Little Saigon – Hot Lunch

Foodies love Jonathan Gold’s column in LA Weekly because he loves simple places that serve extraordinary food. Gold loves an authentic meal served on plastic plates atop a Formica table. Gold would love Little Saigon.

A person could be forgiven for not noticing that crossing Sherwood Forest on Florida Boulevard had transported them to faraway Vietnam. And yet, that is where Baton Rouge’s slice of Vietnam is on its most vivid display. There are pool halls, dentists’ offices, and groceries, all serving our local Vietnamese community. And this is where you can find some of the best food in the Capital City.

Let’s start with the spring rolls. Americans love a fried, Chinese-style egg roll, but give the cool presentation of Little Saigon’s spring roll with peanut sauce a chance, and the virtue of vegetables and rice paper wrapping, unaddled by heat, become clear.

1295 N. Sherwood Forest Blvd., Ste. B • 273-2445

Tuesday through Thursday, 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Friday through Saturday, 9 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Sunday, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.

MasterCard, Discover, Visa

Let’s move on to the vermicelli with grilled pork. It is a bowl of delights including quick-cured sweet carrots in phalanx formation, crisp cucumber spears laid on top of lettuce, and vermicelli rice-noodles in a pungent fish and chili sauce. Topped with skewers of pork and lemongrass ringlets, it took me one hopscotch from heaven.

Little Saigon is simple. The wait staff and frills are kept to a minimum, and that’s why it is wonderful. Little Saigon is short on pretense and long on excellent, call-for-more food. If only every restaurant could be that way.

For more by Frank McMains, including blogs from his trip to China, click here.