Restaurant: Brodard Restaurant [1, 2]
Location: 16105 Brookhurst St. Fountain Valley, CA 92708. Phone number (657) 247-4401
Date: September 26, 2019
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: Solid
Crawls are usually a lot of fun, and after the super extensive Garden Grove / Westminster Vietnamese Food crawl we did a few months ago, my brother, parents, and went down south for a smaller (3 stop) version.
We started furthest south at Brodard.
Their interior is fairly modern.
Vietnamese menus can be very long, and this is no exception.
Roasted Duck Spring Rolls (Goi Cuon Vit). Tender roasted duck wrapped in rice paper with asparagus, scallions, cucumber, and cilantro served with plum sauce. Hoison (plum) sauce makes everything taste great.
Eggplant Tempura Rolls. Tempura eggplant, asparagus, cucumber, avocado, and cilantro wrapped in rice paper and served with soy vinaigrette. Not as good as the duck (or the pork we had last time).
Spicy Beef Salad (Goi Bo). Tender marinated beef wokked with Asian spices over lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions in spicy lemongrass vinaigrette. Delicious.
The check for reference.
Restaurant: Oc & Lau Restaurant [1, 2]
Location: 9892 Westminster Blvd Unit R, Garden Grove, CA 92844. (714) 583-8100
Date: September 29, 2019
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: Great
This crawl returned to Oc & Lau as well, but this time to location 2, which is tucked behind the Garlic & Chives.
The exterior of location 1, but today we went to 2.
Interior of location 2 — much bigger than 1.
Big menu.
Coconut Swirly Escargot (Oc Len Xao Dua). After ordering the wrong snails last time I got it right this time — with the conical Vietnamese kind and the slightly sweet curry sauce. This sauce is amazing.
You have to suck the meat out of these little cones.
Empty shells.
Fried quail (Chim Cut Rotti). Much like the Chinese style quail. Great!
Weird purple yam and sticky milk free dessert. Oddly addictive.
The check again.
Restaurant: Garlic and Chives [1, 2]
Location: 9892 Westminster Blvd #311, Garden Grove, CA 92844.: (714) 591-5196
Date: September 29, 2019
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: Great
Today we finish up at my favorite down here, Garlic and Chives.
The minimalist interior.
Slightly spicy edamame.
Grilled Turmeric Fish with Dill served on the skillet w/ vermicelli.
Vermicelli noodles and herbs served with turmeric fish. You wrap these up with the fish. Delicious and very much like we had a couple of times in Vietnam.
Baked Clams with Garlic & Chives. Or maybe Chili Garlic. Nice actually. Lots of flavor.
House Special Lobster. Sautéed in house special sauce with garlic, onion, jalapeños, on a bed of noodles. This was AWESOME. Tons and tons of flavor, particularly over the noodles. Way better than the Crustacean and probably 1/4 of the price.
Overall, a fun and very filling little adventure!