California Pizza Kitchen Opens First OC ‘Grab & Go’ Location
A group of us recently were comparing the really unique elements of various cuisines around the world. Mention France and someone immediately says foie gras. Mention Spain and the likely retort is tapas (those appetizers that the world seems hooked on now) and paella. Mention Vietnam and it seems the seven-course beef dinner is known, if not yet tried, by many.
We are lucky to have in our midst one of the most famous Vietnamese restaurants for this dinner, PagOLac, in Westminster. It was, in fact, the first restaurant in America to do the famous seven-course meal that emanates from southern Vietnam. I find it a delightful way to dine, since the meal comes course-by-course. Not only are the tastes refined and totally likable to an American palate, but the textures in each of the dishes are a sort of artistry unto itself.
The restaurant is quite pleasant: big and open and bright and clean. Tables are covered in white cloths and are mostly big,there are lots of parties of six or eight since that is an ideal way to have this meal: you have plenty of food ordering for four if you are a party of six, or ordering six for the party of eight. Considering that the meals are only $11.95, this is one of the great bargains of the county, as well.
For most courses, the components of the dish come separately. Plates of greens, bean sprouts and rice pancake wrappers as thin as shrink-wrap are supplied almost throughout the meal. For some of the courses, plates of sliced cucumber, sliced banana in its al dente stage, and carrots are provided as accompaniments. The idea is to take the meat from most courses, one piece at a time, wrap it in a lettuce leaf and perhaps a sprig of mint if you like, one or two of the other accouterments, if appropriate, and then in an outer wrapper of rice pancake. In the case of the fourth course of the meal, large-leafed dark green leaves imported from Hawaii are supplied for wrapping purposes. I love the snap of flavor that’s just above the mildness of lettuce. Most of the food, resembling small egg rolls in size after you’ve selected and wrapped, is hand held. A variety of dipping sauces from light and sweet to fiery hot also are provided.
The first course is a beef fondue. Slices of tenderloin are put into a meat broth with a backbone of vegetable flavors. Served atop some rice, the taste is terrific, and you may choose to do it another way by wrapping the cooked pieces of beef in lettuce wraps and putting the broth only over a little rice. Small, succulent meatballs are piled on a platter for the second course. The juiciness of the beef is a nice surprise, but it’s secondary to the texture added by the peanuts in the mixture and the full flavor of mushrooms and fresh herbs.
The next course is billed as ground beef sausage. It tastes nothing like what we perceive as sausage meat. Rather, it is batons of lean ground beef delicately seasoned with five-spice powder. The fourth course is also described as a kind of sausage, but again it is a savory meat not akin to our mental association with sausages. The fifth course, by which time you will want to begin pacing yourselves, is classified as beef satay. Thin slices of tenderloin are flavored with a delicate curry and charbroiled over open flames.
As is the tradition in almost every country but America, salad is served near the end of the meal, a sensibility for digestive purposes. In this case, barely seared slices of tenderloin become part of a mixed salad of a half-dozen greens, the whole tossed with a very light rice-wine vinegar and sesame dressing. Another tradition that holds at multi-course feasts in Asian restaurants is to end the meal with soup. Here, a steaming bowl of noodles and rice perfumes the air as it comes to the table as a last course. The hearty soup is studded with pieces of beef and punctuated with the flavors of some fresh herbs and fresh ginger.
In addition to the multi-course beef dinner, the menu has a dozen other regional specialties, many of them succulent fish and shellfish dishes. The Vietnamese have very French leanings in their desserts, so the pastries at the end of the meal are not to be missed. This is such refreshing dining that for me it’s always a big treat.
