i agree with you for the most part, but there are few specialized NYC chefs doing some really exciting things not seen in socal.
Mam is doing some great bun dau mam tom (yes, we have that here in Little Saigon but theirs look just a little more extra attention to detail).
Thu Buser has these incredible dinner series on unique vietnamese foods.
That new school Vietnamese thing in NYC is pretty cool and exciting. I am actually jealous that they have so many young Vietnamese who are continuing tradition and expanding on it with ingredients/techniques. Is some of those places a reflection of modern Vietnamese cuisine happening in Vietnam at the moment?
Unfortunately in Little Saigon the next gen is doing things like what Kei Concepts is doing. I know they are wildly successful and they make solid food. Maybe I am hating a little lol because I would trade what’s happening in NYC with Kei Concepts. They did make egg coffee popular in Little Saigon so there’s that.
Kei Concepts…threat or menace?
Kei Concepts is hit and miss for me. I like Nep Cafe but I didn’t like Ini Ristorante. But although they’re Vietnamese owned (I think), they’re not Vietnamese-focused, but more pan-Asian fusion for most of their restaurants.
There are a lot of new restaurants popping up, but I suspect the vibrancy is coming from new restaurants that are immigrant-owned. And I can kind of see more attention being put on Northern Vietnam cuisine. If Vietnamese-American kids are going into food/hospitality (against their parents’ wishes) they’re doing Asian culture/youth focused ideas like dessert/drink concepts or beer food/hot pot type places but we haven’t seen a Garlic & Chive or Brodard in a while. The most exciting restaurants in Little Saigon are still hyper traditional takes.
At Phoholic in Buena Park they have beef brisket bones on the menu a la carte and they were very cheap.
Just tried Trung Nguyen Legend. Coffee very good; on the Phin Smith/Da Vien level where the coffee is well-balanced rather than the bitter+ultra sweet gasoline it can be at your average place. The egg part of the egg coffee isn’t quite as custardy as it is at Da Vien or what I remember from Hanoi but I think that actually makes it more successful as a drink because the coffee below isn’t nuclear hot and melds more with the egg.
We have never met the founder of Kei but have interacted with him online, very nice and smart guy and gives back to the community. Amidst all the new concepts, it’s easy to forget he started off with Sup pho shop.
I think it’s great that he decided form a restaurant group. While there are many Vietnamese restaruant owners, I’m not aware of many Vientamese restaurant/hospitality groups, and there’s where he wants to differentiate and build forth. While his concepts aren’t all Vietnamese, many of his staff are and so he’s doing alot of recruit and train talent. There’s lots in the pipeline, so the story is yet to be written…
Was at Gigo’s Deli in Chinatown and saw a bowl of bones dropped off at another table. Inquired about it and they gave me a bowl for free! This was at the end of the night and not sure if it’s a regular thing they do. YMMV.
Ask for it by name Xí Quách and most places will give it for free, but don’t necessarily advertise it. It may not always include marrow but it’s the bones and scraps of meat left on. When families make pho at home, it’s saved and Usually it’s given to the men (or women) of the house to snack on with their beers.
So maybe this is a me thing but I just get blank stares when I try to pronounce Vietnamese words. I have a pretty decent understanding of Vietnamese food related words but when it comes to pronunciation I clearly have no idea how the written language works phonetically. It always ends up being an awkward interaction with them trying to get someone who speaks English.
I was asking for rice once in Vietnam and kept on saying com with a “c” and they finally understood it when we pointed at another table, apparently it’s more of a “g” sound?
It’s a “soft c”. It does kind of sound somewhere in between “come” and “gum”.
Edit
That is not the kinda adventure anyone is looking for. 
Glad everyone was okay.
Edit it out thanks.
Tried to go to Loi’s Kitchen for some bun mam can tho style. Absolutely zero parking. Circled the lot for 15 minutes. Many cars double parking stalking customers for their space leaving the restaurants. Might be the worst parking I have encountered in LS. Oc and Lau has gotten really popular now. I never seen so many people for Oc and Lau. Good for them. Just a warning for anyone coming during the weekend.
Agreed… they shared the Quan Mii post in their stories, but I don’t see anything about this on their grid or an apology for spreading misinformation which likely there is an agenda behind. Especially with what is going on right now, everyone needs to do better…
Pho 101, haven’t had pho in awhile so hard to compare but was delicious and the broth was clean while being beefy and well spiced. Been a couple years since I last went to pho 79 so also hard to compare this to that but I definitely would come back any time I was nearby. Really want to get to pho thin, sen, and akuashi to try and compare.
All meats were well cooked highlight was the tendon melt in your mouth goodness and the oxtail was not over cooked tender but still having some resistance.
Also it’s super close to the 405 freeway which is nice
Went back to Trung Nguyen Legend and got the Legend coffee, which was pretty excellent and made so you can enjoy the coffee with company over a period of time. The price makes Starbucks seem paltry, although I think this coffee is much better (although what isn’t better than putrid Starbucks). The Legend coffee is much more mellow in terms of caffeine jolt because it is hot and when you pour into the ice, the ice instantly melts a tad.
I am enjoying what I had so far.
Service is much better now that the crowds seems to have died down.
