I heard that they were paying $8-plus an hour for people to paint here in Houston, so during the summers, I would fly here to Houston to work. Do you know how much jobs used to pay then? Minimum wage was about $3 an hour. I had sponsors in New York City and went to college at Albany State for an accounting degree. Our family had connections, so I left Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975. My mother and my six brothers and sisters didn’t want to leave Vietnam. My dad used to be in the army and had already passed away. I was in my mid-20s when I came to the United States. Why Houston? Why a restaurant? We asked a few nosy questions to learn more. Yet each of these stories has its own unique variation. Ngo’s immigrant story is a common one in Houston. Now it’s gray,” he says affectionately of another customer, pausing for a moment before saying proudly, “You see? My customers always come back to me.
“When this one started coming to my restaurant, his hair was black. I know his entire family.” During the course of about an hour, several more long-time customers come into the restaurant. “He’s been coming here since he was a kid. “See him?” he says fondly, gesturing towards a man paying for several to-go orders. While they’re gone, he’s non-stop busy, answering phones, taking orders, greeting customers, checking people out and making sure that the restaurant is running smoothly. A devout Catholic, he lets his staff go to church during the break between lunch and dinner service on weekends. On the afternoon of our interview, Ngo is upbeat and energetic. He works from open to close six days a week, and he’s been doing it for the last 23 years. Ngo, now 66 years old, is almost always behind the counter, taking orders and checking people out. Whereas prices have gone up around town, two people can still eat well here for around $20. Beyond adding a few snack items to the top of the menu, the restaurant serves the same core 14 items. But step into Thien Thanh and not much has changed.
There are new places for bánh cuốn as well, like Banh Cuon Hoa. Overall, Thanh Xuân Cafe isn’t quite the hidden gem, but I’d come back for the bánh cuốn (with a friend, to make the visit worthwhile).Today, drive down Bellaire Boulevard between Beltway 8 and Highway 6, and the area is booming with new, primarily Vietnamese-owned businesses. These might even be the same ones made by Bun Cha Hoang Yen on Victoria Drive but the way these were cooked made them less good. A bit dried-out and tough on the outside. Overall it’s light and homey tasting (perhaps even a bit plain) but I like my bún riêu to be quite punchy with fluffier pork & crab chunks, so I probably wouldn’t order this again.Ĭhả Mực ($5 for 3), deep fried squid cakes. The broth is light but with a pretty good depth of flavour. A bit heavier and denser than what I prefer. The crab “clouds” here are on the firm side, with an interesting crust on them. It’s a humble street food that’s tricky to make but not to be fussed over, so in that sense it’s a success, but I do think more could be done.īún Riêu Cua ($9) with tomatoes, water celery, chả lụa (Vietnamese ham), and that special pork & crab paste (which is like a cross between a meatball and a crab cake). I do wish there was more filling though, but your tastes may differ. Plate of lettuce and herbs to eat with everything on the menu. However, while technically done well, the amount of filling was just enough to register.įish sauce was light and well-balanced, made to be poured on liberally. It’s cooked fresh to order and comes out relatively quickly. Slices of Vietnamese ham ( chả lụa) and fried shallots on top. No written bills, everything is verbal and cash-only 🙂īánh Cuốn ($9), steamed rice rolls with ground pork and shrimp filling. The woman speaks northern Vietnamese and presumably no English. On this visit, it was the elderly woman running the place with a younger assistant. We also tried their Bún Riêu (pork and crab paste rice vermicelli soup). We got their Bánh Cuốn with ground pork and shrimp filling.
#Banh cuon hoa full
You can also get bánh cuốn to go, in either full or half orders.
The menu is basically two items: Vietnamese steamed rice rolls (with or without filling), and three variations of the same general kind of soup noodle. That’s a nice crawl without having to leave the strip mall… To the right is a wonderful sketchy massage place and a weed shop. (It helps that Pho Hoa generally sucks and has a different menu.) Mainly known as the place to get Vietnamese Steamed Rolls ( bánh cuốn), Thanh Xuân Cafe on Kingsway and Nanaimo seems like it’s been there forever, despite being beside the long-standing Pho Hoa and still staying in business. This won’t take long (but maybe longer than you think). This hole-in-the-wall has ~14 seats and just two main items on the menu.
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