A sticky situation: Rice Box serves up Lao cuisine on wheels

May 16—July 20, 2023.

That's the day Sam Phommahasay made the leap and started the food truck, Rice Box.

"I come from a restaurant background," he says. "All my life, my family have had three restaurants back home in Fresno, California. We started that business in 1999. All we sell is sticky rice and chicken."

Phommahasay moved to New Mexico in 2012 and began working as a technician for various dealerships in Albuquerque.

"My family always pressured me into opening a restaurant," he says. "Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to be around cars. My dad always told me that restaurants will always be around. There's always going to be hungry people."

Then 2020 came around and he saw the popularity of mobile food explode.

"I talked to my dad about opening something in Albuquerque," he says. "But I wanted to start small and do a food truck and kind of work my way up to opening up my own little restaurant."

He purchased an 8-foot-by-20-foot food truck.

"I was a tech at Nissan and then Toyota and Honda," he says. "By that time, I was tired of cars and wanted to be cooking. I should have done this a long time ago. When I first stepped into it, I was scared because I wasn't sure how business was going to go. I'll hit my anniversary on July 20 and I haven't looked back since I opened. I'm working nearly every day, but it's all worth it. My only regret is that I should have done this a long time ago."

Rice Box focuses on Lao cuisine.

"It's Southeast Asian food, very similar to Thai," he says. "Thai and Lao are about 99% the same. Everything from the food to the culture. The 1% difference between the two is the dialect."

Phommahasay says Rice Box's menu is traditional Lao food — and everything revolves around sticky rice.

The menu is fairly simple and short — around four items — as Phommahasay is the solo operator.

There is a Rice Box Chicken that is deep-fried chicken thighs and drumsticks over a bed of sticky rice with a side of spicy bang paste.

The second item is Pork Sausage, which is pork belly, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, shallots, cilantro and chiles. It is also served with sticky rice.

Then there are egg rolls as a side dish.

The menu also includes a bowl of smoothies and Thai Tea.

Rice Box will regularly post their weekly schedule on its Facebook and Instagram pages @abq_ricebox.

Customers can also text 505-274-7575 to find out where the Rice Box is on a daily basis.

Rice Box takes cash and credit cards, as well as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.