I tried these places at lunch today. The are all in that area on West Colonial I call Chinatown. On the western side (more abandoned) side of the complex. I was supposed to try Chef Wang's. But, they are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Lucky for us. Two were real surprises. And new. This area is becoming a destination.
Huong Viet - This a typical Vietnamese restaurant. I had a rice dish because I was prepared to eat Chinese. It had pork and shrimp cake on it. A small carrot salad as well. It cost $10. The usual. Grisly pork. Slightly mushy rice. The decor, condition and menu are familiar. They have been open for four years.
Nam Giao Deli - I looked in here a few months ago when I reviewed the Korean place. It looked like a bar not a deli. The owner said he has had trouble with the change over and put the deli sign up before he remodeled. Hence the confusion. He opened two weeks ago. It is a great Vietnamese take out spot. All these little "snacks" that I thought was missing from Vietnamese cuisine. It will be a joy to come back and get an education. I sampled a shrimp on sugar cane (tried that before), a palm leaf covered pork roll stuffed with periwinkles (come on!), lemon grass and ginger that was shaped like a Jimmy Dean sausage roll, a flat fried green panko crusted pork roll and fried ball stuffed with a quail egg that was covered with pork roll (three). The cost - $2, $2.50, $2.50 and $4. He also sliced off some samples of his two large pork rolls - fried and steamed. There were also spring rolls, a soy curd noodle type dish, an egg pancake and other snacks ready to go. And I haven't written about the regular dish menu or the bahn mi yet. Everything reasonably priced. Better than Huong Viet. The owner said he is worried about getting things in order before people find out about him. He's ready enough as far as I'm concerned. I'm so glad serendipity maneuvered me here. Can't wait to try my next batch of authentic Vietnamese items. It's named after a region in Vietnam.
Zero Degrees - This place is in between the first two. It opened three weeks ago. I thought it was another dumb boba place. It's more. It has food. Just chicken wings or popcorn, chicharron, fries, street corn (elote) and dessert. It's a chain. They said Western. I've never run into it. The best way I can describe it is that it is a hostel - if a hostel was a restaurant. It could be the snack bar in a hostel. It has that insouciance. The cheese fries have Cheeto dust. The floats have oreo crumbs. The sundaes have kids cereal on them. I had a popcorn chicken with salt and pepper for $5.50 and a cheese fries for $5. Both portions were huge. The chicken wasn't very tasty. Kind of like bad Chinese take out. But, they filled an entire circular tin container for me. It could feed four. The fries were better. Very thin. Big portion. Same container. The cheese was like game day melted goo. They put on too much red spicy Cheeto dust though. They have glass mason jars, milk bottles and travel containers that you can buy for a buck or two. For your liquid refreshments. You can add a swirl - a tornado of mango - to any drink. It's a Me-lennial dream come true. They just need to snap your picture when you enter and stream it to a monitor or straight to Instagram. The place is gray and black with dark wood patches. Pay and order at the counter. It's fun. Why they opened here is a mystery. It's the only non-Asian business. However, it just adds to the roster of choice places in this strip mall.
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