The Brief

Los Angeles may not have an official Little Saigon, but if you travel to the San Gabriel Valley you'll find a thriving community of Vietnamese businesses along Garvey Avenue, straddling the cities of El Monte, South El Monte and Rosemead.

This bustling commercial hub doesn’t have a dedicated highway exit or government-sponsored placard, but I like to call it “GarViet” as a nod to the area’s main drag.

Drawn to the area in part by more affordable rents than nearby Alhambra and San Gabriel, the family-owned Vietnamese restaurants here serve regional specialties that can be harder to find elsewhere.

Familiar favorites like phở and bánh mì are available alongside rarer offerings from Central and Northern Vietnam in the many plazas dotting this highly trafficked thoroughfare.

With April 30 marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War — which triggered the first wave of Vietnamese refugees and immigrants settling in the U.S. — it's a good time to celebrate the culinary contributions of the Vietnamese diaspora in L.A. Through restaurant ownership, many Vietnamese families gained a foothold in the American economy while nourishing their communities with a taste of home.

Here are some great places to check out.

Kim Hoa Hue 

The restaurant Kim Hoa Hue in El Monte has served Central Vietnamese delights for nearly two decades, while a second outlet opened in Temple City in 2024. During peak lunchtime hours, the main dining room fills up fast with locals and nearby workers, while folks ordering bounteous catering trays trickle in throughout the day. The most pleasant seats in the house are on the back patio, away from crowds and shaded by mature fruit trees.

Kim Hoa Hue Restaurant serves food from Hue, in central Vietnam.

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Cathy Chaplin

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Kim Hoa Húê Restaurant in El Monte

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Cathy Chaplin

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The restaurant is named after Hue, the former capital of Vietnam, famous for its imperial cuisine. The Hue Combo ($11.50) offers a variety of these delicacies served on a single plate, including bánh bèo (steamed rice cakes topped with shrimp and cracklins), bánh nậm (rice cakes embedded with shrimp and steamed in banana leaves), bánh bột lọc (shrimp and pork tapioca dumplings), chả (steamed pork forcemeat), and bánh uớt tôm chấy (rice sheets with minced shrimp).

Brighten these light bites with the accompanying fish sauce; whether it’s a restrained drizzle or a serious dunking is up to your tastes. A bowl of bún bò Huế ($13.25), complete with pork trotters and slippery rice noodles, is just the thing to round out the meal.

Bánh Cuốn Hương Bắc  

Bánh Cuốn Hương Bắc in South El Monte has a Northern Vietnamese menu.

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While some Vietnamese restaurants boast winding menus spanning many regional specialties, others opt to keep their offerings tight and focused.

Bánh Cuốn Hương Bắc sits in the latter camp, serving a succinct Northern Vietnamese menu with just a trio of appetizers, a few noodle soups (canh bún, bún riêu, and bún mọc), and the house-specialty bánh cuốn. Relative newcomers on Garvey Avenue, the owners of Bánh Cuốn Hương Bắc are betting that dependably executing a few dishes well will attract a steady crowd. So far, their gamble is paying off.

The restaurant prepares five varieties of bánh cuốn ($12), gently steamed rice flour “crepes” served plain or wrapped around eggs and ground shrimp, or pork and wood ear mushrooms.

It’s hard to go wrong with the signature (dặc biệt) platter, which includes bánh cuốn plumped with both a pork and wood ear mushroom filling and minced shrimp. Everything is topped with fried shallots, two types of steamed pork sausage, and a deep-fried sweet potato raft studded with skin-on shrimp. Blanched herbs and bean sprouts and a fish sauce-based dressing arrive on the side for garnishing to taste.

Thien Tam Vegetarian Restaurant

Thien Tam serves a plant-based menu, including the Hainan chicken rice made of soy beans.

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Whether you've adopted a plant-based diet or just dine meatless on occasion, Thien Tam is a terrific spot for Vietnamese vegetarian fare. The restaurant serves a brisk crowd on most days of the week and is especially popular on the first and fifteenth days of each month on the Lunar calendar, when Vietnamese Buddhists refrain from eating meat. So plan accordingly.

Opened by Bonnie Quach in 2009, the restaurant serves a robust menu featuring the cuisine’s greatest hits — all made without any animal protein. Start with the tautly-wrapped spring rolls ($6.95) chock-full of herbs, vegetables, and fried tofu. The fishless fish sauce served alongside for dipping is impressive in its mimicry. Equally superb is the Hainan chicken rice ($13.95) made of soy beans, boasting crispy and divoted skin, just like the real thing. A mound of ginger-laced rice, pickles, soup, and a ginger “fish” sauce comes with each order.

Hue Thai Bakery & Deli

Despite its discreet signage, Hue Thai Bakery & Deli in Rosemead offers bountiful sandwiches.

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In this economic climate with soaring prices and stretched dollars, Vietnamese sandwiches promise the ultimate meal on the go.

While Vietnamese delis can be found across L.A., none can compete with the expertly made sandwiches at Hue Thai in Rosemead. Located in a freshly paved strip mall anchored by outposts of Orange County imports Hot Stone Pho and Bake and Che, Hue Thai may very well be the shabbiest business on the block. Look beyond the peeling paint and make a beeline for the front counter, which is loaded with Vietnamese provisions, including cured pork sausages with fresh chilies and garlic ($8) that make for a spicy, sour snack.

The deli’s menu is posted in both English and Vietnamese, with photographs of each dish. Every sandwich is made on one of two kinds of house-baked baguettes: round and squat or long and lean. Sandwiches constructed on the latter loaves are about a dollar more and contain additional protein and less bready fluff. Hue Thai’s variety of fillings include cold cuts ($7), grilled pork ($7.50), canned sardines ($7), fried eggs ($7) and more, each one with requisite flourishes of pickled carrots and daikon, shaved jalapeno, cilantro and scratch-made mayonnaise.

What separates these sandwiches from the pack is their masterful proportions. From pickles to spreads and proteins, the ratio of each ingredient is thoughtfully considered so that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Order the dặc biệt ($7) sandwich brimming with head cheese and plenty of pâté to experience the dynamic interplay of textures and flavors.

Che Hien Khanh

Che Hien Khanh makes a variety of Vietnamese desserts.

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The Los Angeles location of this longtime Orange County sweets shop is the ultimate IYKYK. Hidden inside a food court within the GW Supermarket complex in Rosemead, Che Hien Khanh prepares Vietnamese desserts — a genre heavy on legumes, seaweed, fruits, tapioca flour, and coconut milk — with a deft hand.

Hien Khanh’s colorful array of chè (puddings, beverages, soups) is hard to resist. The chè đậu trắng ($3.75) combines glutinous rice with black-eyed peas and a rich dollop of sweetened coconut cream.

Ripe baby bananas, teeny tapioca pearls, taro, and coconut milk come together in chè chuối ($3.75). Best of all is chè trôi nước ($3.75). Served warm, the chewy tapioca balls stuffed with mung bean paste come soaked in ginger syrup and finished with coconut cream and a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds.

Beyond its wide range of chè, Hien Khanh also makes several varieties of xôi (sticky rice) and sticky-sweet bánh da lợn, a fetching dessert featuring layers of pandan-infused tapioca and mung beans. Bring your sweet tooth.

In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena and Pasadena’s music community have really shown up to support fire survivors, especially fellow musicians who lost instruments and record collections.

That effort continues this weekend with a special donation concert at a Pasadena record store, with the aim of getting vinyl records back in the hands of survivors who lost their collections.

“You know, our name is Healing Force of the Universe, and I think that gives me a pretty clear direction… especially after the fires,” said Austin Manuel, founder of Pasadena record store, where Sunday’s show will be held.

The record donation effort is the brainchild of musician Brandon Jay, who founded the nonprofit Altadena Musicians after losing his home and almost all of his family’s instruments in the Eaton Fire. Through Altadena Musicians’s donation and registry platform, Jay said he and his partners have helped some 1,200 fire survivors get their music instruments back.

Brandon Jay.

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Now, that effort has fanned out to restoring vinyl record collections.

“All of that stuff evaporated for thousands of people,” Jay said. “Look at your own record collection and be like, ‘Wow, what if that whole thing disappeared?’”

You might know Jay from several bands over the years, including Lutefisk, a 1990s alt-rock band based in Los Angeles. He and his wife, Gwendolyn Sanford, composed music for TV shows, including Orange is the New Black and Weeds.

Jay plans to play some holiday tunes at Sunday's record donation show (which LAist is the media sponsor), along with fellow musician Daniel Brummel of Sanglorians. Brummel, who was also a founding member of Pasadena’s indie-rock sensation Ozma, said he was grateful to Jay for his fire recovery work and to Manuel for making Healing Force available for shows like this.

Brummel, who came close to losing his own home in the Eaton Fire, recalled a show he played at Healing Force back in March.

Ryen Slegr (left) and Daniel Brummel perform with their band, Ozma, on the 2014 Weezer Cruise.

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“The trauma of the fires was still really fresh,” Brummel said. After playing a cover of Rufus Wainwright’s “Going to a Town,” that night — which includes the lyrics “I’m going to a town that has already been burnt down” — Brummel said his neighbors in the audience told him the rendition hit them hard. “It felt really powerful. And without that space, it just wouldn’t have occurred.”

Details

Healing Force of the Universe Record Donation Show
Featuring: Quasar (aka Brandon Jay), Sanglorians (Daniel Brummel) and The Acrylic.
Sunday, Dec. 14; 2 to 5 p.m.
1200 E. Walnut St., Pasadena
Tickets are $15 or you can donate 5 or more records at the door. More info here.

Topline:

The case: In September, the city settled a lawsuit brought forward by two brothers in their 70s who said they suffered serious injuries after an LAPD officer crashed into their car. Days before the $18 million settlement was reached, lawyers for the brothers said Feldstein Soto called an expert witness testifying for the plaintiffs and “attempted to ingratiate herself with him and asked him to make a contribution to her political campaign,” according to a sworn declaration to the court by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Robert Glassman.

The response: Feldstein Soto did not respond to an interview request. Her spokesperson said the settlement “had nothing to do” with the expert witness. Her campaign manager told LAist the city attorney had been making a routine fundraising call and did not know the person had a role in the case, nor that there were pending requests for her office to pay him fees.

What Jurado says: In a statement to LAist, Jurado said she wants to “make sure that the city’s legal leadership is guided by integrity and accountability, especially when their choices affect public trust, civic rights and the city’s limited resources."

What’s next: The motion needs to go through a few committees before reaching the full City Council. If it passes, the motion calls for the city attorney to “report to council in closed session within 45 days regarding the ethics breach violation and give updates to the City Council."

Every year in Santa Ana, Luis Cantabrana turns the front of his home into an elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe that draws hundreds of visitors.

Along the front of the house, the multi-colored altar is filled with lights, flowers and a stained-glass tapestry behind a sculpture of the Lady of Guadalupe. Cantabrana’s roof also is lit up with the green, white and red lights that spell out “Virgen de Guadalupe” and a cross.

Visitors are welcomed with music and the smell of roses as they celebrate the saint, but this year’s gathering comes after a dark year for immigrant communities.

Luis Cantabrana stands in front of the stunning altar he built in front of his home in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe. Every year, his display draws hundreds of visitors.

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Why do they celebrate? 

In 1513, the Virgin Mary appeared before St. Juan Diego between Dec. 9 and Dec. 12, asking him to build a church in her honor. Her image — a brown-skinned woman wearing a green veil with her hands together in prayer and an angel at her feet — miraculously appeared on his cloak.

To celebrate in Santa Ana, worshippers gathered late-night Wednesday and in the very early hours Dec. 12 to pray the rosary, sing hymns and celebrate the saint.

Cantabrana has hosted worshippers at his home for 27 years — 17 in Santa Ana.

The altar started out small, he said, and over the years, he added a fabric background, more lights and flowers (lots and lots of flowers).

“It started with me making a promise to la Virgen de Guadalupe that while I had life and a home to build an altar, that I would do it,” Cantabrana said. “Everything you see in photos and videos is pretty, but when you come and see it live, it's more than pretty. It's beautiful.”

The Santa Ana home's elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe draws hundreds of visitors each year.

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Gathering in a time of turmoil 

Many also look to the Lady of Guadalupe for protection, especially at a time when federal enforcement has rattled immigrant communities.

“People don’t want to go to work, they don’t want to take their kids to school, but the love we have for our Virgen de Guadalupe,” Cantabrana said. “We see that la Virgen de Guadalupe has a lot of power, and so we know immigration [enforcement] won’t come here.”

Margarita Lopez of Garden Grove has been visiting the altar for three years with her husband. She’s been celebrating the Virgencita since she was a young girl. Honoring the saint is as important now as ever, she said.

“We ask, and she performs miracles,” Lopez said.

Claudia Tapia, a lifelong Santa Ana resident, said the Virgin Mary represents strength.

“Right now, with everything going on, a lot of our families [have] turned and prayed to the Virgen for strength during these times,” Tapia said. “She's a very strong symbol of Mexican culture, of unity, of faith and of resilience.”

See it for yourself

The shrine will stay up into the new year on the corner of Broadway and Camile Street.