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Her take on the delicate steamed rice roll dish arrives filled with shrimp and pork; served with cucumbers, bean sprouts, ham and a drizzle of nuoc cham, it’ll leave you wanting to come back for more. This family-run pho shop with locations in Little Tokyo (recently rebranded as Vui Ve), Gardena and Alhambra offers a deceptively simple menu that packs flavor into excellent versions of Vietnam’s greatest culinary hits. Pho Ever’s approachable take on bun bo hue, tasty combination plates and cafe sua da (condensed milk coffee) are also worth an order—if you can tear yourself away from their delicious, flavorful bowls of pho.
Pho Akaushi
Sign up to unlock our digital magazines and also receive the latest news, events, offers and partner promotions. The event will feature abundant food stations featuring traditional fare, Mariachis, Mexican dance group "Oaxaca-Utah", and a silent auction with gifts donated by local Sugar House businesses. El Cholo has been serving Green Corn Tamales every Summer since the 1930s and the Sugar House location is celebrating the kickoff of the season with a bash on April 30, 2024.
El Cholo has been serving Green Corn Tamales every Summer since the 1930s
”We were relieved to know that he was ok but then it was just like oh my gosh as it got worse and worse. Then, you start thinking what if this was my house then it makes it even scarier,” says Best. Orange County’s Little Saigon was originally a one-and-a-half mile stretch of Bolsa Avenue in the city of Westminster. As the Vietnamese population grew over the decades, the original business and cultural hub expanded into the neighboring communities of Garden Grove, Fountain Valley, and Santa Ana. Today, Little Saigon is the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam, with a population of almost 200,000, several Vietnamese-language newspapers, and hundreds of restaurants spread over three square miles.
Rice Field
While pricier than most competitors (owing to the use of the restaurant’s eponymous American wagyu), true fans of beef phở will find the experience more than worth the splurge. Go beyond pho, banh mi and spring rolls with our comprehensive guide to the city's best Vietnamese eateries. Hidden away in the food court of Rosemead’s Square Supermarket lies Hien Khanh, a Little Saigon import that makes the very best Vietnamese desserts in town. Those unfamiliar with the genre may be a bit wary upon seeing legumes, seaweed, and root vegetables swimming in a sea of coconut milk, but there’s no need to hesitate because everything tastes stupendous.
For a family-style feast for two to four, order the dac biet cho ("special order") for a build-your-own summer roll affair that includes lettuce, three kinds of meat and ultra-thin shrimp egg rolls, plus a green mountain of herbs. While we’ve found better versions of bun bo hue, nem lui and the various regional rice cakes at South El Monte’s 5 Stars Hue, this nearby restaurant offers a few hard-to-find, delicious central Vietnamese dishes worthy of seeking out. For seafood lovers, there’s the com hen, a bowl of rice mixed with regular and miniature clams, sesame seeds, elephant ear (a type of celery-like vegetable), pork rinds, crushed peanuts and fresh herbs. Fragrant banana leaf-wrapped pieces of cha hue (Hue-style pork sausage) are sold by the piece, best dunked into the delicate, multilayered nuoc cham. We also recommend the Vietnamese-style papaya salad and the bun mit mam nem, a delicious rice vermicelli bowl topped with pork sausage, minced shrimp, jackfruit, peanuts and herbs. The fermented anchovy sauce served on the side gives the dish a pungent, but unforgettable flavor.
On the appetizer side, the restaurant offers well-executed creative takes on Vietnamese classics, from a delightful shrimp toast riff on goi cuon to a baby-back rib version of ram rang, or traditional caramelized short ribs. A handful of vegan-friendly items, including two kinds of plant-based pho, help round out the menu selection—and the all-around delicious offerings mean Camp Pho easily ranks as one of the best Vietnamese options on the Westside. A decade later, prolific South Bay chef Tin Vuong’s flavorful dishes still make for a delightful upscale-casual meal rooted in the fundamentals of Vietnamese cooking. Now with locations in Downtown, Redondo Beach, El Segundo and Irvine, the eclectic East-meets-West concept offers modern takes on bo luc lac, nem nuong and imperial rolls, caramelized shrimps, banh mi and even pho and chao (the latter two only at lunch). Not every dish completely lands, but the ambitious genre-bending menu, lively dining room atmosphere and a couple of standout dishes—we’re looking at you, escargot poppers—keep Little Sister top of mind whenever we’re in the mood for an elevated Vietnamese dining experience.
Unlike other pho shops in the neighborhood, Ktown Pho excels in other areas, with excellent banh mi, combination plates and delicious fresh rolls whimsically named after all four seasons. Follow it up with the com hen — a bowl of steamed rice, baby clams, sesame seeds, and fresh herbs served with a light clam broth. For those in the mood for spice, there’s a house special spicy pho, plus chicken, veggie and shrimp pho varieties, but the main draw here is still the beef version. The cheapest option includes lean brisket, but you can also jazz up your bowl with Wagyu beef slices, beef belly or bone-in beef ribs for a few dollars more. Help yourself to toppings at the self-serve station by the cashier after you order and enjoy. The key to excellent Vietnamese vegetarian fare is a killer mock nuoc cham (fish sauce vinaigrette), and nobody makes it better than the folks at Thien Tam.
My Dung Sandwich Shop
Vietnamese meatballs (nem) are a curiously loud bunch that snap and squeak at first bite. Here, grilled pork meatballs and skewers are served on grand platters along with rice papers for wrapping and a forest of greens for garnishing. At peak hours, Chao Ca Cho Cu is home to the tantalizing scent of grilling onions, turmeric and fresh dill.
Pho Hue Oi
Since 2003, this strip mall restaurant has quietly kept the South Bay fed on the kind of breadth of high-quality Vietnamese cuisine that wouldn’t be out of place in OC’s Little Saigon. You’ll find a deeply satisfying beef pho and the familiar Vietnamese takeout appetizers, but a step outside of your comfort zone yields solid versions of bo luc lac, broken rice combo plates and even the usually lackluster bun bo hue. A separate section offers Teochew-style egg noodle dishes (reflecting the Chinese ethnic group’s cultural influence in Vietnam). An expanded outdoor seating area and remodeled dining room have given Saigon Dish a more polished look and feel, but the brisk, no-frills service and weekday crowds showcase the fact that this busy spot in Lawndale hasn’t lost touch with its neighborhood roots. Broken rice reigns supreme at this San Gabriel spot located a stone's throw from Hawaii Supermarket.
This Exclusive Tour Pairs You With a Celebrity Chef to Explore Saigon’s Buzzing Food Scene - Robb Report
This Exclusive Tour Pairs You With a Celebrity Chef to Explore Saigon’s Buzzing Food Scene.
Posted: Mon, 30 Sep 2019 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Once a subsistence dish cooked by Vietnamese rice farmers with leftover product, these soft (and now intentionally broken) grains accompany a bounty of proteins, pickled vegetables and aromatic pork broth at King Com Tam. Choose from various styles of beef, pork, chicken and shrimp for a lighter com tam fix, but the combination plates containing steamed egg loaf (cha trung hap) also offer the hard-to-find traditional side dish. For a lighter, more playful texture, King Com Tam's enormous menu includes banh hoi—molded squares of rice vermicelli—as well as the usual bun.
A world of no-frills culinary delight awaits those who visit this cash-only strip mall restaurant in Alhambra. From the parking lot, you can already smell the heady, fragrant spices used in pho, but Nem Nuong Khanh Hoa is better known for its namesake grilled pork sausage served in fresh rice paper—a.k.a. Topped with shredded pork or dried shrimp, the delicate cakes made of rice and tapioca flour draw the subtle flavors out of their accoutrements, especially when doused in chili-spiked nuoc cham (fish sauce vinaigrette).
While the filet mignon that comes standard with every bowl is a cut above the rest, it’s Nguyen’s unparalleled broth that distinguishes her product from the dozens of pho hawkers in town. LA’s historic Chinatown plays host to some of the city’s finest Vietnamese cooking. Phở 87’s winding menu includes dozens of iterations of Vietnam’s iconic beef noodle soup, but the one to order is the pho dac biet that includes a bit of every beefy cut like brisket, tendon, flank, and tripe. Often imitated but never duplicated, the original Tan Cang Newport Seafood in this Santa Ana strip mall makes the best stir-fried lobster around. The signature lobster arrives piping hot, hacked into manageable bits, and ready for the taking.
The result is a thin crepe that’s crisp and delicate throughout with lacy, caramelized edges. Broken rice served with a plethora of proteins is what it’s all about at this long-standing restaurant. Toppings include shredded pork dusted in roasted rice powder, pork meatloaf, grilled shrimp paste, grilled pork, and more. From broken rice with all the fixings to noodle soups from every region, here now are the 21 essential Vietnamese restaurants in OC’s Little Saigon, ordered geographically from north to south. Choose from grilled pork, shredded pork with pork skin, or meat-stuffed tofu wrappers, and most importantly, don’t forget the fried egg to top it all off. This humble storefront (that also sells lottery tickets — don’t ask) might have Korean dramas with Vietnamese subtitles blaring from the TV and a surly looking Vietnamese lady taking your order.
Across these less densely populated regions of Los Angeles, you'll come across hard-to-find delicacies that will transport you to the streets of Saigon, Hanoi and Hue, Central Vietnam's major culinary powerhouse. Not every single one offers pho, but those that don't offer the country's national dish offer more unfamiliar, but no less delicious, items we'd recommend with zero reservation. Find southern-style Vietnamese food at this perpetually busy, efficiently run, and solid-as-can-be restaurant. Come for the blistered cha gio stuffed with ground pork and woodear mushrooms, and stay for a bowl of pho, a platter of broken rice, or cool vermicelli noodles. Since 2018, this bright, airy strip mall eatery along Lincoln Boulevard has delighted Marina del Rey and Venice residents with a rich, dark brown pho with strong notes of anise, cloves and cardamom. Simmered for 72 hours (versus just 12 to 16 at other spots), Camp Pho’s namesake soup showcases the deeper, funkier but no less delicious side of Vietnam’s national dish.
El Cholo was the first Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles and the city even named a street after the founders Alejandro and Rose Borquez. Neighbors Ali Best and Cristy Brett were preparing their kids for a lake day at Brett’s house. Brett says she lives across the street from the house that caught fire, and Best says she knows the homeowner. The victim is displaced, but uninjured and contacted insurance and the Red Cross to find a place to stay, according to the county fire marshal.
Dig into platters of broken rice prettied with seasoned wheat gluten molded into various forms, as well as classic noodle soups that manage to satisfy without any animal proteins. The original Tay Ho restaurant opened in Orange County’s Little Saigon back in 1986 and served banh cuon — delicate rice flour crepes filled with ground pork and woodear mushrooms. Fast-forward to 2022, and the eldest granddaughter of Tay Ho’s founder has modernized the brand and brought it to LA. While the house-special banh cuon is rightfully famous, it’s the fish sauce wings that surprise and dazzle.
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