Food & Spirits Court

Posted by Luminator (A) on December 05, 2024 at 19:48:33

In Reply to: RE: Hey Luminator posted by violinist3 on December 05, 2024 at 15:27:08

In the late-1980s, my high school had plenty of ethnic Vietnamese, as well as Chinese from Vietnam.

My friend Theresa was interesting. Her two brothers were born in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), during the late-1960s. But due to the war, the family emigrated from Vietnam. Theresa was actually born here, in the United States. English was her first language. She could understand southern Vietnamese, but not speak it. And then she took Spanish, which became her second language.

Anyway, Theresa would lead me and a few other friends into San Francisco's Tenderloin. Although it was seedy, Theresa seemed unperturbed, and shrugged, "As long as you go during the day, and know your escape routes..."

Theresa was the one who introduced me to the common/popular banh mi sandwiches, pho, and "shaking" beef cubes. She was good at pointing out the differences between those dishes, and their Chinese counterparts. For example, Chinese wonton mein usually used egg noodle. And if it used rice noodle, it was usually the ribbon-shaped one. Moreover, Theresa liked lotus root salad with shrimp, something which hasn't really become trendy, here in the U.S.

When I got to college, I became friends (and eventually study buddies) with Kim, who was in Intro To Microeconomics. Unlike Theresa, Kim was actually born in HCMC.

Kim recruited me to join UC Santa Cruz's VSA (Vietnamese Student Association). The VSA guys just wanted me to help them in intramural sports. But the VSA girls were quick to teach me about Vietnamese culture. The easiest was food/cuisine.

Many of the VSA members were from SoCal. Chinese Americans were used to fried egg rolls. So, the VSA girls suggested, as an alternative, fried shrimp roll. Because they liked to hit the beaches, they preferred the rice paper-wrapped "spring rolls," versus fried egg rolls. But because the rice paper does not keep, be sure to eat your spring roll soon.

Kim pointed out that if you did not want pho soup, you could get the rice noodles as dry vermicelli. Here in CA, vermicelli is now common.

Kim and the others from VSA suggested that, if you did not want the normal broth used in pho, get "bun bo Hue" instead. Bun bo Hue usually has a reddish broth. It can use beef and pork. The rice noodles are usually a little thicker and rounder, than in regular pho.

Quyen (above) was from Nha Trang, which she referred to as a "tropical beach town." Hands-down, Quyen was our best cook. When she had me come over to her house in San Jose, I discovered why. Her mom diligently prepared the ingredients. Her dad then fired up the pots and woks.

Quyen's family had this metal, two-tiered, donut-shaped contraption, which held soup. Her parents made some sort of seafood sour soup, using a bit of tamarind in the broth. My Vietnamese co-workers now tell me that that metal serving contraption is hard to find, here in the U.S.

The name (Le Cheval?) of the restaurant escapes me, but there used to be one in downtown Oakland, which served soup in such a two-tiered device.

Speaking of tamarind, OMG, Quyen's parents made Dungeness crab, but with a tamarind sauce. If you go to Southeast Asian restaurants here, they use tamarind usually with prawns, not crab. Nothing wrong with tamarind prawns, but if you can get Dungeness crab, OMG, how delightful!

Back in Santa Cruz, Quyen loved coming over to my college apartment, because it had a gas stove. She had me help her make caramelized pork belly. When cutting the cold meat, she said to use three fingers, but then she realized that my fingers were bigger than hers. So she had me cut the pork belly, using two of my own fingers to measure.

My friend Tuyet (above, right) was born in Hanoi, but then moved to Los Angeles, when she was 8 or so. She was always putting down the Vietnamese, who lived in Orange County, LOL. But anyway, in her dorm room, Tuyet had a little coffee press, which she used to make Vietnamese coffee (I have no idea where she bought the coffee from). Her dorm did not have an ice maker, so she always used a cup, and brought ice from the dining hall.

Tuyet mentioned that during the war, cafes could run out of milk. So, they used whipped egg, instead of milk. Thus arose "Vietnamese egg coffee."

Tuyet said that Hanoi was not as hot as southern Vietnam. Nevertheless, they would eat pho for breakfast not lunch, as Americans do. Moreover, she said that northern pho tended to use thicker noodles, and way fewer toppings. Kim had to get in the dig, "Southern pho is way better!"

Tuyet recommended getting clay pot dishes, with or without the rice cooked in.

Are you in San Diego? I'm not aware that San Diego has a Bambu, which specializes more in dessert drinks. There are two in Westminster and Garden Grove. Bambu's drinks definitely have a Thai influence. But if you are not quite in the mood for bubble tea (which came from Taiwan), check out Vietnamese drinks.

Here in the Bay Area, Vietnamese cuisine is ubiquitous, and generally made/adjusted for American tastes. For example, if you don't like rice, you can usually order entrees with garlic noodles. Still, I'm glad that we have all these choices. Our kids are now in college, and my friends lament that we did not have as many or variegated Vietnamese dishes.