The family behind one of the Bay Area’s best Vietnamese restaurants is back with a new spot devoted to smoky spring rolls.
Nem Nuong Nha Trang, which quietly opened in April in San Jose’s Little Saigon, appears to be the only restaurant in the Bay Area to specialize in nem nuong cuon, fresh rolls loaded with juicy pork sausage grilled over charcoal. Within the last month, demand has exploded; the restaurant sells 1,400 spring rolls per day on the weekends, and wait times can exceed an hour.
The new hit comes from Molly Tran and her son, Jack Lam, who previously cooked under his father, Don Lam, at Bo Ne Phu Yen, the popular Vietnamese steak and egg stall featured in the Top 100. Tran purchased the building in July 2024, originally intending to turn it into a restaurant also focused on bo ne, the sizzling dish of buttery steak and runny eggs served with baguette. But when she faced delays acquiring a gas stove permit, she pivoted. She set up a charcoal grill outside the restaurant to sell nem nuong cuon, a regional specialty from her hometown of Nha Trang, a coastal city in southern Vietnam…