Huynh Hoa Tuu Part 2

Update: Huynh Hoa Tuu has closed.

Geez, in putting together this post, I just realized how many meals we've had at Huynh Hoa Tuu over the last couple of months! You can add the dishes in part 1, to those in this post for a more comprehensive list.

 After a couple of visits we started noticing a few things about the Pepto-Bismol pink restaurant.

1 - On many evenings, there usually was a group of men having beers and a good time. And, after having some of the dishes, I'd quickly agree that many would qualify as "beer food".

2 - Things were sometimes slow to come out of the kitchen, but that never really bothered us much, as many of the dishes were pretty good.

One item that would qualify as "beer food" is the Mung Ram Muoi (Fried Squid with Spicy Salt):

 
This was kind of a mixed plate. Even though the squid was fried, it wasn't very crisp. It was very tender, however. The chilies and garlic were a bit charred and on the bitter side.

On one visit, we decided to try something more conventional, and ordered the Grilled Pork "Meatballs" Spring Rolls (Nem Nuong Cuon - $4.99):

And while the thick slices of Nem Nuong had decent flavor, there was a bit too much lettuce in these, and the wrappers were really sticky. What really made this was the dipping sauce, the best I've had in a long time. It was a nice sweet-nutty-savory concoction, with a mild and pleasant livery finish. There were fried shallots, and (gasp) what seemed like pork skin in the sauce as well. Man this was good. Unfortunately, on a return visit, all the "extras" that made this sauce shine were gone....... so sad.....

And from the you can't go wrong with fried pork files, I present the Fried Pork Leg w/Fish Sauce ($15):

A whole pork leg was sliced and marinated in a fish sauce concoction, then deep fried, and finished with a stir fry in a spicy and sweet fish sauce mixture. The difference between this, and say, the "Crispy Pata (Filipino Style marinated and deep fried pork leg) of my dreams" is the lack of lovely gelatin. The meat has a good chew, and the band of skin surrounding the meat is pork skin heaven. Of course I heard no complaints about the lack of gelatin when Howie of a Foodieview, and a couple of other FOYs plowed through this one evening. This would make a wonderful beer dish.

FOY "Yummy Yummy" had warned us off the Banh Canh Cua (Crab Noodle Soup - $6.75), the folks here kept recommending it to us. So one day we finally ordered it.

YY warned of the overuse of food coloring, and she was right on. This was also very bland, except for the black pepper overdose..... boy does this place love black pepper.

The Bun Mam ($5.99), was better, though I enjoy the version from Nhu Y more.

Though the soup was nicely pungent, it could have used a bit more Mam Tom, though it was not as sweet as other versions I've had. As usual all the herbs and veggies were fresh and shiny. The Missus actually enjoyed this more than I did....especially the eggplant and shrimp.

On one visit, we saw a woman eating a very pretty plate of fried rice, so on another visit we tried the Shrimp Fried Rice($7.50):

The rice was cooked perfectly.... you could make out every grain of rice... and each grain had color. The shrimp was cooked to perfection, and though we saw the very generous amount of black pepper on this, the dish wasn't affected. It was a bit short on savory flavor, and we added a good dose of fish sauce to it. Still, this fried rice is better than most, but below, say, Sab E Lee or Noble Chef in flavor......

I had recently revisited Phuong Trang, and had the combination Com Tam. I was disappointed in the dish. The broken rice was very fragrant, but everything else, especially the Cha (steamed pork cake) which was dry, cracked, and flavorless. So on another visit I decided to try out the Com Tam Suon Bi Cha (Broken Rice with BBQ Pork Chop, Shredded Pork, and Steamed Egg and Pork):

First off the soup had tons of flavor......and did I tell you that this place loves Rau Ram and Black Pepper????

The Com Tam was cooked nicely, not too dry, but wasn't very fragrant.

The pork chop was nicely grilled, and was even slightly tender. It was less sweet than many I've had, but I enjoyed it.

The Bi was not very good; too dry, and lacking in flavor.

What was very good was the "Cha" the steamed pork-egg-wood ear "cake"(for the lack of a better description).

 
Soft and moist, but not mushy, the flavor of the pork and the earthy wood ear fungus came through. This was the best I've had in a while.

In fact, on our next visit, I decided to order this (+ fried egg..... because, you know, everything tastes better with a fried egg - $6.99), so the Missus could check this out Herself:

The Missus loved the Cha and hated the Bi, but pointed out another good detail. Huynh Hoa Tuu's Nuoc Mam Cham wasn't watered down like many other places.... it is pretty strong, but goes with everything sooooo well.

I guess that's a nice final statement which illustrates that it seems Huynh Hoa Tuu is trying to do things right. It's also nice to have places like Que Huong and Huynh Hoa Tuu, the variety of dishes and preparation is a nice change of pace from other Vietnamese Restaurants in San Diego. It may not be Little Saigon level, but it's really not bad by any means....

Huynh Hoa Tuu
4660 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Comments

[kat]

at least the good outweighs the bad :)

[bill]

I like com tam alot but some shop just pre make/cook everything in advance which kind of ruins it unless the place has a high turn over rate. The bi can be mixed to order but then judging the seasoning would be a pain but the steam eggs that could be wiped up fast and steam to order. Anyways I guess its all about the ROI. You guys sure love this place it seems to be a fail proof place so far.

thanks
b

[Kirk]

Hi KAt - Yes, there are more things to like, then not like.

Hi Billy - You know, there's not enough volume here, so I kinda lower my standards a bit for Com Tam in San Diego.

[bill]

And you think SD is bad wait till you or if you ever want to stop by in San Antonio.

[Andy Sze]

Kirk, can you do a post on Viet restaurants in the SGV or OC? Restaurants that serve more than just the usual pho, bun, com tam, and cuon (rolls?)?

Don't know where to go up here for items like that crab noodle soup, bun mam (seen it in SD, but not here), fried squid.. etc etc. non rice, pho, and spring rolls establishments in the SGV

[sawyer]

that fried pork leg looks godly and i would love to have that for some beer munchies. all these posts made me go out and get my own pho and spring rolls next to my work, and when i dipped it into the sauce, i'll be damned, bc there was a toffee aftertaste to it!

[Kirk]

Hi Bill - Egads....

Hi Andy - You can try a couple of places that serve Northern style VN like Viendong Restaurant:

http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2007/01/road_trip_viend.html

Or HaNoi Restaurant:

http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2007/08/road-trip-ha-no.html

Or for an all goat affair Binh Dan:

http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2008/02/road-trip-binh.html

There were a couple of places that caught our eye when we're in the SGV area, so we'll post if/when we visit. BTW, I don't really recall seeing Bun Mam on too many menus.....

Hi Sawyer - Wow, you're really vulnerable to the power of suggestion... ;o)