Restaurant: Anh Hong
City: Milpitas, CA
This was one of the dishes in Anh Hong’s bò 7 món. Four out of the 7 courses of beef were on a single plate, with shrimp chips.
The beef on the right are steamed beef meatballs mixed with nuts, mushrooms, and various traditional Vietnamese spices. Below is a cropped photo of above, for a closer look.
Restaurant: Anh Hong
City: Milpitas, CA
This was one of the dishes in Anh Hong’s bò 7 món. Four out of the 7 courses of beef were on a single plate, with shrimp chips.
The top row of beef are charcoal grilled beef sausages mixed with spices. Below is a cropped photo of above, for a closer look.
Restaurant: Anh Hong
City: Milpitas, CA
This was one of the dishes in Anh Hong’s bò 7 món. Four out of the 7 courses of beef were on a single plate, with shrimp chips.
The middle row of beef are charcoal grilled tenderloin rolls with onion, topped with peanuts and a lemongrass sauce. Below is a cropped photo of above, for a closer look.
Restaurant: Anh Hong
City: Milpitas, CA
This was one of the dishes in Anh Hong’s bò 7 món. Four out of the 7 courses of beef were on a single plate, with shrimp chips.
The bottom row of beef are grilled minced beef wrapped in piper lot leaf (betel leaf). The minced beef also contain peanuts. Below is a cropped photo of above, for a closer look.
Read on for more info about bò lá lót, from The Ravenous Couple: Continue reading
Restaurant: Anh Hong
City: Milpitas, CA
This was one of the dishes in Anh Hong’s bò 7 món.
Slices of rare steak, dipped in red wine vinegar sauce. Also called “Vietnamese beef fondue”.
Bò nhúng dấm is basically a Vietnamese shabu-shabu and the best part is your guests can do the cooking. The meats (as well as seafood) cook in a dilute broth of rice vinegar and aromatics and in the typical Vietnamese way, the meats are then rolled in a tidy spring roll to enjoy. The cooking is done in the hotpot on the table top butane burner (both found in most Asian groceries). (The Ravenous Couple)
Restaurant: Anh Hong
City: Milpitas, CA
Had Vietnamese food for dinner tonight with my parents and my mom’s coworkers. This restaurant is known for their bò 7 món (7 courses of beef). My mom remembers having bò 7 món when she was a kid in Saigon. If you’re coming here for the bò 7 món, be sure to come when you’re really hungry as you’ll be very full at the end! (I had late breakfast and skipped my lunch.)
The following are the 7 courses of beef offered at Anh Hong’s Milpitas location (they are also located in Berkeley and San Francisco), with most of them posted individually:
1. Gỏi Bò – Beef Salad
2. Bò Nhúng Dấm – Beef Fondue in Red Wine Vinegar Sauce
3. Bò Lá Lót – Grilled Beef Lot Leaf
4. Bò Nứơng Xả – Grilled Beef Lemongrass
5. Bò Mởi Chài – Beef Sausage
6. Bò Chả Đùm – Beef Meat Balls
7. Cháo Bò – Beef Porridge
Bò 7 món is served with rice paper, lettuce, cucumber, carrots, bean sprouts, and variety of mixed mint leaves. Fish sauce (nước mắm), shrimp paste (mắm ruốc), and chili pepper sauce were also provided.
Bò bảy món, on menus often “Bò 7 món” (literally “seven courses of beef” in Vietnamese) is a selection of beef dishes in Vietnamese cuisine, which is typically served at weddings. Multi-course meals such as Bò 7 món are representative of higher-end Vietnamese cuisine. The cooked beef portions are then wrapped (by the individual eating it) with rice paper, a variety of herbs (rau sống), lettuce, cucumbers, and carrots and then dipped in mắm nêm. This slightly chunky sauce is made with anchovies and has a sweet and tangy flavor, due to the pineapple that is often added to achieve sweetness. This sauce is much more pungent in flavor than its cousin, nước mắm (fish sauce), and is not homogenized, allowing the textures of the original ingredients to characterize the sauce. A similar but less popular multi-course meal is the Cá 7 Món (literally “seven courses of fish”). (Wikipedia)
Bo 7 Mon is a popular Vietnamese meal consisting of seven different types of beef preparations usually served at weddings. The exact origin of the seven course dinner is not known. Historically, beef is not very popular in Vietnam. It was also very expensive as cows were a highly-prized domestic animal in the agriculture-based country. It is possible that the dish evolved to suit the tastes of high-class Vietnamese families who wanted to use the expensive meat to showcase their wealth and cooking. (iFood.tv)
Anh Hong Restaurant was established in 1954 in Phu Nhuan, Vietnam. Our restaurant is best known for our 7 Courses of Beef or Bo 7 Mon menu with its fresh Wraps & Roll. Our family created the Seven Courses of Beef Menu and this menu is now regarded as one of the many authentic dishes of Vietnam. In fact, this menu has become a part of the traditional Vietnamese dishes. We are extremely proud of this accomplishment. (Anh Hong Restaurant)
Restaurant: Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria
City: San Jose, CA
Last night, I went with a couple of coworkers to get pizza at Amici’s SJ location before our curling class at San Jose Ice Center. The intro-to-curling clinic is taught by the SF Bay Area Curling Club at SJ, Oakland, and Fremont, and is $20/person. I strongly recommend trying it; it’s a lot of fun! Tickets run out fast so register early!
Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria is based in the SF Bay Area, but they can also be found in Sacramento and San Diego. At Amici’s, you can have two different pizzas on one pizza pan. We had four different pizzas, with two on one large pan. I picked the New Haven and Greek Isle; they both were on the same pizza pan. For this post, I’ll focus on the New Haven pizza. In the top photo, it’s the upper half with the green topping.
New Haven White Clam – mix of clams, garlic, and seasonings with olive oil and bacon (no tomato sauce).
Here’s a bit of information about the pizza, from Wikipedia:
New Haven-style pizza, locally known as apizza, is a style of Neapolitan pizza common in and around New Haven, Connecticut. It originated at the Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana and is now served in many other pizza restaurants in the area, most notably, Sally’s Apizza, Bar Bru Room, Grand Apizza, and Modern Apizza. This geographically limited pizza style has gained considerable culinary and historical importance.
In a New Haven-style pizzeria, a “plain” pizza is crust, oregano, and tomato sauce with a little bit of grated pecorino romano cheese sprinkled on. Mozzarella (known as “mootz” in the local Italian dialect) is considered to be a topping; a customer who wants it must ask for it.
Later on, Pepe invented the “white clam pie.” Pepe’s restaurant used to serve littleneck clams on the half shell at the bar which he eventually decided to put on the pizza. The white clam pie is crust, olive oil, oregano, grated cheese, chopped garlic, and fresh littleneck clams.
What sets New Haven-style pizza apart from other styles is its unusually thin crust which while usually charred on the outside is chewy on the inside. New Haven-style pizza is traditionally baked in a coal-fired oven and is sold whole rather than by the slice.
When my mom saw some youtiao (Cantonese; also known as Chinese donut or Chinese crueller) at Sun Sing Pastry yesterday, a light bulb hovered over her head. She wanted to make jook (Cantonese; aka congee or rice porridge). We even stopped by a market to get some preserved egg for the jook, on our way out of Oakland Chinatown!
My mom made jook this morning, which I had for breakfast before heading out to work. There was some left over when I came back home, so I had it again for dinner. Yumm… :)
The jook my mom made had pork, preserved egg, youtiao, ginger, and green onion.
Congee or conjee is a type of rice porridge or gruel popular in many Asian countries. When eaten as plain rice congee, it is most often served with side dishes. When additional ingredients, such as meat, fish, and flavorings, are added while preparing the congee, it is most often served as a meal on its own, especially when one is ill. Names for congee are as varied as the style of its preparation. Despite its many variations, it is definitionally a thick porridge of rice largely disintegrated after prolonged cooking in water. (Wikipedia)
Continue reading
Restaurant: ASJ Restaurant
City: San Jose, CA
Last night, I had Taiwanese food for dinner with a few friends. I ordered the spicy beef tendon noodle soup (and so did my friends).
Hong shao niu rou jing mian – beef shank, beef tendon, bok choy, and noodles. We also had some finely chopped suan cai (pickled Chinese cabbage) to go with our noodle soup. Continue reading
Restaurant: ASJ Restaurant
City: San Jose, CA
Last night, I had Taiwanese food for dinner with a few friends. We ordered a seaweed salad as one of our appetizers. Actually, we ordered two…so two shared one seaweed salad.
Seaweed with bean sprouts, sweet & sour garlic sauce, and red pepper. The seaweed salad was served cold, and the salad has a nice crunch to it from the seaweed and bean sprouts.
Food Touring 