By Gina Cavallaro
Alexandria, VA- On a recent spring afternoon, I was transported to the lapping waters of coastal Vietnam through the images on Sandy Truong’s phone.
Sitting beside me at a table closest to the kitchen in her new Old Town Alexandria restaurant, Saigon Rolls (606 King St.), her delicate fingers enlarged the photos on her phone’s smudgy screen revealing the beaches, hillsides, open-air markets, and family gatherings that marked her most recent trip home.
Looking at her photos and listening to her passion for her country, her people, and, most of all, her passion for cooking, I was reminded of a “No Reservations” TV episode in which Anthony Bourdain, in Vietnam, proclaims, “From the very first minute that I came to this country, I knew my life had changed.”
Having never been to Vietnam, I can’t say I’ve had the same experience. But I knew what he meant. When I slurped down Truong’s canh chua soup, recalling Bourdain’s pleasure at enjoying a slow-drip coffee over condensed milk or the crepes at a Saigon café, my eyes did close a couple of times as I savored the flavors.
Truong’s Beginnings
Truong is from Rach Giá, a provincial city in southwestern Vietnam on the Gulf of Thailand. She grew up on her parents’ shrimp farm and, after marrying at a young age, emigrated with her new husband to the United States, where they settled in Virginia.
One of thousands of Vietnamese people in the NOVA area whose families opened restaurants offering homemade food, Truong began work as a server at one of those restaurants.
In the kitchen of Nha Truong at the Eden Center eatery in Falls Church, Sandy was mentored on how to run a Vietnamese commercial kitchen for more than a dozen years..
In late January, Saigon Rolls opened its doors. She started to cook, and I began to eat.
The Classics…and More
I tried all the classics—banh mi sandwiches on crispy French bread, pho, boba tea, coffee, grilled pork, beef and chicken, spicy noodles, rice and rolls. Oh, the rolls. There is more. Try the tender caramelized filet with fresh greens, dreamy, caramelized fish in a clay pot, and savory crepes to roll up in fans of fresh lettuce.
Saigon Rolls does it all really well. Impeccably, I will say. But there’s something special brewing there, something other than coffee. It may just make you close your eyes with pleasure too.
Truong and her longtime friend and new business partner, Hung Nguyen, invited me to have a taste of what they plan to add to their menu—family-style Vietnamese meals.
When non-Vietnamese people come in for a meal, Nguyen said, “They each order one thing for themselves, that’s the way people here eat. But Vietnamese people, we eat together and share many dishes. No one eats alone. I want to see people enjoy that kind of meal.”
The canh chua soup mentioned previously is one such meal. It is a sort of Vietnamese fish gumbo enhanced by chunks of pineapple swimming in a savory tamarind broth with morsels of swai, sprouts, and tomatoes. Try the soup with plates of ginger chicken and steamed vegetables.
Saigon in Old Town
Nguyen is from Can Tho, a large city in the Mekong Delta region known for its floating markets. His father was a soldier with the South Vietnamese Army and fought with U.S. troops during the war in the sixties and seventies.
After the fall of Saigon in 1975, Nguyen, aged 7, escaped with his family and other South Vietnamese on a treacherous river voyage through Cambodia. Alexandria became home. Presently, Hung is a data architect when he’s not greeting customers at Saigon Rolls.
Family-style dining isn’t reality yet at Saigon Rolls, But the individual dishes that complement such a meal are already on the menu. Truong has plans she’s keeping mum about for now.
“I love being in Old Town, I love the water, seeing the people walking down the street,” Truong said. “It reminds me of Saigon.”
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