Goi Cuon Inc (Hillcrest)

While driving on Robinson Avenue a while back I noticed that a shop named Goi Cuon was replacing The Thai Grill, which was shut down due to some, ahem, critter issues. A few weeks later I read about the opening on Eater. Apparently this shop is an extension of booths at the Hillcrest and OB Farmers Market.

It's an interesting location; but I really liked the hours; 8am to 8pm, which made it a nice little stop on a weekend morning. You know, a little something to eat before taking care of the "Honey-do" list.

Nice shop; clean, wide open, but man, it's quite a menu, with various combinations of the namesake dish, banh mi, salads, "pho rolls", cha gio. I quickly figured out, since the entire menu was in English, and with items like Shrimp and Strawberry and Shrimp and Avocado spring rolls, and a bunch of vegan offerings that this was kind of a fusiony shop.

Still, when I saw Sugar Cane Shrimp with "crispy snack" and "Vietnamese Sausage Pork with Crispy Snack", I figured I'd start there. After all, I've always thought if you can't make the basics, well..... So, there was a very friendly young lady working the counter. She was so nice and was a bit shocked when I ordered the Nem Nuong Cuon and Chao Tom Cuon in horrible Vietnamese. She laughed and asked me if and where I'd had this before and I told her, "Brodard" and the "now closed Dat Thanh". She smiled and we had a nice little chat while I had my Vietnamese Coffee and waited for my Goi Cuon.

Eventually, I got me spring rolls all wrapped up nicely in a little brown bag.

Man, they sure use a lot of plastic wrap. I had to work pretty hard getting it off the spring rolls!

Two sauces were provided; a peanut based dipping sauce and another sauce with a sweeter coconutty flavor.

The spring rolls are not cheap at $3 each, but I was given 20% off as it was during grand opening.

So, what did I think?

The Chao Tom Cuon had a nice thick piece of shrimp paste, which was a bit more tender than I'm used to. It was fairly bland however. There was that "Brodard-like" piece of fried eggroll wrapper which added a nice crunch. There was quite a bit of lettuce in this, some bun, and no other herbs. In spite of being tightly bound in plastic wrap; the spring rolls itself was wrapped fairly loosely.

Next up, the Nem Nuong Cuon.

This was a bit better, though it was again very mild in flavor.

Both really needed the dipping sauces; the peanut version went much better with both goi cuon.

So, no this wasn't nearly as good as Brodard. Heck, it wasn't as good as Duyen Mai or even Banh Mai. But these were fresh and I guess convenient if you live in the area. The young lady was so very nice as well. I wanted to check out a few other items on the menu, so I returned a few weeks later and picked up a lunch to take back to the office.

The nice young lady was again working; I believe she is the owner?

I wanted to try a Banh Mi; there are only "Grilled" meat, tofu, and easy over egg versions available. I'd usually go with the Banh Mi Op La - the fried egg version, but I decided on the grilled pork.

This was by far the best item I've had from Goi Cuon thus far.The bread was nicely done, standard issue banh mi, but warm, crusty-flakey, and it had held up well. The pork almost seemed braised, it was very tender. The pickled carrots and the cucumber were nice and crisp. But man, this was a bit too "gringo" for me, no jalapenos, no pickled daikon, this was banh mi not to offend.

I was curious about the "Pho Rolls"; so I ordered a shrimp version ($3). And yep, this was a version of Pho Cuon, an acquaintance who recently returned from Hanoi mentioned this dish to me, a thickish rice noodle roll, rightly wrapped around beef and herbs used for pho. This is what I got here.

The rice noodle was on the thinner side and was wrapped quite loosely as it just fell apart. No herbs, just lettuce and cucumber; though the shrimp was nice and plump, well prepped. Overall, this was pretty bland and I thought some nuoc mam cham would have gone better with this than the peanut sauce.

There was one more item I was curious about. It was the shrimp and avocado spring roll ($3); so I ordered one. I mentioned how tightly these are wrapped earlier. By the time I got all the layers of plastic wrap off; the spring roll wrapper had started to peel.

The slice of avocado adds an interesting textural contrast; but very little in terms of flavor. The shrimp were thin half slices, quite bland, and having just bun and lettuce again really hurt the overall flavor of the spring roll.

And paying $12 bucks for this lunch seemed on the high side for me.

So, while the spring rolls are nice and fresh; I find the overall preparations and flavors a bit too "Westernized" for me. It's missing the herbs, seasonings, and other ingredients that make these dishes Vietnamese in my mind.

Also, I had thought that Goi Cuon was at least a nice, fresh breakfast option in the area; but at last glance they've changed their hours and are no longer open from 8 to 8. I really like the owner; she's really nice, I hope they do well, but for me, the food has lost its "soul" somewhere along the way.

Goi Cuon Inc
420 Robinson Ave.
San Diego, CA 92103
Hours
Mon - Fri 1030am - 930pm
Sat - Sun 11am - 10pm

Comments

[Soo]

That's good you went during the grand opening and the Banh Mi was ok.

[Kirk]

The folks working were really nice Soo!

[Sandy]

Sigh ... I was hoping for better. I think you have a point that the food seems to have been westernized to appeal to a wider audience. I remember ordering goi cuon at a long-gone Vietnamese restaurant, only to get rolls where the filling was falling out. Even I could have done better to wrap one!

[Katie]

$3 a roll and for that pitiful piece of nem nuong? And no daikon in the banh mi? Not to mention the tiny amount of stuff in it...what a joke

[kat]

aw bummer

[Kirk]

I was too Sandy....yes, this place is targeted toward a certain demographic it seems.

Yes, kinda pricey for what you get Katie.

I know Kat....

[Junichi]

Doesn't look like it's worth the hassle of looking for parking.

[Kirk]

They do have their own parking lot Junichi. Though it fills up fast.....