I’ve been wanting to take a whack lechon kawali for a long time now. The first one I tried was made by the GF’s mom about 18 months ago and it was soo addicting. Lechon kawali is a Filipino dish literally meaning pan-fried pork. Technically, it is first braised, then pan-fried pork belly.

I’ve looked around for recipes and finally decided on one. For the most part, im trying to follow (and try to quantify) Market Manila‘s lechon kawali recipe.

What you need:
-2.2lbs. (1 kg.) liempo (pork belly)
I’ve only had ones with a very low meat to fat ratio so I’m trying to make one with a ton more meat.

-1/2 medium onion
-15 peppercorns
-5 garlic cloves
-2 bay leaves

Prep time: 3 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 25 minutes

First, boil enough water in a pot to cover the liempo (pork belly), about 2-3 quarts.

Split the belly in two. I split it for easier frying. If you want to leave it whole, by all means leave it.

After the water hits a boil, add the belly for about 1-2 minutes just to clean it. Pour out the water and rise the pot and pork well.

Add the onion, peppercorns, garlic, and bay leaves.

Bring to a boil then reduce to heat to about 60% or enough to keep the water at a simmer. I kept adding water to keep the level slightly above the meat. This smells amazing while it cooks!

We’re supposed to let it dry, and I also do not want to try to do that in the oven. I have noticed a lot of lechon kawali I’ved had has the meat part dried out. Maybe it’s because over drying before frying, or because it was over fried… But I’m going to just follow the recipe and find out .

I lightly wrapped it in paper towel and put it in the fridge overnight. This will get deep fried tomorrow. Check back soon for the finished lechon kawali.

As I we entered the parking lot to Brodard Restaurant, my cousin asked me “Uhh, why am I driving over parking spaces?” Exactly.

Why is the drive to the entrance lined with faded paint and crumbled concrete?
Why is this restaurant lodged behind the 99 Cents Only store, hidden from view from the main streets?
And why are there dumpsters and dead plants there?

Who cares. We came for nem nuong cuon (pork spring rolls) so none of that mattered. Nem nuong rolls here are amazing and completely make up for any physical appearances.

These people agree :

This destination isn’t just for nem nuong rolls though. With over 100 items on the menu, Brodard Restaurant serves enough rice dishes, noodles, soup, grilled meats, and desserts to ensure a hall full of happy campers.

I must say I was slightly disappointed with the construction of the rolls this visit. As simple as rolls really are, when they bring the order to our table there’s usually a wow factor (from me anyways!) from the simple and subtle work of art. You can tell looking through the rice paper how well it was rolled.

I’m just nitpicking, really and it was still delicious . Brodard sells nem nuong rolls in sets of three or four at $1.50 per roll. Two are big enough for a filling meal though.

Each order comes with a generous amount of a secret dipping sauce. It’s a fairly thick sauce with just the right amount of salty, and sweet that brings each bite to a new level of good eats.

Slicing this open with a serrated steak knife was less than elegant, but here’s what’s inside:

The wrapper is rice paper–the same as the type used in my Spring Roll recipe. Inside, there’s nem nuong (grilled pork), lettuce, shredded carrot, thinly sliced cucumber, and a fried eggroll wrapper with scallion inside. What a great way to sneak something fried! They also sell another version of this with ground and grilled shrimp instead of pork which rings in at $2.00 per roll.

I’ve only had the chance to try a few other dishes at Brodard Restaurant. The bo luc lac dish here is the best I’ve had in Little Saigon too. As much as horn-tooting can leave a bad taste in my mouth, this self-proclaimed “hidden treasure of Little Saigon” has yet to disappoint.

*photo: Nov. 9*

Food: A
Value: B
Service: B
Ambience: B+

Brodard Restaurant
9892 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove, CA 92844
(714) 530-1744
www.brodard.net

Sunday – Monday 8:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Wednesday – Saturday 8:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Closed Tuesday

When Zon Baguettes first opened, I got some sort of cheesy chain-store feel from their logo. “Don” means crunchy–”Zon” is where I get 2-day shipping with Prime.

With Hoolux, I got to finally try Vietnamese sandwiches–or banh mi, at Zon Baguettes. We got the Dac Biet (special) featuring headcheese, Viet bacon, porkroll (lol. ?!. cha lua), and the standard house mayonnaise, pickled daikon and carrot, onion, jalapeno, and soy sauce. $4.25.

The bread blew it and the ingredients inside didn’t compensate for it. Looks good though doesnt it?

It felt hollow and like it was lacking something. I wanted some crunch and chew to it. The one sandwich shop I got to visit in Vietnam is already burning Zon out of my brainz. Still looking for decent banh mi in Orange County–to Little Saigon!

Food: B-
Value: C
Service: A
Ambience: B

Zon Baguettes
14081 Newport Ave
Tustin, CA 92780
(714) 731-1366
Mon-Fri: 7:00am-8:00pm
Sat-Sun: 8:00am-8:00pm
www.zonbaguettes.com

That’s right SASOON CHICKEN. Even the posted newspaper inside doesn’t get the name right.

Sasoon dishes out consistently delicious Armenian food. They have tummy busting quantities at a very fair price. Over the years I have noticed the prices have slowly crept up, but it’s still decent.

I believe this is a family run business and the workers here are VERY friendly. They’re always happy to see a return customer.

I first visited yearsss ago when my diet consisted of nachos and.. nachos. Why would anyone come here when Taco Mesa was across the street?

What convinced me to visit Sasoon Chicken was PCH Hotdogs next door failing to hit the spot. Now I often find myself drooling for some Sasoon.

First, you need to be aware of the garlic. The paste you see below in the little plastic ramekins? Yes, that stuff!

This seemingly innocuous little plop of garlic is almost my reason for visiting. It has the consistency of butter. Melt-in-your-mouth smooth with a spicy kick of the garlic. The owners swear its just pure garlic, but I swear there’s crack in it.

The shish kabob sandwich:

Shish tavouk (chicken) plate:

Combo plates come with slightly sour potato, hummus, rice, pita, and your choice of grilled meat. If you’re a first timer I would recommend the super-juicy chicken plate. Hummus and pita go well with the meat.

Since the shish tavouk is so good, I would not get the beef again. There’s some sort of tomato paste on the beef which which hits me the wrong way and it just isn’t as flavorful.

Beef and chicken shawerma are also nice options to try. They are pitas stuffed with meat and either garlic paste or tahini and diced tomatoes.

I finally got to try the sujuk–an Armenian sausage. It was really dried out, and garlic paste barely saved it. This is really the only thing I haven’t liked here.

I would still be going here once a week if I lived nearby. I miss you Sasoon Chicken!

Sasoon Chicken
3440 E Chapman Ave
Orange, CA 92869
(714) 516-9600

We were heading back from an awesome concert for my birthday (!!) and were looking for some new good eats. The Hollywood area was jammed–no way we were going to endure traffic that bad to grab a bite. A Trusty a trusty mobile Yelp search for pizza lead us home towards Newport Beach.

There’s Pizza open at 1AM in Newport Beach! Near the bars, of course. So obviously we ran across a good amount of drunk, sweaty, thirty somethings using their friends as crutches. However, those drunks eat well.

This Audi owner sacrificing the hood of his car as a dining table can attest. He also didn’t want to be in my photo–haha, sorry dude.

Here’s the menu:

We scored a large 3-topping pie with a full side of garlic bread for under $20 after tip. Ours came with a very light tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni, canadian bacon and onion. A meal of champions. The crust was delightfully light and chewy, yet still crispy.

A full order of garlic bread came PACKED with fresh garlic and cheese on something like sandwich roll halves. I love it when there’s so much garlic it’ll make you breathe fire.

Great bang for the buck. I think these guys deliver too, so the next time I’m too lazy to drive for late night Thanh My, Laventina’s it is!

Laventina’s Big Cheese Pie
2819 Newport Blvd
Newport Beach, CA 92663
(949) 675-1980
www.laventinasbigcheese.com