Warning: The following may be inappropriate for children under the age of 13 and those unfamiliar with Pho
I don't often eat Vietnamese, but when I do, I eat at Com
Vietnamese cuisine may not be as popular as Chinese, Thai or Sushi, but it's an Asian staple that need not be ignored. And in Com, you have a restaurant that won't make the suburbanites brave the murky waters of Buford Highway. Their Facebook Page says it's a vegetarian restaurant. It's not at all.
Aesthetically, it's not Nan or Chopstix (RIP), but it is pleasing to the eye.
The dining room is very spacious and the service is great
Today I had the Lamb Bourguignon Stew Garnished with crispy onions & Asian herbs Vietnamese Baguette. The lamb was tender and the broth was tasty. Accompanied with it were both the egg noodles and baguette. A perfect compliment to a chilly day.
Good luck pronouncing Bourguignon
The Rice Vermicelli "Bun Nuong (as they call it on the mean streets of Ho Chi Minh)" is cooled thin rice noodles over a Vietnamese salad of lettuce, pickled daikon & carrots, cucumbers. And its topped with scallions, roasted peanuts & crispy onions. I had it with pork. I'm looking forward to trying it with shrimp next time.
My favorite dish at Com
The Banh Mi is the perfect lunch companion, a toasted Vietnamese baguette sandwich, stuffed with savory filling & enhanced with creamy Vietnamese mayonnaise & soy sauce. Topped with pickled daikon & carrots, cucumbers, cilantro, tomatoes and jalapeno slices. Served with soup or salad. I would highly suggest the creamy coconut soup.
The Vietnamese lunch staple
There is no question the French Indochina cuisine is unique and delicious. Com gives you a choice to try it in the burbs and it delivers in spades.
Footnote #1: Vietnam the country. I never have been there, but I have close Vietnamese relatives that tell me it's both beautiful and fun. I've been told you could almost retire there on $20k. I seriously doubt that, but for $30k if I'm willing to try to be the Nino Brown of Indochina!
Am I your brothers keeper?
New Jack City should have been an all time classic. It framed for the first time in cinema, the effects of crack cocaine on inner city society. It was pretty good, but was wildly miscast with "B" actors that all thought they were "A" actors at the time. Wesley Snipes, Mario Van Peebles and Judd Nelson? They are basically the homeless mans Denzel, Terence Howard and John Cusack. When Ice T is carrying your movie, that's just embarrassing. It also was a little too close to Scarface in story and King of New York in its release.
Frank White is one of the most underrated characters in 80's cinema
Footnote #2: The Vietnam War movies are a high water mark in our cinematic history.
To me "Apocalypse Now" still holds up and is the best film of this group of movies. Francis Ford Coppola used to make great movies before he started selling mediocre wine. You had the two craziest actors of their time, Marlon Brando and Dennis Hopper, doing what they do best, playing criminally insane characters. I can see Coppola telling Brando during his village scene, "Just act like it's a typical Saturday at your house, but with a few dozen Asian kids running around with guns."
The other great Vietnam movies are Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and The Deer Hunter. Somehow The Deer Hunter gets lost in this crowd. The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, John Cazale, Meryl Streep, and George Dzundza. A once in a lifetime cast. It won 5 Academy Awards and the Great Christopher Walken got the nod for best supporting actor. It's a two mention Christopher Walken blog! We all win.
Tom Berenger gave the performance of his life in Platoon and somehow couldn't turn this into what should have been a much better career. He should have been the Christian Bale of the 80's. Warning: this scene is disturbing.
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