Viet World Kitchen

Tasting Texas Part 2: Houston’s Big Little Saigon

By the time we arrived in Houston, my husband Rory and I were hankering for Viet food. I had been traveling for a week and hadn’t had a drop of fish sauce or bowl of rice. After all the amazing barbecue and Mexican food, we were looking forward to a change of cuisine. Plus, Houston’s Vietnamese community is one of the nation’s largest,  the biggest in the American South.

I was looking forward to driving up and down Bellaire Boulevard, the H-Town equivalent to Bolsa Avenue in Westminster, California. While there are a few Vietnamese restaurants in the main downtown area where we were staying, the concentration of the Viet shops and services were located in the southwestern part of the city, in what’s referred to as Chinatown. Most of the activity is centered on Bellaire, the main drag. (The former Chinatown was located in the main downtown area but increases in real estate prices drove Asian businesses further out.)

We regrettably only had one-and-a-half days in Houston, and our exploration was limited to Friday afternoon. What struck me as really neat was that at one end of Bellaire, there seemed to be more Chinese businesses with a few Viet ones but as you drove toward Alief, it was reversed. Business signs mostly had Vietnamese and English with just a tiny sprinkling of Chinese characters.

There were a number of handsome, modern shopping centers as well as near-vacant shopping centers from decades ago. With palm trees lining some areas, it reminded me lots of Little Saigon in Southern California. I felt quite at home, but experienced some unexpected things.

Tasting Texas 1.5: Bread and Butter Pickles Recipe

One of the best things that I learned in Texas was that pickles are among the perfect accompaniments to barbecue. At Smitty’s in Lockhart, I tried both the sweet bread and butter pickles and the sour dill pickle. The winner was the former as it cut the richness of the meat. The flavor and textural combination was so good that my husband asked me, “Didn’t you used to make bread and butter pickles? Would you make again soon?”

Indeed, I once did make those pickles every summer for about 10 years, canning them in pint jars. I fell in love with the old fashioned American pickle in high school, when my best friend Danielle Glover introduced them to me. Sweet, tart, and a touch savory, the thick slices of cucumber had me from the get-go.

Danielle enjoyed Mrs. Fannings Bread’n Butter pickles that came in a tall glass jar. Those were the ones I bought for a while, though I ate them too often and too quickly that they became an expensive snack. When I got my hands on a copy of James Beard’s American Cookery, I began making my own, tweaking the recipe every time. Over the years, my renditions seem to edge toward being an East-West kind of hybrid pickle. Call it an Asian American bread and butter pickle!

Tasting Texas Part 1: BBQ and Tex-Mex

A few weeks ago, I went to Texas for a business conference and road trip. Before going, my well-meaning progressive California friends warned me that I’d see gun racks all over the Lone Star State, but I never saw one during my entire time there. In fact, most of the talk about guns occurred on my flight from San Jose to Austin. Two Silicon Valley execs chatted non-stop about guns, ammunition, and hunting. They were on their way to Texas for a weekend loaded with fun. I was glad when we landed and deplaned. 

I’d heard that Texas had great food, and while I had to do my due diligence and attend the IACP conference, I could not wait to escape from the hotel to roam and eat. When the conference ended, my husband Rory joined me for a weeklong vacation. We stayed in Austin, then ventured to San Antonio and Houston, and returned to Austin to fly home. Along the way, we connected with old friends and made new ones. We learned lots about Texas hospitality and pride. More importantly, we ate remarkably well. This is the first of 2 posts dedicated to what we tasted in Texas.

From My Dad: Historic Archive of 16,000+ Vietnam Images

My parents were very touched by last week’s Mother’s Day Tribute. As I suspected, Dad printed out the entire post, including people’s responses, and Mom read them. She called and emailed to thank everyone for their comments. She was wondering where those old photos had gone and was happily surprised to rediscover them in the post.

Our old family photos got my dad thinking and Googling. Yesterday, Bo Gia (Old Daddy) found a humongous archive of historic images of Vietnam. He sent the link and I wanted to share some of them with you. They are so interesting. I haven’t had time to go through all of them but am calling out a few standouts here.

Perusing the archive of images gleaned from postcards, photos, postage stamps, and posters is like walking through a museum exhibit. They were uploaded by someone named Manhhai, and I am totally jazzed that the person took the time to scan them all in. There are French, English, and Vietnamese notations but you don’t need to be multilingual to understand what is being communicated. Additionally, the collection has been extremely well organized in time periods.

Indochine Vietnam refers to the time period when Vietnam was still a colony of France. Here’s a great collection of markets in Vietnam (Tonkin) during that time.

 

1990s Viet Food Film: Anatomy of a Springroll

 

“Food is everyone’s first language,” Paul Kwan says in the opening of Anatomy of a Springroll [SIC] (1994). Kwan made the documentary with partner Paul Iger to explore issues of personal identity, food memories, and cultural adaptation. It’s a dreamlike movie with historic footage, staged segments, animation, and even puppets!

There is Vietnamese food from beginning to end. Kwan’s spring roll is the fried cha gio wrapped in rice paper. He uses it as a metaphor for rediscovering his past as he ventures from San Francisco (where his family had settled after coming from Vietnam) to Saigon. He is Vietnamese of Chinese descent.

If you’re into Asian American identity, Kwan and Iger give you lots to think about. If you’re into food, you’ll see some scenes that remain the same today in Vietnam. There was lots of information about Vietnamese folklore and foodways too. Film buffs will appreciate the artiness of the piece, which somewhat echoes the reactions of visiting or returning Vietnam for the first time. My first time back was strange. Am I Vietnamese? American? Both or neither? Kwan posed those question and more.

Anatomy of a Springroll has aired on PBS several times and in 2008, it was part of the national public television series called Global Voices. Simon Bao alerted me that the movie was now on Hulu. (As BFMartin pointed out, Hulu is only available in the US so I just reposted it from YouTube.) I watched the movie years ago and viewing it again was like visiting an old friend. I could practically taste the flavors of all the glorious dishes in the film.

“Food is not just a thing, but a way. In its preparation, it’s the essence of language, and a connection to a culture,” Kwan says.

Check out Anatomy of a Springroll, and share your thoughts on the good and bad. It’s an hour long so you can certainly skim through it, as needed.

More Viet food in the media:

• Luke Nguyen's Vietnam (SBS Australia; read about my friend Luke)
• Rick Stein's BBC Vietnam Travel Show