Cơm together: 3 Little Saigon restaurants that offer family meals for communal feasting
- Share via
You’ve experienced the culinary bounty of Little Saigon and already know where to get the biggest bowl of phở, the crispiest bánh mì, and the smokiest bún chả Hanoi. You might even know that if you see the words “dặc biệt” at the end of those dishes, it’s going to taste “extra special.” But have you heard of the term “cơm phần gia đình”? It translates to “family meal,” a style of cooking that echoes what Vietnamese actually eat at home.
It typically consists of a soup, a protein and a vegetable dish — nutritious, balanced and comforting spreads served with a big pot of rice. If you’re lucky enough to be invited by a Vietnamese family to their house for dinner, this is likely what you’ll be fed. Think of it as the mac-n-cheese, meatloaf and green bean casserole of a typical Vietnamese household.
Though you could conceivably cobble together a family-style meal at any number of restaurants in Little Saigon, there are relatively few eateries that cook the specific home-style dishes of “cơm phần gia đình.” As a general rule of thumb, you’ll know you’re in one when the menu offers cá kho tộ (catfish steaks braised in a caramelized glaze of soy, fish sauce and dried chiles). Another tell: The list of soups includes canh chua cá (fish in a tamarind-soured broth with taro stems and pineapples).
Yet the best feature of these “family meal” restaurants is the special set prices designed for parties of two or more, which, for the most part, will be a better deal than ordering à la carte.
What follows are my recent experiences at three of the most popular “cơm phần gia đình” restaurants in Little Saigon. Bring your family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances, because the more people you’ve got, the bigger the variety of dishes, the grander the feast.
The Old Guard
Thanh My Restaurant
9553 Bolsa Ave., Westminster
(714) 531-9540
When TV travel host Samantha Brown visited Little Saigon for her Orange County episode of “Places to Love,” she ate at Thanh My. Joining her to chat about the restaurant was politician Janet Nguyen, who, like the family that opened the venerable eatery in 1979, was a refugee.
And for the refugee community that would eventually grow around it, Thanh My is nothing less than a pioneer. It isn’t just one of the first Vietnamese restaurants to open on Bolsa Street before it became Little Saigon, it is also possibly the oldest Vietnamese restaurant in Orange County.
Like tree rings in a Sequoia, the menu is evidence of its 46 years in business. With over a hundred dishes, it rivals Cheesecake Factory on choices.
Most customers flip immediately to the Traditional Family Meal page where a three-course meal for two starts at $37.95. A party of eight gets seven courses for $145.95. The choice of dishes for each course is clearly listed with the more premium options marked with an upcharge fee. Whatever family meal package you order, there’s an additional charge of $1.50 per person for the rice. It comes in a big covered bowl that’s theoretically refillable if there wasn’t already more than double the amount that any group could conceivably consume in one sitting.
The most popular soup is the canh chua cá, with its sweet-and-sour broth made tangy by pineapple. On my visit, it was less a soup than an immovable wad of bean sprouts and half a pound of bone-in catfish steaks displacing the broth. Absent were the sliced taro stems that are usually a traditional component. Instead there was celery cut on the bias.
Cá kho tộ — the main dish that usually follows canh chua cá at a Vietnamese dinner table — featured more catfish braised in roiling caramel. Though the sauce was gloppy, it was salty and sweet enough to mask the muddy flavor of the fish.
For the vegetable course, I learned that one should always opt for the bò xà lách if it’s offered. This beef salad was more about the beef and less about the salad. Consisting of tender, marinated slices of seared tenderloin, it rested atop torn lettuce and sliced tomato — the highlight of my meal at Thanh My and, quite possibly, Samantha Brown’s, too.
The Hidden Gem
Mirada Restaurant
9102 Edinger Ave., Fountain Valley
(714) 842-7892
I’m not sure why this restaurant is called “Mirada,” a Spanish word that means “look.” Is it an appeal for passersby on Edinger Avenue to do just that? Tucked inside an anonymous strip mall that’s recessed from the street, it is easily missed.
In fact, I have driven hundreds if not a thousand times past the place and was unaware until a friend told me about its existence.
Mirada, as it turns out, has been open since 1995 and throughout its tenure, has specialized in family-style meals. That means you won’t find phở here. Instead, there’s a whirlwind of stir-fries with beef, pork, squid or shrimp. There are vibrant salads utilizing ong choy, lotus stems or papayas. There are, of course, Vietnamese mainstay soups like canh chua cá. But the restaurant also makes room for a few Thai dishes as well.
Mirada’s menus — which were placed underneath the glass that covered its tables — boast nearly a hundred items in all. A sign placed near the register warns: “We are not a fast food restaurant. Your food is made fresh every order. Please be patient.” And inside a dining room flanked by mirrors on either side, I saw families slurping soup, plucking food from shared plates with chopsticks and tucking into bowls of rice.
If you can resist ordering a la carte, Mirada’s Combo Special offers a $28.95 set meal of three dishes for two people that always has the following: a seafood tom yum soup, fried fish with a sweet and sour dipping sauce, and a stir-fry of whatever vegetable might be in season. On my visit, it was crisp-tender green beans tossed in a flurry of garlic.
The tom yum soup — teeming with squid, shrimp and imitation crab — was so full of tang, sweetness and heat from diced Thai chili peppers that I consumed an entire bowl of rice to blot out the burn. I ate the fish, which was crisp, salty and delectable down to its skinny bones, with yet another bowl of rice.
It should be noted that Mirada does not allow for substitutions when opting for the Combo Special, even for the four- or six-people set meals. While they do charge the nominal $1.50 per person for rice, bowls of warm chè dessert are served at the end of the meal for everyone in your party to enjoy — which is worth more than $1.50 if you ask me.
The Upstart
Hien Thanh Restaurant
9741 Bolsa Ave. Suite 108, Westminster
(714) 421-4512
In business since 2013, Hien Thanh is technically the newest restaurant on this list, but it’s just as popular as the others. On weekends, there’s routinely a wait for the chance to sit in its small rhombus-shaped room with koi fish paintings on the wall and a TV no one watches.
Hien Thanh isn’t expressly a “cơm phần gia đình” restaurant, however. Phở is available, as is bún (vermicelli noodle-based dishes) and hủ tiếu (noodle soups with toppings). There’s also a page on the menu devoted to the chef’s specialties that include Vietnamese fish udon noodle with crab.
But here’s the rub: While all of these single-serving dishes come with English translations, the Family Dinner section is written only in Vietnamese. And because you must choose your own soup, protein and vegetable when you opt for the Family Dinner deal, it’s here where you need those translations the most. Instead you are faced with lists of about a dozen choices for each course with only three or four pictures to help guide you.
It should also be noted that Hien Thanh is the only restaurant on this list where it’s more expensive to choose the set meal option than to order the dishes a la carte for $11.50 each. The soup with pork-stuffed bitter melon was bracing and refreshing — an acquired taste you must acquire. The caramelized catfish was nearly perfect, which, with the crunchy stir-fried water spinach, became a pairing meant for gobs of rice.
The $37.50 price for three courses does seem to have the cost of the rice baked into it, however. But don’t be surprised when the bill comes and an additional 15% is conveniently tacked on to the total for gratuity — you were going to tip 20% anyway ... right?
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
