Chicken soup for the spice lover

Chicken soup is probably the standard cold-relief food in the United States. But for me, instead of chicken noodle it was a pork-wonton soup made by my Chinese mom. These days, I've learned to fight colds with Southeast Asian noodle soups like hu tieu, pho and khao poon. The first two are staples in Vietnamese cuisine, but most recently, I've become a huge fan of the latter, a dish perhaps most popular in Laos. Here's what it is: curry-chicken stew, rice noodles, fish sauce, lime leaves, cabbage, bean sprouts, mint, chili peppers and, occasionally, coconut milk. In other words, it's far more flavorful than chicken-noodle soup, and its spiciness can act as a makeshift nasal decongestant. My favorites come from Laos Kitchen (6227 Franklin Boulevard), The Spot (6048 Stockton Boulevard, Suite 170), South East Asian BBQ (557 Eleanor Avenue) and Asian Cafe (2827 Norwood Avenue). Note: My Cambodian in-laws make a similar soup called nom pachok.