The New York Times Discovers Sriracha

A candidate for Stuff White People Like...

Of all of America's wonderful ethnic cuisines, the New York Times understands Vietnamese creations the least. Last month or so, the Gray Lady published a piece on how Vietnamese-American chefs in New York were reinventing the bánh mì, an article that appeared a couple of months after the paper declared 2009 was "the year" of the bánh mi. As I noted in my review of Garden Grove's Nhu Lan Bakery, the Vietnamese sandwich is so 2002--always a delight, yes, but too ubiquitous nowadays to warrant further attention.

You know what's even more common than bánh mìs? Sriracha Hot Sauce, known by non-foodies as rooster sauce due to the bottle's logo of a strutting cock. Guess who just discovered this garlicky sweet sauce existed? It's a good story, but even I knew about Sriracha back in the days when the only ethnic food he dared try was pizza, Cup o' Noodles, and Mos II. On that note, one of my first food articles was a taste test involving Tapatio and Sriracha to see whether Vietnamese and Mexican condiments went well with each others food. Come on, Times: if a wab knows his Viet food, why can't ustedes?