The Slanted Door [San Francisco]

After a dozen visits at all hours and with all walks of people, I can now vouch for the consistently impeccable food sent out by the Slanted Door's kitchen.

My standards for Vietnamese food are high--I grew up in the largest Vietnamese diaspora community in SoCal. Although the Slanted Door doesn't do justice to some of my Vietnamese street food favorites (mostly appetizers), it does amazing small plates and entrees. The dishes remainauthentic, highlighting the flavor profiles and textures common to the region, while ad-libbing elements that are complimentary, though not necessarily traditional, to Vietnamese cuisine.

It’s tempting to make a meal of the classics. The lamb is always interesting, the shaking beef, solid, the dungeness crab glass noodles, subtle and the claypot catfish, a no-brainer. No more.

We started with the only two appetizers I haven’t had: the Kabocha Squash Rice Cakes ($8.5) and the Alaskan Black Cod Rolls ($12). I’ve never met a starchy sweet squash I didn’t like, so the flavors were a no-brainer on that one. However, the cakes were on the oily side and even left a ring of grease glistening on my plate. The ingredients of the rolls were muddled and each bite had to be drowned in diluted fish sauce before any flavor could be detected. Such has been my experience with appetizers at the Slanted Door—they’re too timid for my seasoned palate.

First off, no one ever said that eating in a chic dining room with floor-to-ceiling views of the bay would be cheap. What is considered a small plate at the Slanted Door is often the size entrée portion anywhere else with the difference being that you order more plates than there are people to compensate for family-style sharing. On the upside, you get a reasonable amount of food for what you pay for. On the downside, you order more food than necessary and you don’t feel like you’re getting a deal at $30 for a tapas plate.

The Grilled Niman Ranch Rib Eye ($29.5) was a fan of eight succulent slices of brand-name beef plated with a tangle of mushrooms and onions. The flavor was reminiscent of the soy sauce-marinated steaks my parents grill, though the fatty rib eye absorbs the flavors much better than the lean cuts of steak we eat at home. The garlic-soy dipping sauce was a welcomed departure from the butters and creams often ladled on steaks, though it was completely on brand with the savories of Vietnamese cuisine. The Caramelized Prawns overflowed with fleshy shrimp and were distinct without being overpowering.

Over the last four years, I've found the service at the Slanted Door to be consistently brusque. Hipster waiters wearing all black are colder than ice, though always polite. There is an air of pretension even in the bathrooms, which are cleaned and presented after every use.

Most high-end Vietnamese restaurants sell tame versions of the traditionals at inflated prices--others plate ingredients and preparations that may be Pan-Asian, but certainly not Vietnamese. The Slanted Door manages to balance the inventiveness and integrity that it takes to bring a regional cuisine to the next level.

The Slanted Door
1 Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 861-8032

My Vi Mi Gia #2 [Garden Grove]

As the name would suggest, My Vi Mi Gia specialized in mi, or Chinese-style egg noodle soup. While it is owned and operated by Vietnamese people out of Little Saigon, it is no less authentic or lip-smacking good.

My Vi Mi Gia's Mi Hoanh Thanh (Wonton Noodle Soup) comes piled with meats, fish balls, and wontons for your enjoyment. The soup is a straightforward brew of chicken broth, green onions, soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil and is well balanced without being greasy. Mi nuoc (soup noodles) is often eaten with dau chao quay, which are deep-fried breads that are similar to croissants on the inside without the flaky exterior. They are also known as Chinese doughnuts.

Who in their right minds would want noodle soup in the sweltering heat, you ask? The solution lies in mi kho, which literally translates to "dry noodles" and includes everything you'd get in your mi nuoc with the nuoc leo (soup) brought on the side. The other distinguishing mark is that the noodles are mixed with dau hao (oyster sauce) for flavor.

My Vi Mi Gia #2 serves nothing out of the ordinary and though the food may not blow your mind, it is a solid choice for mi noodles. Oh yeah, and it's pretty clean to boot.

My Vi Mi Gia #2
10141 Westminster Ave, Ste J
Garden Grove, CA 92843
(714) 537-3386

Sandwich Planet [Westminster]

With the upscale Vietnamese remodels popping up all over town, I would have never thought to go looking for elegant Vietnamese in an unassuming sandwich shop, which used to house a Billy Boy’s Burgers.

No one in their right mind would drive all the way out here for a sandwich when there are countless, cheaper options in the heart of Little Saigon. But thanks to an advertisement on the Vietnamese radio, we learned that they offered a small menu of lunch and dinner specialties.

Intrigued, we came with two objectives: (1) Xoi Ga Ro Ti, $6 and (2) Com Chay Ca Salmon, $7.25.

Xoi refers to glutinous rice, which is usually sweetened with coconut milk and found most commonly in Vietnamese desserts. The consistency of xoi is closer to sticky rice than it is to risotto and while it can come in a rainbow of colors, today’s was a muted brown. Sandwich Planet’s savory xoi came with fried shallots and featured only a touch of sweetness to brighten the fragrant peppercorns encrusting the Ga Ro Ti (rotisserie chicken). The thigh was moist with the seasonings steeping straight down to the bone.

I have been on the prowl for a moderately priced lunch portion of fish for some time now and finally found success with Sandwich Planet’s Com Chay Ca Salmon. At $7.25, you get a spice-rubbed (salt, pepper, garlic) filet of salmon whose crisp char only pales in comparison to the pandan-leaf crispy rice it sits atop.

Com Chay Ca Salmon

The crispy rice is made with short-grain granules that crumble apart like couscous and the whole dish is accompanied by a slightly thickened and spicy fish sauce. The sauce gives the dish moisture, while the flavors of the dish are simple and fresh. It’s not often that you’ll find something this cheap, healthy, AND delicious.

Oddly enough, the most expensive dishes are the dinner soups, which top out at $14. There are five items offered at dinner each night, though there is a different menu for each night of the week. Check what’s cooking here

Apparently they were out of the regular sauce that came with the salmon (my mom’s been raving about it for days), so the owner came over and offered us a free dessert as a consolation. Everyone kept asking us how things tasted and the staff was polite and welcoming. That level of service is rather unheard of for a Vietnamese restaurant and especially paradoxical for a humble sandwich shop.

The shop is owned by Quynh Huong, a local Vietnamese radio anchor and singer, who is also sister to Paris By Night celebrity Y Lan. But fame aside, Planet Sandwich is worthy of the buzz in and of itself.

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Updated July 27, 2007

So good I had to come back twice in the same week! I can now vouch with certainty that the salmon and service are consistently excellent. They remembered our disappointment with the sauce last time and made it up by bringing us an extra filet of salmon for our dish.

We spotted some incredibly fresh-looking spring rolls and learned that they tasted even better than they looked. The shrimp were incredibly large and sweet and at a perfect ratio with the rest of the fillings. The bo bia also looked pretty appetizing.

Ca Ri Ga (chicken curry) did not disappoint with a mild, brothy coconut curry. Vietnamese curry tends to be less pungent and spicy than its Thai and Indian versions and usually eaten with bread, not rice. There was plenty of chicken to go around and a few potatoes thrown in for good measure.

It's rare that you'll find a menu at a Vietnamese restaurant that doesn't read like a novel. And at Sandwich Planet, having limited options has proven to be a good thing.

Sandwich Planet
8432 Westminster Ave
Westminster, CA 92683
(714) 891-5797

Binh Minh [Garden Grove]

My earliest memories of Vietnamese dining hails back to Bình Minh, which was a regular haunt of my family's after we moved to California in 1996. Within the last few years, the interior has gotten a face lift, so it no longer has the same dirty Vietnamese hole-in-the-wall charm that it used to.

Binh Minh specializes in bún (rice vermicelli) dishes in both its brothy and dry preparations. Most dry bun dishes come with BBQ meats, which you mix with lettuce, herbs, and fish sauce to enjoy. Among the dry variations, you'll find: Chả cá Thăng Long (fish cake), chả gìo (egg roll), bó nướng (grilled beef), thịt nướng (grilled pork), tom nướng (grilled shrimp), and bì (shredded pork) . Most of these bun dishes originate in the South.

On the right, you have the dish as brought to your table. Left, an image of how to construct your bowl.

For this particular lunch, we opted for the Bun Cha Ha Noi, which is different from Bun Thit Nuong in two ways: 1) The grilled pork sits in a pool of fish sauce (otherwise served on the side) and is served with pickled carrots and papaya and 2) In addition to the grilled pork, you also have ground pork patties. When it comes to the various herbs, I suggest you figure out what you like and dont like using the simple process of trial and error. The dish was solid as usual.

We were going for authentic, so I thought I'd introduce my friend to Bun Rieu Oc, which is a soupy bun dish with a crab meat and tomato base. Oc refers to the addition of snails, though we could have done without the tough, chewy little things. Though the dish looks exotic, the flavors are more familiar than you'd expect. While the broth tastes predominantly of tomatoes, there is a pungent aroma that you'll smell before you taste. Usually Binh Minh is a reliable place for bun rieu, though it was bland this time around.

If tomatoes and crab are not odorous enough for you, add some of the gray mam tom paste in . Use the fermented shrimp paste sparingly, as it does have a strong fishiness to it. The acidity in bun rieu makes the piping hot noodle dish good even in summer and a helping of fresh cabbage and herbs won't hurt either.

It seems overly simplistic and cliche, but the Bun Cha Gio Thit Nuong here is one of my favorites.


Binh Minh
9908 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove, CA 92844
(714) 636-7103

Bo De [Westminster]

Bồ Đề is one of the more obvious Buddhist vegetarian restaurants and is also my new favorite. While Vietnamese vegetarian cuisine carries its roots in Buddhism, very few restaurants are as decorated as Bo De, which caters mostly to a Vietnamese clientèle. Bo De refers to the Bodhi tree, which is a symbol of Buddhist enlightenment.

Only steps away from the Asian Mall, the restaurant was packed to the brim during our 12 o' clock lunch. It is located at the mouth of a mini mall with seating on either side of the hallway and a small food to-go operation near the cashier.

As with most Vietnamese restaurants, the menu was extensive. So like any person in an unfamiliar setting would do, we poked our heads around to see what everyone else was ordering. We settled on the Pho Ap Chao whose aroma wafted into our noses from across the room and the Bun Vit Sao Mang, which we ordered on a whim.

Pho Ap Chao is similar stir-fried chow-fun noodles, which is often found at Chinese restaurants. At Bo De, the rice noodles are formed into a crispy golden pancake that is pan-fried on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. The noodles are topped with a thick and shiny sauce of veggies with a variety of soy and seitan "meats," of which I could discern duck, ham, and pork meatballs. The dish had a good savory flavor from the oyster sauce and the deeper I delved, the more soy surprises it held for me.

Bun Vit Sao Mang is a rice vermicelli noodle dish with a duck broth that is infused with bamboo shoots. The broth has a rich smokiness to it and finishes on a sweet note, similar to Chinese five-spice. While the imitation duck wasn't much to look at, I dont usually eat vegetarian with the expectation that the dishes taste and look wholly carnivorous. The crunchy bamboo shoots, spongy duck, and slippery vermicelli were all it took to convince me of a future career in vegetarianism.

Since it's conveniently located around the corner from my house, you can look forward to an update in the not-so-far future.

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Updated July 27, 2007

After trying the com phan (combination rice dishes) at Bo De for lunch, I can now vouch for the restaurant's talent and range in cooking vegetarian food. Com Phan costs $4 a box and comes with three items plus rice, though some of the more labor-intensive foods will bring you down to two items.

Being Vietnamese, even I was overwhelmed by the numerous varieties of tofu before me. And while some combinations are identifiable, most will be a mystery for your mouth to uncover. So when in Little Saigon, do as the Vietnamese do and just point and direct your server to what looks most tasty.

On the left is a version of cha ca thi la and dau hu xao xa. Cha ca is usually made of fish cake, but Bo De does theirs as an egg cake scented strongly with dill. Baked, the eggs are fluffy and airy. Dau hu xao xa refers to tofu that is generously sprinkled with lemongrass, which gives it a spicy finish.

The dau hu sot ca, or tofu in tomato sauce, is one of the best I've had yet with sweet tomatoes over a delicately seasoned tofu cake stuffed with vermicelli and mushrooms. The mushrooms and tofu are flecked with peppercorns that are extremely fragrant when bitten into.

I tend to find stir-fry vegetables at food to-go places greasy, so I always opt for soups, which often come with leafy greens. Both the canh chua and canh rau muong (sweet and sour soup, water spinach soup) were excellent.

The kitchen really showcases its range of cooking in the com phan meals, where you can have tofu prepared 10 distinct ways with each being just as delicious as the next.


Bồ Đề
15131 Moran St. #417
Westminster CA 92683
(714) 891-5809

Vietnamese Potluck Dinner Party

It's pretty rare that people actually cook for potlucks nowadays--especially when it comes to Vietnamese food. Vietnamese food t0-go places offer plenty of catering options, while those in the know pay enterprising homemakers to cook their family recipes.

Bánh ướt thịt nướng and bánh bèo are primarily made of rice flour, which is mixed with water before it is steamed into a think pancake. In the case of banh beo (left), the rice flour is steamed in round dishes that are small and shallow. They are topped with dried shrimp, scallion, and mung beans and eaten with fish sauce. The flavor of the dish is actually very mild and is more a textural play than anything else.

Banh uot is rolled even thinner onto a sheet and then used as a wrapper to encase the grilled pork, bean sprouts, lettuce, and herbs. Think of banh uot as a heavier spring roll with thicker, slightly sticky wrapping. Banh uot is eaten with a peanut-based sauce, which is thick and chunky. The rice flour in both dishes acts as a backdrop for the main attractions of toppings and fillings.

Bê thui is thinly sliced veal, which is marinated with salt and pepper and seared. After the meat has been prepared, toasted rice, sesame, peanuts, shallots, galanga, and shallots are tossed in to give the meat a grainy coating. Jalapenos and Vietnamese herbs (rau thơm & rau răm) are added for color and flavor contrast and the dish is eaten as an appetizer with gingered fish sauce.

Continuing with the beef dishes, we also had bò lá lốt (grilled beef wrapped in betel leaves) and bò kho (Vietnamese beef stew).

The bo la lot pictured above is the two sausage-shaped figures on the right, while the pink meatballs are actually nem nướng, BBQ pork meatballs. Bo la lot primarily tastes of lemongrass and its betel leaves are used for medicinal purposes throughout Southeast Asia. Nem nuong tastes sweet and tangy with its requisite seasonings of sugar, fish sauce, garlic and ginger.

The bò kho (above left) is derived from French boeuf bourguignon (Vietnam used to be a French colony). But if you could imagine replacing all the French ingredients with Southeast Asian ones, you'll have a spicier broth spiked with star anise, lemongrass, fish sauce, and ginger. This was one of the few dishes cooked from scratch, though we did buy baguettes to enjoy it with.

And how do you nhậu (verb that means to eat food with alcohol) without food that makes you cringe. Voila dồi trường, otherwise known as pig intestines.

Huong Huong Food To Go [Westminster]

Huong Huong is my go-to spot for a quickie take-home lunch. Foods are prepared fresh on the hour and the selection is vast with four soups, 12 meat entrees, and eight vegetarian dishes. They also offer catering services and sell spring rolls, buns, and other handheld snacks. The adjoining dessert addition next door sells chè (dessert soups), xoi, and other Vietnamese sweets. It's not the best chè place, but it's pretty decent.


A lesson in ordering at Huong Huong: I want $1, 2, or 3 of [point to food you want]. The foods on the left-side have meat in them and those on the right are vegetarian.

There are about 15 dishes offered everyday, which are representative of home-cooked dishes that you can find in any given Vietnamese home on any given night. I like the đậu hủ kho gừng (carmelized tofu w/gingerj, mì xào (stiry-fried egg noodles), thịt kho trứng (stewed pork w/eggs), and chả gìo (egg rolls).

Huong Huong Food To Go
9892 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove, CA 92844
(714) 534-4820

Nam Phương [Westminster]

Growing up, I would often frequent Nam Phương for a midday snack of bột chiên, bò bía, gổi cuốn, and bì cuốn—all of which, are street foods sold from carts and stands in Vietnam. Upon revisiting, I found the bột chiên as good as ever, though the spring rolls were lackluster.

Bò bía, gối cuốn (pictured right), and bì cuốn are various types of spring rolls, which rely on two factors for success: 1) filling ratio and 2) wrapping precision. Unfortunately Nam Phương failed on both accounts. There was too much vermicelli, too little of everything else, slack in wrapping and not enough flavor contrast. The meats were lacking in both quantity and quality.

Vietnamese cooking is a cuisine of contrasts—dull flavors against bright, coarse textures against smooth, raw ingredients against cooked. Not only were the contrasts in Nam Phương’s spring rolls muted, there would have been nearly no flavor had it not been for the accompanying fish and peanut sauces. Only the bì cuốn are eaten with the fish sauce, while the other two should be enjoyed with the brown peanut sauce.

Bò bía are described on the menu as Chinese-style spring rolls and are filled with shrimp, egg, and Chinese sausage. Gổi cuốn are a combination of xá xíu (BBQ roast pork) and shrimp, while bì cuốn are filled with Vietnamese shredded pork, which is a mix of pork shoulder and skin. All are accompanied by vermicelli, lettuce, and herbs.

Bột chiên is similar to dim sum turnip cake, except that it’s made from flour and pan fried with eggs and green onions. There’s little flavor to the cakes themselves (unlike turnip cake, which is slightly sweet), so make sure you make ample use of the diluted soy sauce, which is thinned with vinegar and sugar for a subtle tanginess. The acidity from the vinegar counteracts the greasiness of pan frying and keeps the dish from getting too tired.

Nam Phương
15422 Brookhurst St
Westminster, CA 92683
(714) 775-0460

Phở Thăng Long [Westminster]

Phở Thăng Long has taken over what was left from the demolition of Bolsa Supermarket and the redesign nearly floored me.

What used to be a smelly butcher section complete with writhing fish, floating carcasses, and snappy crabs is now a waterfall mosaic set against bright orange paint. There are banquettes lining the south wall and booths against the north, which are upholstered in a tasteful tan canvas. Recessed lighting, framed art, flat-screen TVs and mod furniture? Who knew phở could be so ritzy.


What was most surpirsing were the prices on the menu, which are still fairly competitive for what you'd expect in Little Saigon. And while the decor goes above and beyond sanitary [I'm not sure that's even a minimum requirement for a Vietnamese restaurant], the menu hasn't changed to appease Western palettes. Rice dishes, vermicelli, crispy egg noodles, noodle stir-frys, and phở--everything you'd expect to find at a Vietnamese restaurant and all under $8.

Though the phở broth lacks the depth and complexity of others' that I've had, the filet mignon tái (rare beef) is unique to Thăng Long. For those of you unacquainted with phở tái , the idea is that the hot broth cooks the beef right when you order it, giving it a tender, melt-in-your mouth texture. Usually this is achieved by slicing the meat paper thin, but Thăng Long does it by offering a higher quality filet mignon that when raw, falls apart at the slightest provocation with your chopstick. Though the novelty has somewhat of a wow factor, the filet mignon doesnt add much in terms of flavor and doesn't compensate for the one-dimensional broth. At least it wasnt that oily...

Although you'd be a fool to order anything else except phở at a restauarat named Phở Thăng Long, we thought we'd give the redesign a fighting chance and order other items off the menu. The Cơm Bò Lúc Lắc (Shaking Beef) was edible, though the beef lacked flavor, was overcooked, and the rice was so dry that it could have been cooked yesterday. The Bún Chả Giò Bò Nướng (Rice vermicelli w/eggrolls and BBQ beef) was moreso a bowl of noodles than it was anything else. They could have at least thrown some more lettuce and bean sprouts in there for variety. The eggrolls were also filled with cabbage, which elicited a scoff from my father who said that is not proper Vietnamese cooking.

If their objective was to target a more diverse audience, I did see a few wide-eyed, middle-aged, non-Asians pensively approaching the hostess stand [yes, they even have a podium for the host]. But overall, Pho Thang Long seems confused. In Vietnam, people eat while squatting in alleyways. Their favorite lunchtime meals come from the tall woman who wheels her cart over at around noon everyday. It's not the atmosphere they come for. It's the food. And if your food is going to be exactly the same as it was before, why bother with an expensive remodel that includes wood-grained trays for phở condiments.

Phở Thăng Long
9550 Bolsa Ave #115F
Westminster, CA 92683
(714) 839-4955