Que Huong Revisited...many times Part 1 - Boneless Chicken Feet Salad Anyone?

**** Que  Huong has closed

In case your wondering where we've been the last couple of months, it's been at Que Huong on the corner of Malborough avenue. I'd posted on Que Huong before, way back in August of 2005. Our meals were pretty mixed, and so I kinda left it alone for a while. But recently, thanks to some comments about the food at Que Huong (thanks Y-Y!), and the various dishes offered at Que Huong, I found myself back in front of the restaurant behind Burger King.

The first thing I noticed was a chalkboard menu of specials, I recognized a few of them - Ốc len xào dừa, snails braised in coconut milk, but as a whole, I understood much less than I knew. As I entered the empty restaurant, it looked like it had been in a time warp for the last 3 years.

Except for a few things.....

Have you ever written on a greaseboard with the "wrong" type of pens, and the darn thing wouldn't erase? For some reason, several specials were written on the mirrors lining the walls of the restaurant.

The other dramatic change was the menu. It had been pretty long and diverse before, with stuff like Crocodile.

But now I noticed many more dishes.....and an entire sheet with various noodle soups like Bun Mam, and Rice Porridge(Chao - which has always been popular here). Much of it was probably due to my  increased exposure to Vietnamese cuisine over the last few years.

So what to eat? There were 2 dishes that were mentioned to me. The first was mentioned by several persons, and I thought it was just a "natural". Fish Sauce Chicken Wings($9.95):

I'd been warned that these sometimes edged on being "too salty", and that it was a "weird" combination. But I found these to be pretty good, perhaps a tad too salty, with a mild sweet flavor. And these were nice and crisp. The nice young man running the place on this day told me to eat these hot since they don't stay crisped for very long, and he was right. I didn't finish them, and by the time I got home they were starting to get a bit chewy.  I'd have them again, though I think they are a bit on the pricey side. When he packed them for me, he told me to make sure the lid stayed "open". There are several types of chicken wings on the menu, including Chickens Wings in Tamarind, which I was told is a sweet-sour wing. The small order is $9.95, the large order $12.95.

The other dish, mentioned to me by FOY "Y-Y" was Gỏi Chân gà rút xương - Boneless chicken feet salad($9.95)! How could I resist?

The photo is kind of deceptive, this was a pretty large salad. First off, the Chicken feet are boned, (how'd you like that job? ) so you really can't tell it's chicken feet. In fact, if you wanted to "punk" someone, you could tell them this was...say tripe...but well, most people I know who wouldn't eat chicken feet, wouldn't eat tripe either, and visa versa. The chicken feet had no taste, and seemed to just be here to add some crunch to the dish. The overall flavor of the salad was nice, sour-salty-mildly spicy. The Nuoc mam based "dressing" had a ton of ginger in it, and every bite had its own flavor and texture. Every so often you'd run into some Rau Ram, and the powerful peppery-spicy flavor would hit you. There was quite a bit going on here, and though it wasn't a "homerun", it kept me interested. At least interested enough to want to return. The only thing is....

How would I convince the Missus? Stay tuned............

Comments

[Chris]

dude: seriously, how Do you find these places? Awesome!

[kat]

I guess if the feet were de-boned I may give it a go, but if they looked like feet...no.

[Carol]

Kirk, you mean just mentioning chicken feet salad isn't convincing enough? I'd give it a go as long as I can eat all the shrimp chips.

[Dee]

I don't know about boneless chicken feet. I mean, half the fun of eating them is nibbling the "meat" off the bone! Especially while holding them up with chopsticks!

[foodhoe]

yeah I'm more of the shrimp chip lover... the wings sound goood, did you try the crocodile? I had gator once is it different I wonder...

[Candice]

I think you know about my foot fetish! Though I think I prefer them soft and steamed to crunchy. Hope to accompany you there on a future visit!

[Shirley]

My love of chicken feet is because I just love-love-love 'sucking' the skin off of the bones. :D And of course, its taste.
Boneless chicken feet would never satisfy me. Nope.

[nhbilly]

For some reason ginger fish sauce is the best with chicken especially boiled chicken and every parts of it. Me, I prefer the skin falling of the feet type so dim sum is the way to go for me :-D

[penny]

No crocodile? Come on Kirk!

[Sandy]

*Another* cliffhanger episode? :-)

I'm not a chicken feet (foot?) fan myself, but I'd be curious to try it de-boned. Whoever de-boned it in the photo did a good job; I would have ended up shredding it.

[Kirk]

Hi Chris - This was actually a revisit of a place we went to several times back in '05. So it's been around for a while.

Hi Kat - I dunno, the Chinese braised feet are still the best.

Hi Carol - The Missus isn't interested in eating Chicken Feet with no bone! ;o)

Hi Dee - The Missus agrees 100%.

Hi FH - I've had alligator twice, but I think I'll give it pass here...it probably not very fresh.

Hi Candice - Sounds good....check out my future posts, and let me know when!

Hi Shirley - Yes, the Missus said the same thing!

Hi Billy - Ginger does add a nice kick to it.

Hi Penny - I know...what next? A whole week of wonderbread.

Hi Sandy - That chicken feet salad really got my attnetion when I first heard about it.