Restaurant: Crustacean Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]
Location: 468 North Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 | (310) 205-8990
Date: October 8, 2025
Cuisine: Modern Asian Dining
Rating: A Spectacular Hedonist Feast!
The Hedonists and I have been regulars at Crustacean for years now, drawn back again and again by our special friendship with the An family. Elizabeth An and her mother Helene have created something truly remarkable here in Beverly Hills—a restaurant that manages to honor Vietnamese culinary tradition while elevating it to fine-dining heights. On this particular evening, they put together something extraordinary for us: an elevated traditional Vietnamese menu that stepped away from the more fusion-oriented fare typically available to the public and dove deep into the classical techniques and flavors of Vietnamese home cooking, refined through the lens of Helene’s decades of restaurant experience.
This was no ordinary Tuesday night dinner. Elizabeth and Helene curated a special tasting menu that showcased the breadth and sophistication of traditional Vietnamese cuisine, from housemade charcuterie to perfectly grilled seafood, from delicate bánh xèo to the restaurant’s famous garlic noodles. Each dish represented a different facet of Vietnamese cooking, executed with the precision and ingredient quality you’d expect from one of Beverly Hills’ premier dining destinations.
Crustacean Beverly Hills has been a fixture in the LA dining scene for decades, pioneered by Chef Helene An, who is often credited as the mother of Vietnamese fusion cuisine in America. Born into an aristocratic Vietnamese family and trained in both traditional Vietnamese cooking and French technique, Helene has won numerous awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2016 Golden Foodie Awards. Her daughter Elizabeth has carried on the family legacy, maintaining the restaurant’s commitment to quality while honoring the “Secret Kitchen”—a private kitchen within the kitchen where cherished family recipes are prepared away from prying eyes.
Tonight’s ambitious menu showcased the full range of traditional Vietnamese cooking with luxe modern touches.
We started with a parade of Vietnamese classics, each one more refined than you’d typically encounter.
Vietnamese Charcuterie — Housemade traditional cold cuts including Giò Thu, Giò Huế, and Giò Bò. These are the kinds of delicate, meticulously prepared Vietnamese pork and beef sausages that take days to make properly, each one showcasing different textures and spice profiles. The attention to detail was evident in every slice.
Crispy Bánh Hỏi Wrapped Tiger Prawns — Rice vermicelli, tiger prawns, chili paste, and honey. The bánh hỏi provided a crunchy, almost tempura-like coating for the sweet prawns, with the chili-honey glaze adding just the right amount of heat and sweetness. Really quite excellent.
An array of dipping sauces accompanied the early courses, each one carefully balanced.
Grilled Mực Nướng Calamari — Grilled calamari with turmeric, peanuts, fish sauce, and Vietnamese balm, grilled over white coals. The smokiness from the charcoal paired beautifully with the turmeric’s earthy notes, while the fish sauce provided that essential umami backbone. The calamari itself was tender and perfectly charred.
Roast Duck Gỏi Cuốn Rolls — Fresh rice paper, five-spiced roasted duck, pickled vegetables, and assorted Vietnamese herbs. The duck was succulent and richly spiced, while the fresh herbs and pickles cut through the richness perfectly. These were textbook gỏi cuốn, executed with premium ingredients.
A simple dish prepared for one of our picky eaters in the group.
Escargot Bánh Xèo — A5 tallow, rau ram, bean sprouts, wood ear and shiitake mushrooms, with garlic lime. This was a luxe take on the classic Vietnamese crepe, with the escargot adding a French touch to the traditional format. The A5 tallow made the crepe incredibly rich and crispy, while the herbs and mushrooms provided textural contrast. Totally awesome.
King Crab & Caviar Bánh Khọt — Crispy rice flour tart with coconut béchamel and Kaluga caviar. These miniature crispy cups were filled with sweet king crab meat, creamy coconut béchamel, and topped with glistening caviar. One of the standout dishes of the night, combining Vietnamese technique with seriously luxe ingredients.
Bún Riêu Crab Soup — Fresh shrimp, dried shrimp, Dungeness crab, eggs, peeled tomato, banana flower, and kinh gioi leaves. This is one of Vietnam’s most beloved soups, and this version was outstanding. The tomato-based broth was deeply savory from the multiple forms of shellfish, while the banana flower added a subtle bitterness and the herbs kept everything bright. Damn good.
Wagyu Wrapped in Lá Lốt Leaves — Wagyu ground beef, beef tallow, lá lốt leaves, and shallots, served with bánh hỏi noodles. The lá lốt leaves imparted their distinctive peppery, slightly minty flavor to the rich wagyu, while the beef tallow made everything incredibly juicy. Wrapped in the delicate bánh hỏi, this was a perfect bite.
Chả Cá Hanoi — Grilled filet of sole with turmeric, galangal, and dill, served with An’s Famous Garlic Noodles®. This Hanoi specialty showcased the sole’s delicate texture, perfumed with turmeric and galangal, brightened by fresh dill. And of course, those garlic noodles—Crustacean’s signature dish that has spawned countless imitators across LA. The secret sauce coating each strand is still unmatched.
Sparerib Sườn Rang — Pork spareribs with burnt caramel, soy, ginger, and shallot, served with broken rice. The caramelization on these ribs was spectacular, with that classic Vietnamese burnt sugar flavor that’s simultaneously sweet, savory, and slightly bitter. The meat fell off the bone, and the broken rice soaked up all the intensely flavored sauce.
Wine with dinner.
This was the kind of meal that reminds you why Crustacean has endured for so long in a city where restaurants come and go with alarming frequency. Elizabeth and Helene’s decision to showcase elevated traditional Vietnamese dishes rather than the fusion fare that made the restaurant famous demonstrated both their confidence in the cuisine’s sophistication and their deep understanding of Vietnamese culinary tradition. Every dish showed meticulous technique—from the housemade charcuterie that takes days to prepare properly, to the bánh xèo with its impossibly thin, crispy edges, to the perfectly balanced bún riêu with its complex layering of seafood flavors.
What made this dinner particularly special was the sense of hospitality and friendship that infused every course. The Hedonists and I have been coming here for years, and the An family treats us like extended family. There’s something wonderful about dining at a restaurant where the chef knows your preferences, where special off-menu items appear just for your table, where the meal becomes a conversation rather than a transaction.
The standouts for me were the king crab bánh khọt with its luxurious toppings, the deeply flavored bún riêu, and those incomparable garlic noodles that continue to set the standard after all these years. But really, the entire menu was a masterclass in traditional Vietnamese cooking executed at the highest level. This is the kind of meal that makes you appreciate the depth and sophistication of Vietnamese cuisine—not just the pho and bánh mì that most Americans know, but the full range of techniques and flavors that make it one of the world’s great culinary traditions.
