Dive right in Somphou Market

4444 W. Illinois, 214.330.9616

Kam Southammavong escaped communist Laos in 1984 and resettled in Wichita, Kan., where he apprenticed under a jeweler and learned the trade.

Jewelry making is Southammavong’s passion. He produces custom jewelry for many clients in California, where he lived for 21 years. He could do the work from home, but instead he works inside a cage at Somphou Market, the business he owns with his wife, Ly.

“We have an interesting place,” says Kam, who is soft-spoken and humble. “I’m a jeweler, and my wife loves to cook.” into the business for his wife. Their first was a hamburger stand in Irving that failed terribly. Kam says he lost almost six figures in 10 months. Then they went in with partners and started Koung Thai in Rockwall, which received positive reviews and still does good business. But Kam says he gave his share of the business to his wife’s younger brother because the commute to Rockwall took too long. Now they concentrate solely on their little market, about a block from home.

Below: Candy and produce share shelf space at Somphou Market. Bottom: Larb, a famous Laotian dish, is a meat salad that typically features duck sauce, lime, bean sprouts and cilantro. Somphou Market’s version is spiced for the Mexican palate and is their most popular to-go order. Right: Somphou Market owner Kam Southammavong runs the market family-style with his wife, Ly, and their three sons, Philip, Alen and Bryan.

Ly is the cook in the market’s takeout café, and one of their four sons usually runs the market’s cash register.

Ly produces Thai food in the café’s tiny kitchen, but it’s not authentic Thai food, Kam says.

“We cook for Mexicans and Americans,” he says. “Authentic Thai is too sour and spicy.”

But considering it is one of two Thai restaurants in north Oak Cliff, it is excellent. The café has a small menu, with pho, pad thai and fried rice being the most popular items. There are a couple of tables at the back near the 8-liner machines, but it’s really a takeout place.

This is the Southammavong family’s third restaurant venture. Kam says he went

They serve the whole neighborhood, but they’re also rooted in the small Laotian community near the market. Every Laotian community has a jeweler, Southammavong says.

“I’m the first one here,” he says. “It’s not very big, but we are here.”

Kam and Ly, who met in a refugee camp in Thailand and married in California, have four children. Their oldest serves in the U.S. Air Force, and the youngest entered basic training for the Air Force in January. The other two are in college.

The Southammavongs have visited their homeland recently — it takes 18 hours by plane.

But they say they never want to give up the freedom they have here.

Kam says that under communism, “you belong to them, and your life is theirs.”