USA East Coast

I guess few readers will be surprised to hear that FOOD played a central role in Hai and my visit to the USA East Coast this past 2 weeks.

NEW JERSEY

Most importantly, though, Hai got to see my home town, got to know my 2 sisters, Leonore and Teri, and enjoy some of New Jersey’s highlights (at least from my perspective).

Within an hour of landing at Newark Airport, we were slurping down mussels marinara at one of my favorite NJ Italian restaurants – Vic’s in Bradley Beach.  Simmered to perfection, the bivalves were tender, succulent and swimming in a spicy tomato basil sauce.  Major Yum!  And a few day’s later, onto another amazing New Jersey Italian restaurant, Lubrano’s Trattoria, for more great mussels!

Tied for first place in my NJ food fantasies were the next mornings crumb buns from Muellers Bakery in Bay Head, NJ. (Luckily, this amazing bakery survived Hurricane Sandy’s ravages just a block away.). One half inch of light vanilla cake topped with an inch & half of buttery crunchy powdered- sugar topped cinnamony crumbs. OMG!

But, it was then time for Hai to flaunt his stuff – his culinary stuff, that is.  Homemade phở gà (chicken phở).

It simmered for hours in my sister, Teri’s, kitchen after we took the better part of a day searching for  all the “Vietnamese ingredients” from a string of NJ supermarkets.

The sisters were impressed. Very impressed.  They even demanded that Hai reveal his top-secret phở recipe.  (I’m not at liberty to say now who does and does not possess that recipe.)

And two days later, it happened again when Hai dazzled everyone with his even more highly classified rosemary chicken creation.

Let’s just say the family now approves of my choice of a life partner. Time for a quick dip in the sister’s pool!

 

A quick birthday celebration for ME! and another wonderful New Jersey dinner prepared by my sister, Leonore, all together made for a happy family reunion.

NEW YORK CITY

But, we still had to do some token tourist stuff.  A full day’s jaunt through NYC’s streets and subways – the World Trade Memorial, the H I Line stroll, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Greenwich Village, and Battery Park.  A remarkably fun day.

But, of course, did any of that really matter to Hai?  Wasn’t it really all about the very delicious phở bò dinner at Phở Bang on Mott Street and the quả chôm chôm and quả nhạn fruit carts on the Chinatown streets?

WASHINGTON, DC

Then on to the nation’s capital (Washington DC, not Hanoi).

The Air and Space Museum dazzled Hai (particularly with his fathers background as a pilot).  The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument were stunning during our late-night strolls along the DC Mall.

 

Georgetown was charming, Du Pont Circle was sunny, relaxed and fun.

The Supreme Court was embracing ( ̣for the first time).  The National Library of Congress was beautiful and humbling.  And the Metro subway was highly air-conditioned, speedy, and enjoyable.  But again, did Hai really care?

Wasn’t it really about the freshly made rice noodles at DC Chinatown’s China Boy Noodles factory.

We agreed, these may have been the best noodles either of us had EVER eaten! Yes, they were from a 25-year old wholesale noodle provider, but this “whole-in-the-wall” shop conveniently had 2 tables where passers-by (us, on two occasions) could grab a bowl of rice noodles with pork or beef. A triple YUM by Eating Saigon! standards.

Then, there was the duck noodle soup at DC Chinatown’s China Express.

Locally award-winning, it was truly delicious with a cinnamon/clove flavor permeating the amazingly moist duck meat.  Highly recommended! (BUT, all else on the menu was 2nd-, maybe third-rate.)

Finally, on our last day in town, as we crossed from Georgetown over the P Street bridge in search of some interesting breakfast item. What should appear?

Pho EURasian!

Mmmnn? Should we give it a try? Hai  – YES!

Astoundingly, our attractive and friendly waiter was from our neighborhood – in Saigon!  He was a Vietnamese masters’ student, studying and living here in DC for the past 3 years.

He recommended the bún bò húe.  We both agreed to try it.  Not quite Saigon’s bún bò húe standards, but very good Vietnamese food here in the USA capital!

Tomorrow, it’s back to California.  But what a great touring and eating East Coast experience it’s been.

Muellers Bakery
80 Bridge Avenue
Bay Head, New Jersey

Vic’s Italian Restaurant
60 Main Street
Bradley Beach, New Jersey

Lubrano’s Trattoria
Hwy 34
S. Manasquan, New Jersey

Pho Bang
157 Mott Street
New York City

China Boy Noodles
817 6th Street, NW
Chinatown, Washington, DC

China Express
746 6th Street, NW
Chinatown, Washington, DC

Pho EURasian
2153 P Street, NW
Washington, DC