Yesterday, our new art director asked me about the hu tieu place I had just plugged on Good Food with Evan Kleiman on KCRW-FM 89.9. "Hu tieu? I don't like hu tieu," I replied.

"No, you specifically mentioned them!" he said.

I thought about it for a bit. "Phuong's?" I shot back. I had reviewed the restaurant for this infernal rag back in November and had recorded a commentary shortly after. "They make good bánh hoi, and an awesome soup--but it ain't hu tieu."

Turned it it DID make hu tieu, and the soup I don't like from the Vietnamese galaxy is mi. OOPS...anyhoo, my valentine to Phuong's appeared this week.

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In case you were worried that Pagolac, one of Little Saigon's best and oldest 7 courses-of-beef restaurants, seemed to have been replaced after nearly 24 years in business by a new Thai eatery called Golden Elephant at 14580 Brookhurst in Westminster, do not fret: Pagolac has merely moved to newer digs a few blocks away at 15470 Magnolia (near McFadden).

What's more, what replaced it is a hybrid Thai/Vietnamese restaurant where you can order hu tieu as well as pad Thai.

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I've lost track of how many iterations of pho joint has occupied the space at 3013 Harbor Blvd. in Costa Mesa. A few years ago I ate at one called Pho 99, which at the time was part of a larger chain.

That restaurant has since become a blip in the timeline, replaced by another pho restaurant. But what replaced it (which I believe was called Pho Company) has now itself been replaced by yet another Vietnamese restaurant. The latest is called Mama Hong's.

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Sarah Bennett

Sorry to all the animal-lovers out there, but "vegetarian pho" is definitely an oxymoron, so much so that the very association of it with Long Beach's Number Nine has left many avoiding the place despite its convenient location on Fourth Street's Retro Row.

A recent lunch with a vegetarian brought me into the tiny café, and though it is hard to eat hipster-friendly pho when the authentic stuff is right up the street (try Pho Hong Phat on Anaheim Street), Number Nine has more to offer than veggie-friendly Viet options.

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Gustavo Arellano

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I gotta say, ever since it was announced that I'd be the Orange County guy for KCRW-FM 89.9, the station has gone GANGSTA on OC, not just by allowing me to blabber every Monday with my "Orange County Line" commentary, but with an energized focus on the food front via Good Food with Evan Kleiman. Don't get me wrong: I've been doing a monthly commentary for years, and we have our semi-annual happy hours (next one is Feb. 7--see you there!), but there's now an added focus on food stories that happen to take place in OC, or guests with ties to the area.

Take this week. Not only do you have me talking about Al Tannour, the awesome Iraqi restaurant in Little Arabia, but you also have Garden Grove gal Lauryn Chun sharing recipes involving kimchi, per her great The Kimchi Cookbook. And you also have San Clemente native Andrea Nguyen giving a tour of Mitsuwa Marketplace. Orange County: the new black!
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NEM's Facebook

The new NEM restaurant only has three letters in its name and only four items in its menu. This is a roll specialist and it's setting its sights on the seemingly untouchable dominance of Brodard. 

Just like at Brodard, NEM's nem nướng cuốn, a spring roll tube with the grilled SPAM-like pork loaf, herbs, and a crunchy stick of egg roll skin,comes with its own special sauce.

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Tomorrow, Anne Marie will have a round-up of all the restaurants that'll be feeding folks on Thanksgiving, both as a dinner special or to help those less fortunate among us. But we wanted to give a special shout-out to Hop Phan of Dos Chinos, who let me know he'll be taking his Asian-Mexican lonchera to the folks who need it most: the homeless.
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How long until Pho 79 becomes our Versailles?

It's the height of election season, and us Mexis have grown accustomed to politicians going to a popular local Mexican restaurant (King Taco in Los Angeles, Mi Tierra in San Antonio, Chipotle nationwide) and taking a picture with a sombrero and a taco in hand, all to show how down they are with the brown. It's an absolutely ridiculous spectacle, but one long ingrained in American politics.

And now, it's starting to happen to pho.
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Sarah Bennett

Long Beach doesn't have OC's Little Siagon, or even many Vietnamese people for that matter. But we are blessed enough to have Pho Hong Phat--a recently-upgraded hole-in-the-wall on the eastern edge of Cambodia Town that annihilates the dozen or so (mostly Thai) establishments in the city that actually make the hearty Viet soup.
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