LAUGHING YAK
We began to construct Laughing Yak Restaurant from a long narrow space. Restaurants in the area with similar floor plans adopted kitchens in the back of the house with the restrooms flanking the hallway. When playing with the plan, I kept imagining more intimate dining experiences, especially because of the table top cooking of the Mongolian fare. The eventual kitchen floor plan allowed for a long window to the adjacent diners, who were offered fresh food to grill at their individual tables by the chefs. The grass cloth walls, original ethnic art and painted banners by the well known artist, Carlos Alfonzo, ornamented the interior. Fresh produce was displayed to offer the ambience of an outdoor marketplace. Mongolian sauces and condiments were served in handmade pottery on each table.