IN FULL BLOOM: The Lao hors d'oeuvres platter overflows with sausages, pork and beef jerky, anchovies, cashews and a slaw of papaya, tomato and carrot. : mike m. koehler

Like Cafe de Laos, Champa Laos is a classy place with excellent service, white tablecloths and a prominently displayed collection of elephant carvings. The orange walls are embellished with gold stenciling and traditional artwork. This being a strip mall, the decor is even more remarkable for its transporting elegance.

The restaurant's subtitle is "Thai, Lao and French Gastronomie" and it has a long, interesting menu of fish specials, curries and wok-fried delicacies. Of the three the French is the least visible, playing more of a supporting role via colonial influence in the other cuisines. Much more prominent is the cooking of Laos and the part of northeastern Thailand known as Isaan, which frequently agree on matters like sticky rice, papaya salad and sweetly herbal sausages. Champa Laos also features several dishes that are distinctly authentic to either culture.

For the most part we stuck with the Lao options, like the Lao hors d'oeuvres platter, subdivided and stacked to overflowing with various snacks: bulbous, spongy Lao sausages the size of gumballs, piquant strips of beef and pork jerky, silvery dried anchovies, and salted cashew nuts. In the center there is a mound of som tom (here called by its Thai name), a slaw of unripe papaya strips and tomato, redolent with fermented fish sauce and festooned with carrot roses.

Laap, a traditional salad of raw ground beef, pork or chicken, is considered to be one of the cornerstones of Lao eating, bringing together all the major taste categories—sweet, sour, cool, spicy—in each multitextured bite. Here, the bits of minced meat are sauteed and tossed with fresh coriander, fiery red chili peppers and a cooling lime-mint dressing.

There's an undeniably luaulike charm to the Thai blossom banana salad, a single purplish boat-shaped flower stuffed with sauteed banana blossoms, grilled shrimp and chicken in a coconut and chili pepper dressing.

On the entree side, the Lao selections distinguish themselves as being lighter, more delicate, and ostensibly healthier than their Thai counterparts. Aom Laos, available with chicken, beef, salmon or catfish, is an example of a fragrant, thin Lao curry. Slivers of meat float amid snow peas, carrots and cabbage in a lemongrass broth freshened up with feathery clumps of dill. On the side is the Lao and Isaan staple, sticky rice, which arrives in an individual size woven basket or hip khao. The glutinous grains are chewy, sweet and nutty, meant to be rolled up into balls with the fingers and dipped into the curry to soak up the broth.

A barbecue plate named for Laos' capital city, Vientiane, prominently features a smoky, garlic-basted Cornish hen. The tiny legs and breasts are laid out attractively with sculpted vegetable garnish. On the side is more sticky rice, this time colored green with the herb pandan, and another healthy scoop of papaya salad.

It's in the house specials where the three cuisines converge, like the King of Love, sea scallops grilled and polished in vermouth demi-glace. (For the most part, Champa Laos bucks the Thai restaurant trend of giving entrees menacing, hyperbolic names like Flaming Virgin or Evil Temple of Drunken Shrimp. There is, however, one intriguing calamari dish called the Screaming Mermaid.) Peppercorn catfish are crispy pieces of fish filet tossed in a roasted red chili sauce with "lesser ginger," a longer, skinnier version of the aromatic rhizome. On the Thai side, roasted duck marries well with a sweet, velvety red curry, chunks of pineapple, baby eggplant and grape tomatoes.

Vegetarian choices also abound here, starting with an appetizer platter of corncakes, golden-fried triangles of bean curd, slices of spring roll, sticky steamed Fuji apple and mushroom dumplings and an array of condiments. The list of meatless mains includes Thai noodles, vegetable curries and several tofu sautés, like the Wild Ginger, a mild mix of (adequate) ginger, tofu and mushrooms in sesame oil.

After all that, Champa Laos can be forgiven for offering only a short list of sweets. A plate of green coconut-suffused sticky rice is draped with slices of perfectly ripe, sweet mango, and then drizzled with more coconut milk. There are also homemade coconut and mango ice creams and a tray of bakery-made Western selections. We tried a small round coconut macadamia tart, which was crunchy, dense and sticky with glaze. It was most likely not authentic to any of the three listed cuisines, but hey, this is Raethong's kingdom. We're just lucky to be a part of it.

Champa Laos

BYOB. Credit cards accepted. No smoking. Not wheelchair accessible.