If you’ve navigated the spicy, salty safari that is Little Serow, you know the Best Thing on the Menu (BTM): Si Krong Muu (pork ribs / mekhong whiskey / dill) is the very last dish. Repeat diners have learned to strategize and save room for these sweet, succulent, falling-off-the-bone pork ribs that have become a signature dish at the small hipster Thai restaurant on 17th Street. We are grateful week after week to see them remain the grand finale, while the rest of the menu undergoes weekly construction.

The BTM is worth the early-bird-special line-up that begins promptly at 4:30pm each night. The restaurant, while delicious, does not take reservations. This is a bit tough for the DC dining crowd to wrap its head around but frankly, the line is the best advertising you can’t buy.  If you don’t make the first seating, don’t give up. Chances are they’ll take you at 7:30 or 9:30 and the bars in the area are quite accustomed to watching customers wait for what an Agora bartender called “the text of magic.” When your table is ready, Little Serow texts you and you have ten minutes to get back to the restaurant and reclaim your rights to Si Krong Muu!

Si Krong Muu not your BTM? Share your favorites in the comments section.