Google reveals to me that mi quang is a central Vietnamese dish with yellow, flat noodles, shrimp, pork, herbs, peanuts and a crispy rice cracker. It says it's also known for minimal broth.
Co Do Deli is maybe the first place I ever had this dish? I have loved it there for many years, even as Co Do seems to have lost popularity. Yesterday (Sunday) at noon, it was sparsely populated, as other pockets of Little Saigon were hopping.
Co Do serves the broth on the side, which you pour over. The most notable herb they use is mint, and shredded lettuce gets nicely cooked. Cooked lettuce is underused I think. I don't remember what area of Japan, maybe Fukuoaka area? but there was an area where the meat skewers would often be wrapped in hot, juicy lettuce and it was brilliant!
Anyway, Co Do also serves the bowl with a shell-on shrimp, yummy ground pork, and peanuts. I have always loved it there. Co Do used to have a neon sign in the window that said "bun bo hue" so that's also a specialty and I'm sure I've had it there. The sign must have broken.
(I'm going ot get to more about Mi Quang trust) Years ago, a Quan Nem Ninh Hoa sign went up where Yang's used to be on Stockton, but the old Quan Nem continued to do gangbuster business and I eventually assumed the move was off. But they have indeed finally moved. On Saturday at 2, they were packed. The dining room has a lot of chairs and communal tables in it, and a few booths. Some pillars in the room can make it hard to for customers and the servers to navigate. It's cramped feeling. I'm not sure how many additional tables they have due to the move, but they probably could have used even more space. They parking lot was full and I had to park on the side street.
The inside is colorful and bright, and there are murals that looks like Hanoi colonial houses. When Quan Nem posted on IG about their move, showing the dragon dancers, etc., they showed a bowl of Mi Quang, which got me thinking about ordering it there.
Everyone knows what you get at Quan Nem: the nem nuong rolls, usually the ones you roll yourself unless it's to-go. I would say the banh beo and banh bot loc appetizers are also on many tables. But I was by myself so I didn't want to roll the rolls and plus I was fixated on this mi quang.
I also got a salty plum drink because I was dehydrated from gardening and it was the saltiest one I've ever had. It had a thick layer of salt in the bottom. I probably needed that.
When the soup came out, it was indeed a brothy soup, not a noodle dish with scant broth I could pour over. That was the first difference. Then, it had some chunks and I thought, potato? Oh god, pineapple??? WTF. OK, I guess this is not an unknown ingredient but it's unwelcome to me. The broth was bland. The pork was a tasteless chunk on a bone. There were slices of pork cake that seemed like each one was the hard butt end of the cake, like they saved it for this soup like you would the heel of the bread for breadcrumbs. Even the shrimp cracker was stale!! Truly sad.
Quan Nem I'm sure is still the best but you gotta stick to their specialties. Has anyone ever gotten their pho? I wonder what it's like.
So the next day I wanted to get carnitas. So I tried to go to Carnitas Marquez, but all evidence of it was gone. Then I started to trip that my article in Abridged got it shut down! It had been there a long time. I don't think I'm powerful or anything, just I have no idea how many people read Abridged. I guess I stupidly thought that Marquez was legit. I'm not going to panic just yet, I want to check back and also see if the one on Franklin is still there. I mean, Marquez had a spot on Google maps and reviews and stuff! Augh.
So then I needed something to eat and I thought I would try to erase the bad mi quang from my mind by eating good mi quang. So I went to Co Do. The bowl was wayyyy better than the other one but not as good as it used to be. The broth was not as deep and savory. All the other elements were there. When I finally want to try mi quang again I will try somewhere else. I got a recommendation to try Buon Cuon Tay Ho for it.
Oh yeah, and Co Do still has my review behind the counter.
