@paranoidgarliclover thank you so much for coming and supporting such a great cause! With the raffle we raised over $2500 for The LA Kitchen.
Weāre delighted you enjoyed the food! Our MO has always been to promote Vietnamese cuisine so Iām so glad to hear this feed back.
As promised, off menu item from our uncle, a veal rancher, in TX specializing in be thui. Thui literally means blackenedāso the entire veal is roasted so itās thui but perfectly cooked inside. Only the outer blackened skin is scrapped off then Itās butchered and sliced thin with some thin skin left on. Itās prepared as a cold meat salad so we dressed it with ginger fish sauce, rau ram, pickled onions and watermelon radish, and coarsely grounded toasted sesame. You can see the slivers of the smooth skin and meat with the subcutaneous fat completely rendered outāso you have tender veal meat with slightly chewy skin.
I think most are familiar with the vietnamese egg rolls in rice paper, which is our preference. Itās a more delicate crunch with slight chewiness. I think what people loved was that all the Viet herbs to wrap it in were litterally picked from the garden 5 ft behind where they were sitting 
Sorrel, tia to, vietnamese mint, basit, etc.
The vietnamese goi (and itās many variations) is often overlooked and underappreciated. Each component was prepared separately and the pickled pig ears days in advanced. we stuck to the classic lotus root salad, goi ngo sen but added our own twist. While a simple salad can be great, viet goi has a lot going onāpickled lotus roots, pickled carrots/daikon, slivers of salted celery, the viet herbsārau ram, tia to, mintāthe key is to blend all these flavors and textures together. typical goi has boiled prawns, sliced in half and boiled pork. we opted for the pickled pig ears because again, texturesāchewy skin and crunchy cartilage. Same as the prawn-tender meat, crispy shell.
My grandmotherāvended pho in the 50ās in saigon and she taught my mom (grandma Ly) how to make pho. We use her golden ratio 1lb beef : 1 quart of water. If Viet pho restaurants did that, donāt think they can afford to keep prices below $10āit would be in the ramen range $10-14 per bowl. Yes, the meatballs are her specialty. she hates all the extra fillers the mass market commercial ones you buy at the markets. Herās are chewy, bouncy, beefy, just perfect. Sorry, we didnāt take great photo ourselves, lost in the sea of oxtail and shank.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo7qn_NhWok/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1l2om9xybamn1
We used thai bananas and yes, double battered and fried with touch turmeric for color.
The cake by #carolineadobocakes was amazing! she donated 3 of these. highly recommend her custom cakes for your future events. She takes custom orders and you can find her on IG @carolineadobo
A few scenary shots:
Sorry, no toto! 
