Los Angeles Times - Suddenly Saigon

photo by Bryan Chan
Gingergrass' jackfruit, shrimp and pickled lotus root salad, top left, imperial rolls and flank steak with chiles.

Vietnamese cafes are springing up in neighborhoods from Venice to Pasadena. They're as stylish and fun as the cuisine is fresh and flavorful.

For a moment the sharp fragrance of lemon grass merging with leafy aromatic greens transports me back to the humid heat and clamor of Saigon. But the din I hear isn't the sound of a Saigon street. It's the clatter of an open kitchen over the hum of conversation at Gingergrass, the always mobbed Vietnamese cafe in Silver Lake. Vietnamese food is hot. Neighborhood cafes serving the cuisine are popping up from Venice to West L.A. to Pasadena. And people aren't coming to them for the flavorful dishes alone: The new restaurants are stylish scenes, astutely geared to the temperaments of their neighborhoods. The gorgeous fragrance at Gingergrass comes from my salad; marinated, grilled flank steak arrayed on a tangy bed of pickled vegetables, perfumed with bunches of fresh herbs and a sprinkling of crunchy roasted peanuts.

Around me, everyone is devouring beautifully conceived plates of food: vast bowls of delicate noodles crowned with flowering basil tops and mint or chargrilled meats over hillocks of raw greens. Chef and co-owner Mako Antonishek is clearly cooking what Angelenos want to eat now.

With nearly half a million Vietnamese Americans living in California - the largest population outside that country itself - you'd think Vietnamese food would already be as common as tacos. But finding a Vietnamese restaurant meal has usually entailed a trek to Little Saigon or other specific ZIP Codes where restaurateurs survived best by catering to built-in clientele.

Lately, though, a new generation of Vietnamese entrepreneurs has been changing the landscape. Gingergrass is all high ceilings, white walls and a wide expanse of glass; it has an artist's loft feel that mirrors Silver Lake tastes. At first the restaurant attracted customers who admired Antonishek when she cooked at the short-lived Le Colonial in West Hollywood. But now the place feels Eastside-chic through and through, from the smart-looking crowd to the dramatic cylindrical lamps. Most of Antonishek's dishes are traditional Vietnamese - Shrimp rolled around sugarcane sticks, a sweet-tart jackfruit salad with pickled lotus roots - and they come artfully arranged on square white ceramic plates.

--By Linda Burum
Special to the Times

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