Trieu Chau-Little Saigon Classic, Most Gangsta

At 1st and Newhope in Santana. Trieu Chau is one of the most famous places in Little Saigon, who hasn’t eat here? Some of you LA peeps that’s who, they open early and is about a 10-15 minute drive on Harbor to Disneyland.

Right now there is no sign:

Menu, the only side that matters:

What I also find I interesting is collectively amongst the staff they easily speak maybe 6-8 different languages here, all of the “Uncles”(waiters) are multi-lingual.

The name of this place refers to a region of China and the people from that region spread to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and all over SE Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, and Malaysia).

You come here for the noodle soups!


Got the House Special with Half Rice Noodle and Half Egg Noodle with blanched sprouts and Wontons (cost extra).
Closeup of wontons and shrimp.
The Special includes piece of chicken, liver, fish cake, fish balls, shrimp and a whole duck leg!!!:

I like to dress it up with a few green chiles, some white pepper, and crushed peanuts. Personally I avoid putting in hot sauce and hoisin, to me it ruins the broth. A little vinegar would be good. Speaking of the broth:

Big vats of the good stuff.

And the broth is great! Notice the pieces of garlic? Couldn’t tell you what’s in it but my guess is pork bones, chicken bones, and maybe some dried seafood?

Ohhh speaking of Pork Bones, for $2.something get the Pork Bone Soup!!! This is a great deal and the broth is different, more clear and with a slight hint of sweetness. Don’t leave without getting this!!!


Look at that! Don’t forget about the marrow!

Also had the siu mai, which is more like a pork patty, which means it is great with rice.

Pro tip: Get the Pork Bone Soup and go to Mi La Cay on Brookhurst/Westminster for the fresh made egg noodles for $1, and make your own noodle soup at home or for later.

The End/Fin:

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I don’t totally get the gangster references, and I can’t find my post about it, but I’ve hit this place up; really legit, almost impossible to eat a full bowl if you get 2 kinds of noodles lol

I like the dry option personally. There is not really anything else like it, but the hours make it virtually impossible for non-locals to eat at. I don’t think anyone living in LA could really make it happen if they work any kind of job that requires them to be in an office until 5 pm.

Would be fucking amazing if this place had reversed hours and you could hit it up at like 2 am after a night of drinking, or even just semi-normal dinner hours.

classic, most gangsta = OG = original = trieu chau was one of the original little saigon heavy hitters

or something like that.

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Can we get some kind of stickied list covering the other heavy-hitters?

I feel like they’re still among the top of known places to eat at in Lil Saigon. I wish I knew more places, but they all kind of get lost in wider discussion. It seems like people only ever go to Brodard, Garlic and Chives, Ngu Binh, Pho 79 (or Thanh Lich), or Saigon Bakery (or Trieu Chau).

I’ve got Com Tam Thuan Kieu bookmarked, but nowhere else really.

It would be cool if we had better coverage of the area, akin to how people eat in the SGV through Chinese places.

being a heavy hitter in Little Saigon during the 80’s doesn’t exactly mean you’re making chow worthy food, it just means you’re making $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Some other heavy hitters of this era…

  • Pho 54, OG location on Westminster next to the pool hall. OG is now long gone, but IMO Pho54 really started the mainstream pho game.
  • banh cuon tay ho - the OG banh cuon purveyor. outclassed by many, but still hard to go wrong here.
  • Favori - hasn’t been updated since the 80’s, yet packs a full house every holiday and most weekend nights. You come here for the roast catfish. While Thien An also does a good catfish and has bo 7 mon to boot, EVERY table @ Favori gets a whole catfish. Sometimes the catfish is better than others, but the other 9/10 times it’s still pretty damn hard to beat. I only put my name on the catfish and shrimp paste on sugarcane on top of thin rice noodles.
  • Newport Seafood - self explanatory
  • banh mi che cali - mua 2 tang 1 foreeeeeeeeeeeeeever (buy 2 get 1 freeeeeeeeeee)
  • com tam tran quy cap - the OG com tam (broken rice) IMO

I’ll add more when I can think of some more.

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Can you explain banh mi che cali to me? The one time I went it was horrible. The prices are not much lower than Saigon Bakery, who does the same 2 for 1 deal, and their bread is remarkably good, and always fresh. Banh mi che cali was like borderline stale, cold bread, and really sad ingredients… I don’t know how anyone could recommend it over somewhere making such extraordinary banh mi as Saigon Bakery… did it used to be good in the 80s (aka 30 years ago)?

they were the first to do buy 2 get 1, so they have a lot of brand recognition and goodwill. they also have a lot of locations. it’s basically the SoCal version of Lee’s Sandwiches. (I’m not sure what came first, Lee’s or BMCC. I just know BMCC was the SoCal one, Lee’s was the NorCal one, and then eventually the Lee’s people came down here).

They are certainly not the best sandwiches, but for the price they are more than acceptable for their target market.

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Why? For like $.50 more you can get extraordinary sandwiches from Saigon Bakery…is $.50 that big of a price differential? I guess your post just got edited; who is the target market?

Personally, I can’t taste brand recognition, but I guess that may just be me.

For the people that buy these sandwiches on the regular, I don’t think price matters as much as proximity. For instance, I stop by the BMCC on McFadden/Brookhurst on my way home from OC because it’s on the way. It’s certainly not my first choice for banh mi but hey it’s good enough, and they’re open 24 hours.

I guess your post just got edited; who is the target market?

Poor people.

I guess that’s fair enough.

I should have clarified my request originally.

I was hoping for a list of places with remarkable and unique Vietnamese food in Little Saigon today. Not like old famous places, or places known purely for the lowest possible prices.

I am guessing the list would be way different for that?

Meh

Some more OG’s

  • Vans Restaurant - you go here for the banh xeo.
  • Song Long Restaurant - The OG french/vietnamese bistro. Come here for classic VN bistro fare like their beef stew with bread, and they got a couple of noodle soups that I enjoy quite a bit. Along with some omelette dish that’s pretty good… The menu is like Jitlada’s, some good, some bad. Is there anyone else in Little Saigon cooking this type of food? The only other one I know is Favori…
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Have any recommendations?

com tam tran quy cap. Having said that, I don’t know of any little saigon purveyors offering snake river farms heritage pork chop on top of artisan shredded pork skin, with a side of grilled wild mexican shrimp, 63’ steamed egg omelette, and pan fried shrimp paste wrapped in bean curd, if that’s what you’re looking for.

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I mean, that sounds pretty awesome, but more just looking for unique dishes that taste amazing. Doesn’t have to be lux ingredients. Trieu Chau doesn’t use Peads and Barnetts pork and they still manage to taste pretty awesome.

if that’s your criteria, trung qui cap will definitely fit the bill.

To air up any future confusion from non-OC locals

“Little Saigon” can mean the cities of Westminster, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and Fountain Valley.

I refer to any Vietnamese place in these cities as a part of Little Saigon.

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Amazing how that community has grown over 3 decades.

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Yeah, holy shit, I thought it was just Westminster and some parts of Fountain Valley.

You mean com tam tran qui cap right?

Can you order anything, or is there a specific com tam to get?