BARGAIN BITE / Lao-Thai Kitchen

You want something a little exotic; your friend hankers for down-home, all-American food.

No problem if you can get yourself to Lao-Thai Kitchen, a charmingly wood-paneled 26-seat place on Albany's Solano Avenue restaurant row.

Kham P. Daniel, a Laotian chef, serves up generous portions of Lao and Thai food, including a shareable appetizer of goong hom pa, deep-fried marinated shrimp in sweet-sour sauce ($5.95); a mealmaker bowl of tom kha, the galangal/lemongrass soup ($6.95); and larb, the cilantro- and mint-fragrant Laotian meat salad ($6.95). A profusion of curries and other entrees (most $7.95) is available with chicken, beef or pork. Lunches ($5.95-$6.95) come with soup or salad and rice.

Meanwhile, the chef's African American husband, Earl Daniel, cooks up meaty ribs and hot links. These soul food dinners ($8.95) come with candied yams, a slice of properly crumbly cornbread and a choice of sturdy collard greens or creamy black-eyed peas.

So while you deftly weave through garlicky pan-fried rice noodles ($5.95), your partner can gnaw contentedly on some tasty ribs. And you might both agree on a glass of Woodbridge wine or a good imported beer to wash it all down.