流口水：越南菜

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2006-12-11 13:48

自从离开洛山鸡以后老子就没吃过正宗好吃价廉物美的越南馆子，尤其是让我念念不忘的越南三明智。马里兰有一家牛肉粉馆子，经常热闹地没有停车位。还有一家＂巴黎＂bakery是唯一买得到三明智和越式咖啡的地方，味道还凑和但是量少又贵，很不过瘾。而其他在当地报纸年年上榜的都是些美国化的雅皮去处，装饰的现代精美，卖些照顾美国肠胃的淡出鸟的改良菜，太不正宗了，连烤猪肉都没有卖！住在宾州时费城城里有一两个比较正宗的小店，可是太远，去一次兴师动众，结果一年半里也没去几次。

昨天心血来潮，鼓起勇气去早就听说的一家越南豆腐店，在Virginia Seven Corners附近，据说是现做现卖的豆腐特产。为什么要鼓起勇气呢？因为Seven Corners那里是有名的交通混乱，路标模糊让人摸不着头脑，可以同杜邦圈那里的交通比美。它的地址上明白地写着Eden Center，等我到了以后才知道这个Eden Center不个普通的strip mall，而是一个小西贡！在一个典型的近郊被洋人和普通商店，car dealerships包围的NoVa strip mall里也不知怎么就长出这么个奇怪的东西，整个一片地上全是越南店面，包括一个超市，一家珠宝店，一些理发店服装店什么的，然后是近十家的饭馆小吃店!!!几乎门对门肩并肩，简直是同类商业集中的典型。

左边一家卖各种波霸饮品的小铺子，右边一家越式bakery（我兴高采烈地买了一杯越式咖啡）。中间有装饰堂皇的Four Sisters，里面坐了不少洋人（WashPost每年都推荐的），但更多的是朴素的小饭馆，没有台布，光板桌椅，跑堂的吆喝门口的顾客挤着。停车场拥挤不堪没地方停车，头发焦黄的亚裔小孩子成群结队地晃来晃去，音像店里大喇叭用越南话推销不知什么。外面地上脏脏的，四周乱哄哄的，很亲切，老天，我简直要以为自己回到了LA。

找了一家人多的店，看里面都是黄面孔便进去了。一看菜谱，开心啊，竟然有Bun Bu Huet！我多少年没吃这了。呵呵，又酸又辣，汤里赫然一大块猪蹄膀，果然不是哄洋人的水货，烤猪肉，越式春卷也都很正宗。四周别人桌上的各色米粉炒面也都兴旺热闹，门口车水马龙。心满意足，真开心。然后去有名的豆腐店，进去就傻了眼，看了半天啥都没买又出来了－－柜台后一长串五颜六色的食品，似乎不是糯米就是米粉米糕之类，也不知是甜是咸，简直无从取舍，我都看糊涂了。最后硬着头皮又进去要了几块炸豆腐算数，其它只好等下次人少时慢慢地盘问店员如何order...回家一尝，这豆腐果然名不虚传，新鲜的豆腥味儿很重，如果你不喜欢豆制品我就不推荐了，但是的确很好吃。。。

我东张西望了一番，发现饭馆虽多而重复，似乎有其逻辑，高中低档各有两三家，从高级的类似广式酒楼，到中级的小饭馆，到没有座位的豆腐店和bakery。Bakery里除了卖经典的法式冻肉三明治（两块钱一个，我喜欢猪肉卷类型的），甜发糕，香蕉糯米糕，和香蕉叶包的各类越式棕子以外，还有类似肠粉的东西，串在竹签上的烤猪肉牛肉和蔗虾，还有我叫不出来的东西，在LA也没见过（当然在加州时我也没拜访过WestMinster那里的小西贡地区）。

我晕头晕脑地从嘈杂的热气腾腾的Eden Center出来，五官感觉深受刺激乱成一团。哇塞，真没想到DC这么正儿八经的乏味地方竟然有这么个纯越南角落，真可爱透了。最好玩的是这个strip mall其实并不太大，停车场里却有好几个横竖的路牌，上面全是越文的啥啥路，啥啥巷。唯一的反面因素是停车太难搞了，开车走路都是挤，进出让人一身汗，立刻让我回忆起在LA的中国人聚居区买菜吃饭的险状，弄得我也怕了，下次去估计得过了圣诞节新年这一档的闹腾－－但是。。。越历新年是不是跟中国的春节一样时间？那不是还得挤上两个月？

洛洛 · Post by 洛洛 » 2006-12-11 13:50

我猜很好吃？什么时候再去，叫上我吧。

花差花差小将军 · Post by **花差花差小将军** » 2006-12-11 14:00

I wonder if I know the place I always go there to buy onion/black bean tofu and lemongrass tofu

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2006-12-11 14:27

This Eden Center is at 7 Corners on Wilson Blvd near the crazy intersection. Luoluo is not too far from there and can probably get there through Wilson Blvd or Lee Hwy.

花差花差小将军 · Post by **花差花差小将军** » 2006-12-11 14:29

I know. I found that little saigon in 1998 upon some colleague's review. Once I bought some noodle soup and was driving home on Route 7. Got a speeding ticket for going 21 miles over that f*cking 25 mph limit. My noodle soup got very expensive after the court fee and the fine.
But I found the sandwich there not so good, not as good at Bali's. Of course, Bali's is gettign worse and worse ever since the store got renovated/expanded

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2006-12-11 14:46

Which Bali's do you mean? I only know the one in Rockville, Maryland.

Do you know what the tofu in the cups is all about? And all the red, yellow, pink, orange stuff that you order in line at the counter? Is it like Dou4 Fu Hua1? I was so lost.

One of these days I should trek to Annandale to check out the Korean stores there. I'd like to call this my anthropological exploration but really I just like to eat.

花差花差小将军 · Post by **花差花差小将军** » 2006-12-11 15:05

I am talking about the one in Falls Church. There's one in Philadelphia too. I think it's a chain owned by the same dude.
Don't know anythingabout those colorful stuff. I usually avoid those too suggestive of artificial coloring. You know, Vietnanmese can be relentless when using those.

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2006-12-11 15:09

My suspicion is that Bali is a popular in back in Saigon and hence is adopted by various immigrants in US for their own use without regard to franchise or brand name, like Quan2 Ju4 De2. I doubt there is actually a chain. There are also shops in LA called Bali's. Pho number so-and-so is the same thing. A famous store name in old country adopted by store owners here.

Yeah, food coloring is widely used in SE Asian cooking and some regional Indian food. I can do it occasionally, not too much.

orangetabby · Post by **orangetabby** » 2006-12-11 18:50

这个地方我几年前常去, 现在去VIRGINIA也回在顺路的时候去, 原来吃越南面的店特别好, 后来换了, 就不怎么太好了, 不知现在怎么样了, 那个FOUR SISTERS吃个几次, 还不错, 好象一直都在TOP 100 单子上.

FALLS CHURCH 那里是美国特别大的越南人的社区.

ravaged · Post by **ravaged** » 2006-12-11 22:22

um, i think i was actually there this past saturday when i was down in dc. my friends drove me to this place to have pho and bubble tea, and the tea shop/bakery had all sorts of random stuff that looked both tantalizing and frightening. jun, we should go together next time...

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2006-12-11 22:33

Tantalizing and frightening are precisely my impression. Meinv your writing is getting more brilliant every day. When will we be treated with your whole and original works, eh?

Yes, we should get together next year... (I'm going to LA for the holidays between Christmas and New Year to visit my parents. I was telling someone that I feel guilty about seeing them for 10 days out of a year, and he was shocked: "That's a long period!" He said in his neighborhood where a lot of elderly people live, a couple of days after Thanksgiving and Christmas he'd suddenly see all these strangers roaming around -- have been couped up with relatives for too long and need desperately to get away.)

ruby · Post by **ruby** » 2006-12-12 3:35

我现在住的地方附件居然有好几家越南小餐馆，我们总到一家吃牛肉粉，美味。

上次到DC吃得不算尽兴。都在DUPON CIRCLE附近，比较郁闷的是有家人气很旺的泰国馆子没吃到。不过BETHESTA METRO附近那家French Bakery(La Madeleine French Bakery)很不错。

笑嘻嘻 · Post by **笑嘻嘻** » 2006-12-12 7:20

美国把很多越南难民放在了德州边境上的小城市。最后他们很多都到了大拉斯。大拉斯的越南人聚集区非常之大，有点法拉盛的样子。巨大的超市在一条街上就三家。秋天在门口用大锅煮麻辣小龙虾，香得要命。小食品店里琳琅满目。他们的肉包子是肉馅上面卧半个切得端正煮鸡蛋。还有榨甘蔗汁。

生命太短，要写的东西太多。

karen · Post by **karen** » 2006-12-12 9:19

笑大，你说的是哪儿，是香港超市那块？达拉斯的越南店真是挺多的，而且都挤在一起紧紧得挨着，Jun, 你再推荐几个越南菜？我每次去就是点河粉。
噢对了，每堆门铺中必有一家珠宝店，在门外就被里面的金啊玉啊扎得刺眼。

越南人看上去很喜欢穿金戴银的。

Jun · Post by **Jun** » 2006-12-12 13:01

I miss Kitchen. She knows everything. I only know the few things I've had before --

The pork roll described in the other article, the fried egg rolls (dipped in fish sauce), the garden rolls (wrapped in semi-clear rice paper and dipped in peanut sauce), grilled shrimp paste with sugar cane (it's pink, sometimes wrapped around a bamboo stikc), marinated and grilled pork (there's also beef and chicken but I prefer pork), meats grilled with lemongrass.

Vietnamese fried egg noodles are almost the same as Cantonese chowmein. Then there's the vermicelli rice noodles, eaten dry and cold with fish sauce and vegetables and grilled or shredded meat.

Noodle soup is versatile like Chinese noodle soups. Pho is the most common. Bun Bu Huet is spicy and sour, sort of a stew with meat and tendons and stuff. I've seen tripe in it too. Vietnamese curry is slightly different from Thai curry and is kind of interest too.

Then there's the fried tofu of many kinds. Buns, which I don't like because they are so big. The inside is pork, shiitake mushroom and other stuff, and a hard-boiled egg. Various 棕子-like things with meat and rice inside.

Among desserts and drinks I've seen chilled young coconut with juice, various jelly drinks with food colors, glutinous rice pudding with 小绿豆, 白糖糕 with coconut bits, banana wrapped in glutinous rice and fried with coconut bits...

And the coffee. It's pretty much the same thing as New Orleans' Cafe o'lait. The coffee is straigh from the Big Easy -- the Cafe DuMond orange tin containing french roast coffee with chicory. In NO the recipe is half coffee and half hot milk. But the Vietnamese use condenced milk instead of milk so it's more thick and sweet. Addictive stuff.

I'm sure I'm only touching on the surface. More trips to Eden Center I guess...

And a classmate/friend of mine is Vietnamese. She makes this fantastic papaya salad, with shredded green papaya and pickled carrots, and peanuts and some other spices, tossed with fish sauce. Drool...