Little Sister

It seems like a lot of chefs these days are incorporating Asian flavors into their cooking.  I guess this is one of the aspects comprising "New American" cuisine.  I guess Little Sister isn't so much "New American" as it is "Asian/Asian fusion", but its smack dab in the middle of one of the whitest parts of the South Bay, Manhattan Beach, so that makes it American enough.

Grilled Pork Spring Roll "Nem Nuong" red leaf lettuce, mint, carrot, cucumber, house sauce
The "peanut" sauce was pretty bland, so the fish sauce was more flavorful.  The rolls themselves were just OK.  I can definitely make better ones myself.  They were also a bit too loosely wrapped.  No doubt, a spring roll wrapping noob was in the back making these.

Singapore Chili Soft Shelled Crab Banh Mi spiced tomato relish, pickled garlic
My dining companions, Old Bear and his gf, had never tried soft shell crab before.  After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I jumped at the chance to order this.  It was really solid.  I highly recommend this one.  I think I'll leave it at that.

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PPQ Dungeness Island

I apologize for my long break from the blogger world.  The holidays left me with little time to blog.  I was flying back and forth from Portland to LA during my time off, and when I get to LA all I do is eat and hang out without much time for blogging.  Plus, a lot of my free time has been spent trying to plan The Big Day.  Although it's quite a ways away, I like to peruse the internet seeing all the wonderful possibilities.  It's amazing to think what life would be like without the internet.

I still have to finish up blogging about my SF trip so many moons ago.  After Bottega and Gary Denko, were done with the White Man's food, and really need to color things up a shade of yellow.  Dim sum at Hong Kong Lounge really hit the spot and we wanted to keep the momentum going.  Weeners recommended PPQ which turned out to be disappointingly mediocre so I'm going to have to reconsider her recommendations from here on out.   PPQ is really know for their crab and garlic noodles.  I'm not sure if the restaurant is Vietnamese or Chinese since the food is sorta Chinese, but there is Vietnamese on the menu.  We decided to go off the set menu stuff and order a la carte.  Maybe thats where we went wrong because none of the things were ordered were very good.

Papaya Salad with Shrimp
I love papaya salad, but I didn't like this.  It was just sorta bland.  It lacked an adequate amount of acid or even salt. It was just a sweet bland taste.  The shrimp were flavorless.  The papaya had a good crunch I suppose, but the flavoring left much to be desired.

Fish Mau and Crabmeat Soup
Nothing spectacular going on here.  Not large pieces of anything that I could identify as being seafood.

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Vietnamese Chicken Curry

Dumpling Man likes his curries, specifically Thai yellow curries.  I'm not such a fan, but I'll eat it.  It's just a bit too creamy and sweet, but that's exactly how Dumpling Man likes it.  I prefer Vietnamese curry instead which is more fragrant from lemongrass and ginger and saltier from a good helping of fish sauce.  So my curry somehow walks the middle road, and as a result is never sweet enough for Dumpling Man.

I've made this before but with the lemongrass cut into short stalks.  This recipe from Ravenous Couple called for finely sliced lemongrass.  If you've cooked lemongrass before, you'll know that it is not something that softens as you cook.  So, all that lemongrass ended up being lost in the sauce and into my bowl and it was not fun to chew on.  Next time, I'm keeping the lemongrass in stalks so they can be fished out at the end.

Your basics.  I found these mini cans of coconut milk.  Perfect for making a serving of curry like this.  For most recipes, a mini can like this may short change you on the called for amount of coconut milk, but I'd rather have a less coconutty curry than half a can of coconut milk that will slowly mold in the back corner of my fridge.  I randomly picked this curry powder.  It's pretty darn spicy.

First you gotta marinate your meat.  I like to keep my meat in semi-large pieces so that they end up being fall apart tender after a while.  Unfortunately, it takes longer to cook that way.

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Mom's Steak Salad

You won't usually hear me say things like, "Oh my mom makes the best..." or when I'm at a restaurant you won't hear me say "Oh my mom's version is better."  My mom isn't that kind of mom.  The type of mom who loves to be in the kitchen, perfecting recipes that have been handed down generation after generation.  That's not to say I didn't eat home cooked meals every night and liked it.  Every night my mom cooked, and I usually enjoyed the things she made.  But now that we're all grown up, it turns out my mom cooked purely out of necessity and not out of passion.  She's actually pretty lazy when it comes to cooking.  Still though, there are a handful things my mom made that have just stuck with me all these years as things that I just love to eat.  Her steak salad is one of those things.

It's totally simple, but to me it's delicious.  She would take leftover rib-eye steak, cut it up, stir fry it with some oyster sauce and throw it on top of a salad with a really simple vinaigrette.  Eaten with a side of rice, makes for a complete meal.  I think I just love the idea of meaty flavorful slices of beef mixed into a refreshing salad.  I love the Thai beef salad, yam neua.

Here I just take a cut of flank steak, sliced up into strips, marinate it in some oyster sauce and garlic.


Then, I stir fry it on very high heat with some onions and extra oyster sauce.  It's important to get some good color on the meat without overcooking it.

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Red Medicine

Red Medicine is a Vietnamese fusion restaurant that recently opened a few months ago.  It's probably more known for the drama generated by some controversial actions by the management rather than its food unfortunately.  It's ratings on Yelp are pretty dismal, mostly because of the drama.  I'm usually not a fan of fusion food, but some of bloggers were writing good things along with their appetizing pictures.  So, the H.o.P. made a night of it.

I've had a fair amount of "fancy foods" in my life.  Red Medicine really takes all that to a new level.  They go beyond fancy and border on esoteric.  That being the case, the food is still accessible to the common man's taste buds.  The common man's stomach may not appreciate the smaller portion sizes, which combined with the lighter fare, can make for one hungry hungry hippo. 

**SLR-quality photos courtesy of Running Man**

 

Brussels Sprouts caramelized shallots, fish sauce, vermouth

Wow, who is now a fan of brussel sprouts?  You can't really see the sprouts in this picture, but its safe to say that the chef made good use of fish sauce for these vegetables.  Salty, sweet, caramelized, crispy.  Everyone loved these little veggies.  Triple T even made a similar version at home from the Momofuku cookbook. 

 

Banh Mi foie gras, pate de champagne 

These were an elevated version of the flavors found in the typical Vietnamese sandwich.  The pickled veggies, cucumbers, cilantro, and chili were a given.  The foie and pate were luscious and rich additions sandwiched between some light crispy crackers.  One was not enough, but sadly one was all I got to have.  

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Nem Nuong Khang Hoa

The Vietnamese spring rolls usually brings to mind a rice paper roll filled with rice noodles, lettuce and aromatics, and pork and shrimp slices to be dipped in a peanut sauce.  My family never ate this very much.  I don't know why.  In recent years we've become fans of nem nuong cuon, or grilled pork spring rolls.  I feel like Brodard, in Westminster, popularized this to the masses.  If you think Brodard is da bomb then you need to try Khanh Hoa because it is da shit.  I think the differences are probably subtle and if you don't eat this a lot you probably will not be able to tell the difference.

Nem Nuong Cuon (Grilled Pork Spring Rolls) grilled pork, lettuce, mint, cilantro, perilla, cucumber, deep fried egg roll wrapper
The key to a good roll is good meat.  Here, the meat tastes very meaty and is perfectly seasoned with the right balance of salt and sweet.  The reason why half the restaurants in Westminster suck is because they are heavy handed with the sugar.  That is my hugest pet peeve.  But here, they do the meat right.  The grilled pork is always served warm too, which makes each bite that much more succulent and tasty.  At Brodard, the meat tastes just a tad bit overprocessed and artificial.  Here, you know what you're eating.  Don't ask me what the sauce is made up of.  I can never figure it out nor can I really detect any strong flavors.  At best its slightly sweet and chunky, from what?  I don't know.

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Break of Dawn

In an attempt to be more adventurous in the OC, my family and I tried a Vietnamese fusion restaurant in Laguna Hills for brunch.  All of those descriptors are totally atypical for the H.o.P.  We don't eat "Vietnamese fusion."  We certainly don't do brunch.  And who the heck eats in Laguna Hills?

The chef/owner of Break of Dawn has a very sad/interesting/inspiring story.   Perhaps for some, it makes the food taste better knowing how hard the chef/owner had to work to get where he is.   For others, it probably doesn't make a lick of difference.  I suppose I fall in the middle.  I admire the guy, but I wish the food was a bit better.

Kabocha Squash creamy soup, crispy lobster & shrimp roll
The soup was quite watery, not the thick heartiness I expect from anything containing squash.    As a result it was on the bland side.   It was creamy sweetness, but not the good kind.


The shrimp roll was a nice addition.  Flavors were light for any Vietnamese egg roll.  I don't think I tasted much lobster.  A good eggroll in the end, but pretty standard.

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Vien Dong (The Best Northern Vietnamese Food in Westminster!)

When you think of Vietnamese food, what do you think of? Pho , right? What else do you think of? Spring rolls? The more informed foodies may know of rice noodles and broken rice. And then what? There's a whole other world when it comes to Vietnamese food. I am referring to Northern Vietnamese food. You may be saying northern??? What's the difference. From my perspective, being from a northern Vietnamese family, I'd say a northern Vietnamese cuisine is generally more bland. A whole lot less sugar and heat. And you're probably saying to yourself, "wow northern Vietnamese doesn't sound so good." And I don't expect you to really. It's just a taste I grew up on, so I can't stand going to your average Vietnamese restaurant and being overwhelmed with sugar, sugar, sugar. My mom never used sugar in her cooking, so it's not something I'm used to. So aside from the lighter hand with sugar, northern Vietnamese food is marked by noodle soups that are NOT pho, including bun thanh, bun rieu, bun bung, bun vit sao mang, etc etc.

My family's go-to Vietnamese restaurant for foods that hail from our part of the country is Vien Dong. We've been going to this place since before its relocation to Brookhurst, when it was originally on Westminster and owned by a previous mayor of Westminster. Although Vien Dong serves northern cuisine, I'd still say there's plenty of sugar in the food and maybe they are just catering to the many southern Vietnamese people or maybe I just come from a crazy anti sugar Vietnamese family.




This is a common theme among restaurants in Westminster. In this economy, businesses are hurting. The restaurant industry is no exception.




Bun Cha was one of my favorite foods when we went out to eat. It's very simple and therefore very kid friendly. It consists of grilled pork sitting in a dressed up sweet/tangy fish sauce with little pickled daikons and carrots.



It is served with rice noodles and a medley of fresh lettuce and aromatics including cilantro, mint, and other things which I don't know the English names for. I suppose this is not necessarily a northern Vietnamese specialty, but its done very well here. One downside to this dish at other places is that the pork can be very fatty, so beware!




Northern Vietnamese food is also known for the large of variety of noodle soups. My mom makes better versions at home that taste cleaner, but they do a great job here. My grandma's caretaker makes a great version of Bun Rieu, which is a tomato and crab based soup. It can be very labor intensive to make from scratch using whole fresh crabs, but you can cheat and buy pre-mixed seasonings from a jar, add some eggs, some canned crab meat, and voile!



I always get cha ca thang long from here. It is catfish marinated in tumeric and served on a sizzling hot plate with dill, white and green onions and hot oil. The trick is to take all the aromatics and bury them under the fish so they cook and add flavor.



It is served with the aromatics, lettuce, rice noodles and then a special fermented shrimp paste sauce, called mam tom. It's frankly pungent and a lot of people cannot tolerate such funkiness. But the funkiness is tempered by the addition of sugar and lime juice. You could also eat this with fish dipping sauce. The dish also comes with roasted peanuts and crispy sesame rice crackers. Mixed all together it creates a wonderfully delicious and balanced dish, the savory fresh grilled fish, the herby aromatics, the salty/sweet/tangy sauce, the nutty peanuts, and the light crunchy toasted rice crackers. I believe in Hanoi it is served a bit differently in a sizzling bowl of oil and aromatics, but the idea is all the same.




If you're tired of the same ole things when it comes to Vietnamese cuisine, you should definitely come here and familiarize yourself with Vietnamese noodle soups that aren't pho. This place is a family favorite, and the H.o.P. is picky when it comes to Vietnamese food in Westminster.

Vien Dong
14271 Brookhurst St
Garden Grove, CA 92843



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Vietnamese Cucumber & Carrot Salad (Gio Dua Leo Ca Rot)

5 medium cucumbers

1 large carrot

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

3/4 lemon juice

1/2 shallot

1/2 lb pork loin (any lean cut)

10 medium shrimp (peeled, deveined)

1.  Prepare cucumbers by slicing off ends and halving

2.  Using a potato peeler, at the edge of the cucumber, shred into fine thin slices.  Do not use a cheese grater as it will result in mushy vegetables.

3.  Repeat the same with the carrot and mix with shredded cucumbers

4.  Add 1 tsp salt and toss thoroughly

5.  Allow salad to sit for 5 minutes and then squeeze out excess water from vegetables

6.  Add sugar and lemon juice and mix well

7.  Boil small pot of water and cook pork until well done.  Cool and slice into small pieces.

8.  Boil small pot of water and cook shrimp until well done.  Cool and slice into halves.

9.  In small sauce pan, heat up some oil and stir fry shallots until golden, then add shrimp and pork.  Season to taste.

10.  After cooled, add meat/shrimp to salad and toss well.

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Random Cooking

So I dunno what they hype about shaking beef is. I've tried all these different recipes and it just tastes like beef with oyster sauce and garlic. Nothing too far off from anything my mom has ever made, except she never used filet mignon which I think is what is supposed to be used. But whatever, I ain't gonna fork out the moola for filet mignon when I don't even like it that much anyways. I tried using the recipe of Charles Phan of the Slanted door. It was totally unimpressive and I'm pretty sure I followed it correctly. I'm sure I'm lacking some element of caramelization since my wok isn't very hot. I dunno. At the end of the day I prefer good ole steak cubes with oyster sauce.




Looks pretty doesn't it? Red rice made from stir frying some garlic and tomato paste. Dumpling man was not doing cartwheels over the dish but he ate it up. Put corn with anything and he'll eat it up.





On another night I had a tofu salad. I found a really great sesame Japanese dressing from Murakai market that I can't seem to find anywhere else. It's a good dressing but can taste heavy. I'm pretty sure its on par with a creamy ranch dressing with regards to fat and calories. Sprinkle on some dried bonito flakes and you have an instant salad that goes well with a bowl of curry or something.




I like beef noodle soup, so I tried making a pork version. Tastewise it was not what I was going for, flavor wise, but it looks pretty complete and appetizing doesn't it? Dumpling man liked it. I used fresh noodles, korean brand. I think they're they type they serve with jajang mien at korean chinese restaurants. They cook very fast and when served in a noodle soup like that, can get overcooked and soggy so be careful. I'd love to be better at cooking noodle soups.

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