The Food
This is egg noodles with some bite to it–served with sliced pork, wontons, bean sprouts, lettuce, in a rich, hot broth. I love this with soy sauce soaked jalapenos on the side. I feel so Asian dining at these kinds of restaurants.

You can get these noodles served with about 10 combinations including pork, chicken, duck, shrimp and wontons. Some places even have deep fried shrimp in the soup. At $5-$7 each, this is pocket change.

Lately I’ve been eating this with the broth on the side. My dad usually gets it this way and now I see why! The soup is sipped in between bites instead and this changes up the Mi experience. A very nice worker at Mi La Cay #4 suggested me to add about 2-3 tsp of spicy mustard (from the yellow squeeze bottle) and vinegar (yeah that bottle of red stuff isn’t soy sauce!) to the noodles, mix, and to be fearless.

If you are on a diet don’t even think about it. The meats are fatty and the broth is rich with oil too…

It’s almost making me forget about Japanese ramen.

Oh, soo good!

The Restaurants
But why are there three different Mi La Cays? And why do some of them have “China Chef” as part of the store name? I wish I could tell ya.

That nice worker I mentioned earlier turns out to be one of the family members and owners!. She let out that all of the owners of Mi La Cay are related and that this is a family run chain, but each place has their own recipe. Apparently it’s their game to talk smack and brag about how their own restaurant is better than the others.

Soup-wise I can barely tell the difference. But personally, my money’s on #4 (10078 Westminster Ave) because of the ever-so-friendly waitress and their smaller-cut jalapenos .

Mi La Cay
14092 Magnolia St #116
Westminster, CA 92683

China Chef Mi La Cay #4 (Uh, what happened to the others?)
10078 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove, CA 92843

China Chef Mi La Cay
8924 Bolsa Ave
Westminster, CA 92683

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

50% off bun bo hue is on their business card!!

Dec. 25th search for good eats led us to Thanh Noi. You also get a light tropical retreat feel to this restaurant.

I tried
bun bo hue,
banh khoai,
and some iced coffee.

Having never tried bun bo hue outside of home, and never having banh khoai (banh xeo though), the food here is well worth the low price.

Service was a bit slow but I’ll let that slide just because it was Christmas.

Thanh Noi Restaurant
413 N Euclid St
Santa Ana, CA 92703
(714) 554-9900

And why not? Caramelization creates a delicious sauce that is savory, sweet, spicy, salty, and thick enough to nicely coat whichever meat you decide to cook.

My cousin came over while I was preparing this dish and asked, “what stinks?!” It was fish sauce and vinegar. A lot of folks shy away from fish sauce because of the smell, but they should give it a shot! I don’t sit around whiffing fish sauce, but it’s a vital flavor component of the dish.

If you are really afraid of the odor in your house you can always cook it outside or as a last resort substitute soy sauce instead, but the flavor will not be the same.

And if you’re strapped for time and cash, this ga kho recipe is the perfect solution (recipe adapted from Food Wishes).

Ingredients:

the marinade
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoons brown sugar

the meat
1.5 lbs chicken drumsticks (you can use any cut desired)

the sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon ginger, minced
1 shallot, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced

last second additions
2 sprigs of scallion, roughly chopped 1/2″-3/4″ long
1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
1 thai chili, thinly sliced

vegetable oil for frying

Method:

1. Marinade in about 2 tablespoons fish sauce and 1 tablespoons brown sugar for a least 1 hour. Rotate and redistribute marinade after the first 30 minutes.

2. Combine for the sauce: 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup fish sauce, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 1/4 cup water

3. Then add to the sauce 1 tablespoon minced ginger, 1 minced shallot, and 3 cloves minced garlic.

4. Heat a pan on high heat, then add some vegetable oil. Add the chicken and rotate as it browns. This should only take a 1-2 minutes.

5. Turn down the heat to about medium so the chicken can cook through.

6. Add some of the sauce, just enough to color and kind of baste the meat as it cooks.

You could add the rest of the sauce now too, but I find it makes more sense to cook them separately so you can control the doneness of the chicken and thickness of the sauce independently.

7. Remove the chicken. Add the rest of the sauce and cook on medium high heat until it just reaches desired consistency.

8. Add the sliced jalapeno and scallion to cook just slightly as the sauce finishes. If you want more bite to the jalapeno, slice it thicker and don’t let it cook too much (same with the scallion).

Serve with rice.

“Filet mignon in chunks wokked with onions, mushroom, scallion & spices served with steamed rice or fried rice & salad.”

Check out my earlier post on Brodard Restaurant.

This Vietnamese Boiled Cabbage recipe is incredibly simple. What makes it different is the dipping sauce that goes with it!

Ingredients:
1/4 to 1/2 head of cabbage

fish sauce
1 hard-boiled egg
lime

Method:
Boil the egg(s), about 8-10 minutes.
Chop the cabbage into large pieces (about 1.5″ x 2″).
Boil the cabbage for about 2-4 minutes until tender.
Mash up about 1/2 a hard-boiled egg in fish sauce. You can add a squeeze of lime juice and some chile pepper too.
Serve with rice.

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

I was talking to my Dad about coffee and he was reminiscing about cups from the past. This man loves his cup of joe.

He’s completely happy here in the States, but has an incredibly fond memory of his life in Vietnam. “There was nothing like escaping from the rain–running into a coffee shop with a lightly damp raincoat. I can immensely enjoy a cup in that kind of atmosphere.”

Although we Vietnamese “owe” the availability of ingredients for this coffee to French colonization, this creation is Vietnamese. Vietnamese coffee is uniquely characterized by a combination of French roast coffee dripped through a Vietnamese coffee filter mixed with condensed milk.

French roast pairs exceptionally well with condensed milk. The Vietnamese coffee filter gives a stronger brew than that of an American drip machine and different than that of a French press.

Any French roast can be used, but the most popular brands for Vietnamese coffee I’ve seen are Cafe Du Monde, Cafe’de Paris, and Trung Nguyen. For this recipe, we’re going to stick with Cafe Du Monde.

Notice that Cafe Du Monde isn’t pure coffee! This grind is laced with the ground root of the chicory herb. This mixture originated in Europe during WWII when money was tight and expensive foods like coffee needed to last. Chicory root was used to stretch the coffee supply. After the war, the preference for the chicory flavor became a trend and exists even today!

What you need:
-1 heaping tablespoon (about 4 teaspoons) of Cafe Du Monde grind
-1-2 teaspoons condensed milk to fit your taste

-a Vietnamese coffee filter
-a glass for the brew
-a glass filled with ice

Prep time: 1 minute
Cook time: 3-5 minutes

Start by boiling some water. An electric kettle makes it a lot faster. I’m lucky my tea-loving roommate left it behind when she went back to Australia. I would have never thought to purchase one, but it I’m glad I have it!

Remove the metal filter and pour in 1 heaping tablespoon of Cafe Du Monde (about 4 teaspoons). I love the smell of coffee!

Twist the filter on gently until it just starts to stop. Then turn it little more, a bit less than 1/8 a turn.

If you wanted to drink this hot instead, you can put the brewing cup in a bowl and fill the bowl with hot water. For this recipe, we’re going to stick with the iced version.

Ideally you want to add the condensed milk to the cup before brewing because the boiling water actually cooks it. It does have a slight affect on the flavor. For this recipe we’ll add it after since most readers probably don’t know how much condensed milk they want.

To brew, pour a tiny bit of water in the filter just to wet the grind and to let the grind expand a bit. Also this will help rid of some small grinds that happen to make it through the filter. You can toss it out if you see any.

Then go ahead and fill the filter all the way and let it drip. Ideal brewing time comes to about 3 to 5 minutes so adjust the filter accordingly. Too loose and you’ll just have runny brown water. Too tight and nothing will drip through. The filter will be hot, so use a fork or another utensil to adjust the filter. Place the cap on and watch the coffee drip!

For condensed milk, I prefer Longevity Brand – Sua Ong Tho, because of the sweet graphic.

Personally, I like it a little bitter. About 1 teaspoon of condensed milk does it for me. If you like it sweeter add 2 or 3 teaspoons.

Pour the brew into a glass filled with ice and serve. Now make some for your coffee loving buddies!

Made from just rice and water, the neutral banh trang (rice paper) could be easily used in a variety of ways. At one Vietnamese market, I found no less than five brands of banh trang (rice paper) with multi-lingual packaging: Vietnamese, Chinese, English, and French.

Banh trang gets around. Cambodians have a similar roll also using the same rice paper called nime chow–made without meat and dipped in a vinegar based sauce instead of hoisin. The Chinese have a version with duck and cucumber with a hoisin based dipping sauce. Japanese restaurants are also commonly using regular and dyed versions of rice paper for rolls too.

For the meat you can really use any cut of pork you wish, but leaner works better. The shrimp can also be any size but a medium one helps make rolling easier.

At the bottom of this post you’ll find a Vietnamese Nuoc Cham / Spring Roll Sauce recipe too.

This recipe makes about 10 Spring Rolls.

What you need:
-1/2 lb. shrimp (36/40 size) (453g)
-1/2 lb. pork leg (453g)

-1 head red or green leaf lettuce
-a few sprigs of mint
-chives

-banh trang (rice paper / Spring Roll wrapper)
-bun (rice vermicelli, the starchless variety)

-1 1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 teaspoon sugar

Nuoc cham recipe (Vietnamese dipping sauce recipe, Spring Roll sauce)
-1 tablespoon Hoisin Sauce
-2 tablespoons water

Prep time: 25-40 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes
Assembly time: 10-20 minutes

If your shrimp is frozen, thaw it in a bowl of water until it is defrosted so you can cut into them.

Split and devein the shrimp. It helps to have a sharp knife
and a steady hand. I had to pull up a chair to get the hang of this. I also found it helpful to have a bowl of water to dip the nasties into.

Cook the pork: fill a small pot with water about 1.5 inches above the pork, add 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon sugar. Bring to a boil on high heat then lower to 60% for about 30 minutes. It is done when it floats or when it is no longer pink in the middle.

Cook the shrimp: fill a small pot with about 2 inches of water (just enough to cover the shrimp). Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Add the shrimp. Boil for about 1.5-2.5 minutes on 70% heat until the shrimp is no longer translucent in the middle. It will be quick so don’t go anywhere!

Remove the shells and tails and clean off any remaining shrimp intestine. Split the shrimp in half along the body. Try to picture how you want to layer the pork inside the roll so you know how to cut it. Slice as thinly as porkly possible so rolling will be easier.

Tortuna brand bun (rice vermicelli), and Flying Horse brand banh trang (Spring Roll wrapper, rice paper).

Get 1 gallon of water boiling. Add 1/3 of the rice vermicelli package and boil for 8 minutes (following the instructions on the packet).

Drain and cool the noodles under cold running water to stop it from cooking.

Wash and dry your veggies! I used an OXO Salad Spinner.

Add some warm water to a plate to dip the banh trang (rice paper).

Dip only before making each roll. It took me about 5-10 seconds of soak. Make sure to remove it before it gets to the desired softness so it’s easier to handle.

Rolling technique is entirely up to you. Do whatever looks good or makes you happy. Put less than what you think you need so the rolls aren’t exploding. Generally it will look better to show lettuce instead of noodles on the bottom. A tighter roll will look nicer and showcasing the meat on top makes it more appealing. Here’s what I did:

Add some lettuce near the bottom and leave about 1″ to 1.5″ space on the sides. Layer with some mint and some chives.

Add shrimp near the middle, color side down.

Add pork on top of the shrimp and some bun (rice noodle) on top of the vegetables. Make sure the rice noodle is spread evenly across.

Fold the sides in so its snug and add some more chives. Then fold the bottom up to cover the rice noodles. You want to keep the roll tight, so lightly squeeze it together as you roll. Once you reach the meat, ease up on the tightness so it doesn’t tear.

Nuoc cham recipe (Vietnamese dipping sauce recipe):
Add 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce and 2 tablespoons water to a small pan and bring to a boil. Pour into a bowl and cool. Add chopped nuts and some hot sauce. I used Koon Chun hoisin sauce, and Sambal Oelek chili paste (the one without garlic!).

Serve!

My parents or grandma would just throw some knives and knock some pans around and like magicians, they made delicious food appear.

Everyone in the family was lucky to have good food all the time.

A few years after my uncle moved out he visited asking my grandma and asked for this recipe he missed. Even incredibly simple dishes such as Dau Sot Ca remains out of reach until you can find one of those kitchen magicians for tips.

What you need:
-1lb. (0.45kg) firm tofu (okay, you can buy pre-fried tofu, but unless you live near a market or factory that pumps those things out daily, I would avoid pre-packaged fried tofu)
-5 medium, ripe, Roma tomatoes

-1 tablespoon tomato paste
-1/2 teaspoon fish sauce (optional, but you SHOULD!)
-1 teaspoon salt
-2 teaspoons sugar
-1/2 cup water
-oil for deep frying

Prep time: 35 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

Cut the tofu into smaller pieces and dry on paper towels or in a basket over the sink for 20-30 minutes. We want to remove the excess moisture to avoid oil splatter during frying.

I fried these in vegetable oil, keeping the temperature at 300F (148C) using my Polder Thermometer. Let the temperature hit 300F before adding. It should take 2-4 minutes until they brown. Like anyone else in a hot tub, these guys like to bunch together and stick, so move them around a little after adding to the pot.

Cut each tomato into 4 or 8 even pieces each. I’d cut them all into 4ths next time.

Add everything into the pot: tofu, tomatoes, salt, sugar, tomato paste, water, and fish sauce (optional).

Cover with a lid, bring to a boil on high heat, then reduce to 30% heat until the tomatoes are cooked. About 10 minutes total.

For this Dau Sot Ca Chua recipe, you can add a little more tomato paste for more color, or more water if you like it a bit more… saucy. As always, add extra salt or fish sauce to fit your taste. You can also stuff the tofu with meat before adding to the pot. That can wait for a future post.

Top with red chili flakes or freshly ground pepper. Serve with rice.