Several of the family's trademark, stuffed rice-paper rolls (cuon) from the cafe are on the menu here. But there are also handsome meal-sized salads and daily specials that include rice paper-wrapped soft shell crab and braised chicken, coq au vin style.
Even more up-market, on the outskirts of Little Saigon, in a sleek contemporary wood-lined pair of dining rooms, is 2-year-old S Vietnamese Fine Dining. Chef-owner Stephanie Dinh prepares traditional Vietnamese items such as northern-style deep-fried sweet potato cake studded with shrimp, as well as dishes with a more Euro-Asian bent, for example, lemon grass-encrusted lamb chop served on broken rice.
It's become easier, bit by bit, for Vietnamese restaurateurs to strike a balance between pleasing traditionalists and courting a growing multicultural audience.
It's not always about getting fancier. Attempts to reach out to a crossover market can be as subtle as accepting credit cards or creating a name with a hint of familiarity: Instead of such Vietnamese appellations as Banh Mi & Che, you find Baguette Planet, Pho Republic Noodles and Grill, Pholicious or Rockin Crawfish.
What propels restaurateurs into such a challenging profession when, 30 years after the postwar wave of immigration, many other business opportunities exist? Love for the cuisine, several owners said in interviews, and an almost-missionary zeal for showing off its stunning virtues.
Former engineer Trish Doan champions the knockout flavors of her perfectionist mother's central-style cooking at Cafe Co La. Her mi quang, a brilliant dish of wide, yellow rice noodles tossed in a curry-like sauce, topped with a host of garnishes that include two tiny quail eggs, banana flower shreds and a thatch of crisply fried shallots vaut le voyage, as the French would say -- it's worth a drive.
"We don't try to have one of those encyclopedic menus; we just focus on a few good things," Doan says.
The cafe's hipness factor comes from a smart palette of citrus colors on curvilinear walls and a lengthy list of fresh, frothy fruit smoothies, milky tea and the boba drinks to go with those good things.
At Pho Republic Noodles and Grill, owner Tina Vu aims to introduce the pleasures of traditional Vietnamese-style dining into the American mainstream with her house specialty, the Saigon wrap. The assembly includes grill-your- own shrimp, scallops, thinly sliced beef and more.
