Welcome back to mmm-yoso!!! It's still part of a long weekend and, like you, all of us here are busy with family and friends and food. Cathy has a short post today. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are researching their next contributions to this blog.
Hi again. I was COMC (Cleaning Out my Memory Card) early this morning and realized how much I photograph every thing we eat, even if I have no intention of posting…then I thought I could share these meals with you. The pictures came out quite well, and we really like the food here.
Phuong Trang is sometimes referred to (by Kirk) as "middle of the road" or "Vietnamese Denny's" Vietnamese cuisine (by others). As I said, The Mister and I like it here. We are Caucasian and think the food is good. I think it's a good place to take friends who have never had Vietnamese food, offering a good selection of fresh, tasty and mostly common (read: not scary parts of animal) choices. Plus, it's centrally located on Convoy just South of Clairmont Mesa. Between the Kick Boxing place and Big Joy Family Bakery in the mall just North of the KFC.
The Spring rolls here are very good-the wrap/skin seems to be made with a different paper than from other places; it's always bubbly. The filling is more ground meat than noodles and finely chopped carrot and cabbage in the meat filling also. This is one of few places where you get the wrapping for the rolls including mint and cilantro in addition to lettuce leaves.
Broken rice with ground shrimp wrapped in tofu skin and fried. (I forget the Vietnamese name, but always order this whenever I see it on a menu). ($6.75)
A cross section of the ground shrimp. You can see the tofu skin is very, very thin. I crave the version here.
Vegetable Summer rolls ($3.95). The tofu is slightly grilled and warm/room temperature. Lettuce, noodle and a piece of cooked egg rounds out these rolls. This is a nice choice if you don't want the fried (Spring) rolls, or want to eat vegetarian.
Jellyfish, shrimp and pork salad ($7.95). Served with the fried shrimp chips. Refreshing on a hot day.
Grilled pork, broken rice($6.25) Add egg($1) and it's a 'breakfast'. This is always soooo good.
Chinese sausage Summer rolls ($3.95)
A cross section. You can see the piece of cooked egg, lettuce and all vegetable filling. These could be a light meal with tea (50¢).
Another jellyfish/shrimp/pork salad with shrimp chips.
Something 'new' to me- grilled chicken Bun ($6.50). This became particularly addicting this past summer. I realized after I had ordered it the first time that I usually don't order-or see on the menu at Vietnamese places- grilled chicken, much less as a bun topping. (Bun (pronounced 'boon') is some sort of protein on top of chilled rice noodles on top of a salad, in this case, shredded lettuce, fresh mint and shredded cucumber) served with a fish sauce based dressing.
I hope everyone is enjoying this extra long weekend!
Phuong Trang 4170 Convoy Street San Diego 92111 (858)565-6750
Hi Cathy! I like the giant fried egg rolls here, and I wrote about the jelly fish salad a while back. Really enjoyed that too.
I love the fried shrimp paste wrap too. I recognize the thin bean curd skin in Japanese as Yuba but I always forget the actual Vietnamese name of the dish too. Tau Hu Ky, but I’m sure it’ll leave my mind once I’m at a restaurant again, haha.
It’s so weird. I haven’t been in Phuong Trang in years — not that it was ever bad, but it was the first big vietnamese restaurant I discoved back when I lived in SD (many moons ago) and so it seems old hat to me now. I’d forgotten all the good things I had there back in the day. Too many restaurants, not enough days.
Jelly fish salad! I love jelly fish.
Rice paper on spring rolls make bubbly wrappers. The rice plate with the ground shrimp looks yummy, and so does the grilled pork with egg.
I missed your post, Dennis…also apparently skipped over your Thanksgiving Eve post, where you did mention TauHuKy…I need to slow down; things have been hectic. Yes, the jelly fish salad is done very well here, as is everything we’ve tried.
It is a good restaurant, ed, quite large and I do think a great place to introduce people to Vietnamese dishes. Our first Vietnamese place was Pho Hiep &Grill, smaller but good and also still a favorite. Yes, there are a lot of restaurants here.
The version here is really good, Carol.
Ah, it is a different paper used, thank you Sandy. The rice plates are very good here.
hi cathy – i like it at the Vietnamese Denny’s! I love their bun with shrimp paste and sugar cane and their fried spring rolls. it’s time for a revisit – that way I can go to big joy bakery next door for those macarons! huminah!
Hi, cc- The food is really good here; we’ve never been disappointed. Yes- fresh macarons after the meal. Big Joy is a great bakery and place for a dessert and ‘fancy’ beverage.
Thanks for introducing me to a place where I can take my friends who have never tried Vietnamese food! The only time I’ve had tofu goi cuon was at a friend’s house in Garden Grove. I’m glad to know there is a place in San Diego that I can order them!
You’re welcome, Alyssa. I think Phuong Trang has good food and it’s large and brightly lit…kind of ‘fancy’ for Vietnamese, but the prices are good and not ‘fancy’. I’ve been trying tofu goi cuon when I see it.