{"id":418522,"date":"2026-07-30T21:19:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/418522\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T21:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:19:13","slug":"lao-sriracha-drives-a-cajun-asian-chicken-spot-in-fresno","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/418522\/","title":{"rendered":"Lao Sriracha drives a Cajun-Asian chicken spot in Fresno"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Davanh Davanh Phayarath-Khamsone shares her new Sriracha sauces she developed for her Cajun-inspired Asian restaurant Sticky Chix, which features fried chicken and sticky rice. Photographed Tuesday, July 28, 2026 in downtown Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com <\/p>\n

At most restaurants, an owner\u2019s identity shines through in some way.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s especially true at Sticky Chix<\/a>, a new \u201cCajun-Asian\u201d restaurant in downtown Fresno.<\/p>\n

It serves Cajun-spiced fried chicken with Lao-inspired sauces and sides such as egg rolls, fried rice, garlic noodles, papaya salad and more.<\/p>\n

Owner Davanh Phayarath-Khamsone was born in Laos, moved to Texas and Louisiana before coming to Fresno, scraping up culture and culinary know-how everywhere she went.<\/p>\n

In late April she opened Sticky Chix on P Street, just a few blocks south of City Hall.<\/p>\n

The little restaurant \u2014 in a trio of eateries at 744 P St. \u2014 is open from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays serving breakfast and lunch<\/p>\n

The logo of the Sticky Chix restaurant is a happy little chicken with a container of sticky rice. It\u2019s a fitting image on the T-shirt of owner, who laughs easily and likes to have fun on the job.<\/p>\n

Phayarath-Khamsone was born in Laos, and that family history is how she learned to cook Lao food. It\u2019s what led her to create the Lao Sriracha hot sauce \u2014 her version of the popular rooster sauce.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our culture, Lao people, we just love sauces,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Those Lao roots run deep.<\/p>\n

When she was a 6-month-old baby, her family snuck her across the Mekong River to escape the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a story that many Southeast Asian immigrants in Fresno share. Tens of thousands of Lao and Hmong people died<\/a> trying to escape war in that river crossing.<\/p>\n

After several years in a refugee camp in Thailand, Phayarath-Khamsone\u2019s family moved to Texas, then Louisiana.<\/p>\n

The men followed the welding jobs, her uncles and brothers working with oil-drilling rigs. The family landed in a one-stoplight town.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m from the country, alligators and all,\u201d she said. \u201cI actually had a real bayou down the street.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her dad shucked oysters for a living.<\/p>\n

Occasionally, he\u2019d roll up in his \u201cScooby Doo van\u201d and any kid who wanted to work for spending money would jump in. They\u2019d peel crawfish that was later sold in stores.<\/p>\n

Later on, they\u2019d pick peppers.<\/p>\n

Southern Louisiana, where she grew up, is thick with Cajun culture. She learned how cook with the spices: oregano, cayenne, paprika, black pepper and thyme.<\/p>\n

No stranger to hard work, Phayarath-Khamsone would get a job in Texas for Mercedes\u2019 version of OnStar, where she was the voice on the other end of the line during emergencies. In Las Vegas, she was a cocktail server at Mandalay Bay casino.<\/p>\n

She moved to Fresno at a friend\u2019s urging and spent 11 years dealing blackjack and poker at Club One Casino.<\/p>\n

She met her husband, Nith Khamsone, at his going-away party. He was leaving for Los Angeles, but he came back. And good thing, since they fell in love, got married and now Fresno is home.<\/p>\n

Lao Sriracha<\/p>\n

She had been talking about opening a restaurant all this time, but that\u2019s not what drives her.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the sauces.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted a hot sauce for Laos people,\u201d she said. \u201cLaos people, we like the umami flavor; we like it savory.\u201d<\/p>\n

So she created a Lao Sriracha sauce. It\u2019s a hot sauce that\u2019s a take on the popular Huy Fong Sriracha. Only, it\u2019s got a deep, savory flavor.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a ginger Sriracha that\u2019s less spicy.<\/p>\n

You can buy bottles at the restaurant. They\u2019re also for sale at R-N Market<\/a> at Herndon and Cedar avenues, Asia Supermarket<\/a> on Tulare Avenue and TBL Asian Market<\/a> on Clovis Avenue. Amazon sells them<\/a> for $11.95.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey sell pretty good,\u201d said Doug Gong, general manager at R-N Market.<\/p>\n

Most people put it on soups, or noodles, or anywhere they\u2019d use hot sauce, he said.<\/p>\n

Gong said he was intrigued by the sauce because it was local and from a woman-owned food company, something he doesn\u2019t see very often.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an alternative to Sriracha, which is a pretty popular hot sauce nowadays,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Satay Thai Kitchen & Bar<\/a> at Chestnut and Shepherd avenues also uses it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe flavors just pair very well with our dishes,\u201d said owner David Rasavong.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s seen customers put it on anything, including noodles, stir fries \u2014 even curries.<\/p>\n

Usually, they serve it in small dishes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we know it\u2019s a regular who likes a lot of it \u2014 here\u2019s the bottle,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Phayarath-Khamsone hopes the sauces eventually make it on the shelves of Costco and Walmart. Sales at the restaurant help fund that effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I just want to people to try it,\u201d she said. \u201cI want everyone to try it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Davanh Davanh Phayarath-Khamsone shares her Sriracha sauces at her Cajun-inspired Asian restaurant Sticky Chix Tuesday, July 28, 2026 in downtown Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com \"Davanh Davanh Phayarath-Khamsone fills a to-go box with garlic noodles from her new Cajun-inspired Asian restaurant Sticky Chix Tuesday, July 28, 2026 in downtown Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com \"Davanh Davanh Phayarath-Khamsone says the fried chicken at her new Cajun-inspired Asian restaurant Sticky Chix has been very popular, as she dips a piece into one of her two Sriracha sauces Tuesday, July 28, 2026 in downtown Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com \"Davanh Davanh Phayarath-Khamsone’s new Sticky Chix Cajun Asian restaurant offers fried chicken and sticky rice in downtown Fresno, photographed Tuesday, July 28, 2026. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com <\/p>\n

This story was originally published July 30, 2026 at 11:56 AM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Bethany Clough<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Bethany Clough covers restaurants and retail for The Fresno Bee. A reporter for more than 20 years, she now works to answer readers\u2019 questions about business openings, closings and other business news. She has a degree in journalism from Syracuse University and her last name is pronounced Cluff.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Davanh Phayarath-Khamsone shares her new Sriracha sauces she developed for her Cajun-inspired Asian restaurant Sticky Chix, which features…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-418522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}