Vietnam Central [restaurant review]
Pho Hue Oi is an offshoot of a popular restaurant in Orange County’s Little Saigon that also specializes in the food of central Vietnam.
"If you created a cuisine from scratch to fit modern Californian ideas, it might look a lot like Vietnamese food. There are plenty of vegetables, fresh, cooked, or lightly pickled, sometimes all used in the same item. Meat and seafood are used sparingly but effectively, and fresh herbs enliven almost every dish. And while the cuisine as a whole isn’t spicy, there are sauces on the side that have a fresh, garlicky heat. It’s all of our ideas about health and flavor in one package, and as a bonus, it’s usually inexpensive.
In the last decade Vietnamese items have edged into the mainstream, but we don’t yet have many choices for Viet restaurant dining in the South Bay. A newcomer in North Redondo is making waves with a slightly modernized variant of the cuisine, and it has become a popular stop for local Asian food enthusiasts.
Pho Hue Oi is actually the farthest you can get from the pier and still be in Redondo. It’s at the corner of Inglewood and Marine avenues. It’s not easy to see from the street because the entrance faces the supermarket. That hasn’t kept it from being busy at lunch midweek, when people from nearby offices crowd the place. But it’s never a long wait because service is fast, so even a daunting line moves along....."
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