I finally made it to Nem Nướng Nha Trang, the spring roll spot in San Jose’s Vietnam Town by the family behind Bo Ne Phu Yen. Their product is differentiated by its namesake nem nuong, a pork sausage that’s cured in-house and cooked over live flame. The grill sits outside the restaurant, perfuming the patio with the fragrance of charcoal and grilled meat. The sausages add smoky nuance to the spring roll, which is served with a sauce made of minced pork and annatto seeds and dabbed with crushed bird’s eye peppers. Pair it with the Lao-style papaya salad, which strips of unripe papaya and tomatoes, tossed with lime juice, chiles and padaek, fermented fish sauce that gives the dish its darker color.
Nem Nướng Nha Trang. 919 Story Road, #1100, San Jose.
Chicken Licious is a Malaysian restaurant in San Jose with one of the best logos I’ve ever come across: a rooster sporting a Hawaiian shirt and Comme des Garçons sneakers. The house specialties are the hainan chicken (its bestseller) and smashed fried chicken — pummeled pre-fry to allow the lemongrass marinade to fully saturate it. (Traditionally, the smashing occurs after the fry.) It’s juicy, aromatic and slightly sweet, served with chicken fat rice, fried tofu, toasted peanuts and kicky, funky marinated cucumbers. Chicken broth is complimentary; it flows from a spout, then you can doctor it with ginger and chile sauce.
Chicken Licious. 2863 Senter Road, San Jose. chickenliciousbento.com
I made it to the new Bake Sum outpost in Alameda, where I encountered a line of about 20 people. I was hoping to score a sandwich, but they weren’t on offer yet, so I tried a new addition: a bubbly calamansi espresso tonic dolloped with cream. It reminded me of a creamsicle, only more aromatic. It was a swell accompaniment to the seasonal milk bun, which is something like a stuffed concha, bursting with mango cream…