce
- Handful Thai basil leaves
- Ground white pepper
*Stir-fry Sauce
- 1 1/2 cups Thai seasoning sauce
- 1 cup oyster sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
- combine everything in a bowl and whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Keep in an airtight container indefinitely
Method
- Heat an empty wok over high heat until it begins to smoke, then swirl in the oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add the minced fresh bird’s eye chiles and minced garlic and stir until it becomes fragrant just a few seconds. Add the bell pepper and jalapeño and stir-fry until slightly softened, 30 seconds or so. Then quickly add the rice noodles, sugar, and stir-fry sauce, tossing to coat evenly.
- Once the noodles have absorbed most of the sauce, add the pastrami and toss again. Stir-fry until the meat is warmed through and the noodles have developed a slight char, then remove from the heat. Add a splash of fish sauce, the basil leaves, and a shake of white pepper and toss again to combine.
NIGHT+MARKET
4455 PARADISE RD, LAS VEGAS
OPEN FOR DINE-IN & TAKE OUT
BOOK TAKE-OUT OR RESERVATION HERE.
