Had the white fish with dill & tumeric noodle dish for dinner at VietSoy again today. A photo wouldn't do it justice, it's my new favorite thing. Vietsoy is run by Viet (owner & chef) and Bun (she wouldn't let me take a photo of her lovely self). I have to say it's a really special place, a small gem. They are the sweetest people I've met this year. The food is fresh, succulent, and most importanly, tasty. Viet makes his own exceptional soy which is so labor-intensive (my favorite is the mint-flavored soymilk). Their sandwiches are pretty good too, the bread is trés french and buttery!
I hadn't been in a while and was sad to see that Viet's mural painting of the mom breast-feeding a baby with the father on the side was painted over. It's similar to the Socialist type of public art one sees throughout Vietnam. In a Communist state that does not favor artists, their government "approved" public art does certainly make a strong impression. Here are a couple I took from when I lived there in 1997.
This means "green, clean, beautiful." Three words to live by.
"ma túy" literally means "crazy ghost." How crazy is that? A very sobering anti-drug poster indeed.
VietSoy is located next to a former gay bar, Cuffs, now a soon-to-be trendy bar in Silverlake. Bun invited me to their private opening party after my meal. Turns out that one of the Pho Café ladies owns this new establishment, Hyperion Tavern. The interior is trés bibliothèque with two entire walls of façade books & two huge antiquey chandeliers. I can tell that it's going to be packed in weeks; it's just the perfect size, a bit dingy, romantic & gloomy, total hipster heaven. It's just so rad how so many Viet-kieu are establishing themselves in LA. And everything they are doing is actually very very cool! Go Viets!
