I was talking with my family, who has owned Vietnamese restaurants in Chinatown for over 30 years, and found out that they don’t even sell our favorite dish, bánh xèo.
If you’re unfamiliar with this food, bánh xèo is a popular Vietnamese savory rice crepe. The name loosely translates to “sizzling cake,” referring to the loud sizzling sound — ssssse-ohh — it makes when the batter hits the hot skillet. After trying a majority of the Vietnamese restaurants in Chinatown and Brooklyn’s Eighth Avenue neighborhoods, I’ve learned that bánh xèo either isn’t available on the menu, or the places that did sell it, served sad representations of how I remembered my favorite childhood dish tasting.
In this volume of Ours, I share my search in connecting my favorite childhood food memories with re-creating the dish that symbolized it. My recipe for homemade bánh xèo is also included in this story.
Scoop up your copy here, half of all proceeds are donated to Free Arts NYC.