Twenty years ago, Quynh Nhu Nguyen was out late with friends in Ho Chi Minh City when she first tried cơm tấm, or broken rice, from a street food vendor. She had moved there from her home in Central Vietnam to attend college and fell in love with the local specialty, a combination of grilled pork, pickled vegetables and lacy fried egg, torn up and tossed with rice.
“I loved the flavor and the texture,” Nguyen said.
Now Nguyen and her husband, Geoffrey Deetz, who was formerly chef-owner of Oakland Vietnamese spot Temple Club, a 2018 Chronicle Top 100 restaurant, and executive chef of the French-Vietnamese Le Colonial, a longtime San Francisco establishment with a controversial legacy, are opening a new Oakland fast-casual restaurant that will specialize in cơm tấm. Broken Dreams, at 1312 Broadway, will debut on Aug. 10. Its name is an homage to both the English name of the dish and setbacks the couple has faced, including shuttering Temple Club and Le Colonial and being separated for more than two years during the pandemic…