Little Saigon Adventures

Americas - USA West Los Angeles
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2018 Little Saigon goals:

-Use my Google-Fu and translate Mai’s Kitchen homestyle menu and try the other dishes. Or just get a Vietnamese GF.

-Vietnamese Bar Food, mostly seafood based. OC and Lau, and Tram Chim seem to be the 2 more popular places. OC and Lau seems more approachable.

-Vietnamese vegetarian food. Little Saigon has a lot. I also wonder if any of the Buddhist temples have food to help support.

-Dessert places. I know I could get away with pointing. These places are hard to crack. No English menu. Will use Google-Fu to assist.

-Explore the possibility of DIY Banh Mi. Meaning I buy hot baguette, pickled veg, and pate at one place and Chinese BBQ at New Duong Son to make my own Banh Mi. Or cook up some sardines in tomato sauce and put that in a Banh Mi, but over rice is heavenly!!!

-Check out some of the to-go places.
Looks tasty tbh.

-Bun Cha Hanoi. Looking for the best in Little Saigon.

-Continue to seek out the specialists.

-I really wish the fruit stores will do a mix cup of fruit like out in LA with the Rainbow Umbrella Fruit Stands. Seriously, can you imagine jackfruit, mango, coconut, dragon fruit, papaya, durian, soursop, lychee, star fruit, etc with a squirt of some limes??? Oh my gud!!

-Try more noodle soups!!! Bun Thang is one. There is a place doing Bun Bo from different regions.

That’s all for now!

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Sri Lankans do. We call it Gotu Kola. I have bad memories of my mother practically shoving the juice down my throat at the first sign of any sort of illness when I was a child. :persevere:

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@JeetKuneBao I admire your sense of adventure and fortitude. Let’s see if I can help with some of your goals…
Vietnamese Bar Food - I grew up eating all of that at home. Mom would throw all of the stuff into the hot pot. I’ve never had that at a restaurant before…super excited to see your adventures there.
Vietnamese vegetarian - Yes, most of the large temples have offer a food service side hustle. Chua Duoc Su (11111 Magnolia St. Garden Grove) has offerings on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the back of the parking lot in front of the nun’s dormitories (cash only…these ladies aren’t ready for FourSquare). They make “beef” jerky, curry, stir-frys, and this cold shredded vegetarian salad whose name escapes my memory and vocabulary right now (when you don’t use it, you lose it.) You also need to make it in way before noon because they do run out. Parking can be a pain here, too. My Mom’s been turning more into vegetarian now that she’s older…I’ll have to ask her for recommendations…I do know she’s been cooking a lot of it and using my sister as her guinea pig.
Desserts - Che (pudding) is big in amongst the community. My favorite is the che suong sa hot luu - gelatin with tapioca-like pearls (made to look like pomegranate seeds) in a light coconut cream. Another one my favorites is the tapioca balls filled with mung bean in a light coconut cream…it’s been so long that I’ve forgotten the name, too. Che bap (corn pudding) is also great if you like corn, and che chuoi (banana pudding) is good if you like banana. Com ruou (literally rice wine) pudding are fermented rice balls and the aroma reminds me of sake…the smell can be quite potent, but it’s really not very boozy at all. When we were little, The silken tofu in ginger syrup is also a solid dessert, but I think that qualifies as Chinese. Mom would buy it at Banh Mi Che Cali because of their cheap deals…she only made a handful of these items at home because they can be rather labor intensive.
DYI banh mi - I think you’ll enjoy this the most. You can source all of your favorites from your favorite locations and fill with your desired choice of meat. This was my Saturday/Sunday morning breakfast growing up.
Hope this list helps a bit. I’ll have to ask Mom for some more specific recs for you.

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They drink it in Malaysia as well.

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I was very underwhelmed w/ OC and Lau, but it certainly has that VN feel with the tables packed super tight together.

There’s another “nhau” place on McFadden…https://www.yelp.com/biz/binh-dan-restaurant-westminster

Used to be another “nhau” place down by Newport Seafood but evidently that place is now called “Pho Time”.

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7 courses of goat? I didn’t know such a thing existed…likely because Mom’s not a goat fan and Mom drove our dining growing up.

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most of the dishes there are too hardcore for me. I don’t think I can do it.

like this lovely example :https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/binh-dan-restaurant-westminster?select=2_H2-0gGYBgQCJrdMjRrSg

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Pho 45

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The window advertises Pho Bac aka Northern Pho aka Hanoi Pho

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The scent hit my nose and then I tried the broth and was hit with a strong punch of clove/anise/cinnamon. For the record I never had Pho in Hanoi, but I know that it shouldn’t be this spice heavy. Then was offered a plate of sprouts/herbs.

False advertising.

SGV(Pho Huynh or Pho Filet) or Turtle Tower in SF Tenderloin looks promising.

Sometimes I wish I wasn’t such a good nerd

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Nerd on, I say!

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Correction Food Nerd but good works!

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Thank you for the wonderful reply!

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Pho add ons you may not know about:

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Pickled onions, I enjoy these more like a side then a soup add on.

Nuoc Beo…the fat that is skimmed from the broth.

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diy banh mi:

for the closest airy crumb type of bread you will find to vietnam: saigon bakery/banh mi saigon 8940 Westminster Ave
Westminster, CA 92683 but only get the small loaves, not the long baguette

best pate: boulangerie pierre & boulangerie 14352 Brookhurst St, Garden Grove, CA 92843

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I already know I am going to have the egg Banh Mi at Saigon and across the street BBQ Pork at Lien Hoa for my own fusion Banh Mi

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Ben Ngu

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A Central specialist.

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Mi Quang. For me it’s about the interplay of peanuts, cracker, shrimp, pork, mint, lettuce, banana flowers and noodle all in one bite.

But…,

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The Banh It Ram. OMG out of this world! The texture contrast, and the flavors. What a bite! What a dish! Me and @ipsedixit are fans, so should you!

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Have you tried their chả Huế?

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Nope.

Is it something I should get next time?

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Last I was there, table next to mine was chowing down on some. I looked over, at first thinking it was zongzi, but no. Basically Viet steamed meatloaf? (excuse the stupid ignorant non-Vietnamese description). Looked quite good.

#VietSpam

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it’s the foil/banana leaf wrapped items at the cash registers of the central vietnamese spots like ngu binh and ben ngu. two types of steamed pork meatloaf, one is cha hue which is like the cha found in banh mi but with garlic/whole peppercorns. The other is cha oc, typically hotdog shaped and contains minced conch? and lemongrass.

both great for snacking.

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Minced conch. You had me at “hotdog shaped” but minced conch just takes it to a ridiculous level.

Thank you very much for the info.