Kimmy Tang is Back in Los Angeles.
Around my neck I always wear a stunning jade pendant of a smiling, rotund buddha...the glowing green figure attracts the interest of everyone I encounter, many of whom then rub the image's stomach 'for good luck.' It was given me some years ago by a vibrant, charming Vietnamese woman chef named Kimmy Tang, who owned a little Vietnamese restaurant across from Cedars Sinai on Third Steet called Michelia. After two years of trying, I helped her get a wine-and-beer license for the eatery, and she then asked her father in Saigon to go to Burma, home of the best jade, to get the rare, 100-year old pendant for me.
"Jade is a very spiritual stone, so never take it off," she alerted me, "and it will bring you nothing but good luck." I never do...and it has! (You would be surprised how many attractive women want to rub the buddha's stomach for luck.) Eventually, Kimmy sold her restaurant and went off to Romania of all places to run the commissary in the country's largest film studio. We kept in touch and I marveled at her resilience (and new red hair.)
Imagine my pleasant surprise when I received an invitation to a new restaurant opening in the heart of Beverly Hills....9021PHO - Vietnamese Cuisine by Kimmy Tang (490 N. Beverly Drive, at Little Santa Monica Blvd., with parking in the rear off Canon.) Kimmy was back...and Beverly Hills is so lucky to have her! The location was once the Cristoni pizza parlor... and now it will be the best Vietnamese restaurant on the West Side!
For those of you confused by the differences between Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese food, the former retains many of the subtle French touches brought when that Gallic nation occupied the country...clean, sophisticated tastes utilizing healthy ingredients and light sauces. The center of Vietnamese cuisine in Southern California is 30 miles down the 405 Freeway in Westminster, and when I was planning a film based on Jefferson Parker's exciting thriller novel, Saigon Flavor, set there, we experienced the best Vietnamese food that the city offered. Pho is the name of their ubiquitous noodle soup, featuring a deeply-rich broth and a variety of interesting ingredients. Vietnamese restaurants are partially judged upon the quality of their soup.
My friend Harold Nebenzal and I have traveled the city trying out bowls of various pho, mostly downtown in the former Chinese now Vietnamese neighborhood along Broadway and Main streets. The best: Pho79, their broth the result of long hours of cooking beef bones with various herbs and spices. Each venue offers a different, richly flavored, murky broth laden with such ingredients as beef tendon and shank, or fish cakes, pork and many varieties of hand-made noodles. Always augmented by a few chiles and a dash of num wac, fish sauce.
So imagine my excitement when I ventured into Kimmy's new restaurant in the heart of the B.H. Golden Triangle. Nirvana awaited! Kimmy's pho is neighborhood-friendly, a rich broth made either with beef or chicken. The Pho Bo ($8.95) is sliced beef, beef ball, onion, bean sprout, basil and chile, served with noodles in clear, strained beef broth the product of eight hours of cooking roasted bones. ("I constantly stir and skim it," she said, "and if it gets even a little burnt, I must start over.") Pho Gâ ($8.95) is chicken breast, onion and bean sprout, basil and chile with noodles in a hearty chicken broth. There is also a sliced tuna and tofu version of pho (not tried and probably never will). Spicy 'n Sour Soup is shrimp, sole, straw mushrooms, pineapple, baby corn and noodles served in a broth of lemongrass, chile and tamarind, a delicious alternative.
Salads are another stalwart of Vietnamese food, and her five salads are wonderfully fresh and vibrant. Charcoal Pork Salad is composed of tender slices of charcoal-fired marinated pork served atop vermicelli, mixed greens, carrots, cucumber and mint dressed with a Vietnamese vinaigrette. Another ($9.95) has the traditional Vietnamese skinless sausage (Mên) which has been grilled and set on top of vermicelli, lettuce, carrots and peanuts, shallots and cucumber, mint, with the same pungent dressing. My companion, Patty Eisenberg, raved about her traditional Papaya Prawn Salad ($10.95), grilled prawns served on a bed of shredded green papaya.
A word about Kimmy's legendary Michelia Spring Roll ($6.95), crab meat, shrimp, chicken, jicama, shredded carrot, glass noodles, taro, shallots and tree ear mushroom wrapped in a crispy wonton shell, then briefly deep-fried to a golden crunch, served with lettuce and mint leaves. Order several for the table. There is a Vegan Spring Roll ($6.95) made with soy ham (ughh), a Saigon Roll ($7.95) made with shrimp and a silky rice wrap, not fried.
The Steamed Shrimp Dumplings ($7.95) are utterly addictive, steamed shrimp mixture in clear rice wrappers, served with a spicy but light soy sauce. My favorite appetizer: Vietnamese Grilled Meat Ball ($7.95), her famed succulent grilled meatball served on a bed of mixed greens. The spicing is superb. At lunch she offers two noodle dishes, the Vietnamese Noodles (9.95), stir-fried noodles with chicken, egg, shredded carrots and scallions, carrots and peanuts. I prefer the other dish, Mei-Name Noodles ($10.95), rice noodles with chicken and shrimp, egg, shredded carrots and scallions, onion and bean sprouts, with a touch of curry. Such a tasty, intriguing dish! Vietnamese sandwiches have received much attention 'round the nation of late, and for lunch she offers a half ($6.95) and full one ($8.95): A crusty French baguette stuffed with ham, pate, pickled carrots, daikon, scallions, cilantro, onion and chile. Alternately, you can get it with charcoal pork. My friend, Larry Gordon, who first introduced me to Kimmy many years ago, will be happy to know that her Pepper Mignon ($16.95) is on the menu, cubed filet mignon in peppercorn sauce served over onions and mixed greens. My ex always loved her salmon, here a Star Anise Salmon ($15.95), a hefty cut of fish marinated in star anise, lemongrass, honey and lime juice, served with steamed vegetables. I'm not a huge fan of the Crispy Sole ($15.95), a golden fried sole filet breaded with panko and topped with her spicy aioli, much preferring the Ocean Green version of the sole wokked and tossed with peas, carrots, straw mushrooms, tofu and baby corn, with her special brown sauce. My favorite: Cilantro Prawns ($16.95), prawns that are wok-tossed in her flavorsome blend of cilantro, garlic and sherry vinaigrette, served over grilled tomatoes. Amazing.
There are four vegetarian entrees, but the only one I can recommend is the Garlic Eggplant ($12.95), so pungently good that you should get an order for the table accompanying your other dishes. Desserts are works-in-progress, and by the time you read this they should have their wine-and-beer license. (Or I will have to get to work to get another jade pendant from her.)
Kimmy Tang is a national treasure, and we are all enriched by having her and her subtle, delicious cooking back in our midst. That's Pho damn sure!
Follow Jay Weston on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jaywestonsbcglo
