![]() Big groups and families make an event out of the whole catfish, fried until its skin crackles beneath your chopsticks like radio static. A vast menu includes uncommon meat-grilled snails, deep-fried quail-but the kitchen shows just as much care with standards like banh xeo or a short rib rice plate (the menu also includes Chinese dishes). But we didn’t need a food celebrity to tell us this sprawling two-level dining room was special. Yes, that one time Anthony Bourdain visited for The Layover was pretty cool. ![]() Huong Duong means “sunflower” in Vietnamese, which explains the bright-yellow walls in the laid-back dining room. Plus a few less-common dishes, like duck noodle soup or a pork chop redolent of caramelized fish sauce and topped with a fried egg. We should all be so lucky to have a neighborhood restaurant like this in our midst-crispy banh xeo, vermicelli bowls full of crunchy vegetables and rich grilled meat, a mango salad you could (gladly) eat every day. But the banh xeo is still crisp and fresh, and that fan base remains strong as ever (these days, says Kuang, vermicelli bowls are a top seller). Right now they run a simplified menu due to Covid challenges. Over the years, Kuang’s family opened (and closed) a few additional locations around the city. Prominent chef-fans sang its praises and drove a wave of diners still getting to know the charms of banh xeo and Vietnam’s traditional seven courses of beef. When Peter Kuang and his family opened their narrow slip of a restaurant in 2005, word traveled fast. Green Leaf Vietnamese Chinatown–International District A visit to this yellow-walled spot just off Jackson doubles as an opportunity to explore Vietnamese soups, like lemongrass-sparked bun bo hue or comforting hu tieu, often overshadowed by our collective love of pho. ![]() Sure, the bathtub-size “super bowls” of pho are a fun novelty, but the real draw here is housemade rice noodles, soaked, ground, and fashioned over several laborious days. Dong Thap Noodles Chinatown–International District Owner Tanya Nguyen also makes tangy noodle soups and a banh mi with faux crispy pork skin that counts plenty of carnivores in its fan base. Look beyond the vigorously pastel walls to that glorious pay-by-the-pound buffet, a smorgasbord of curry, tofu, braised jackfruit, eggplant, and assorted “meat” that’s the stuff of meatless dreams. Image: Chona Kasinger ChuMinh Tofu and Vegan Deli Chinatown–International District
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