Brodard

Kind of cheating here, since I had Eugenia and Linh-Nam bring me back the food, but Brodard had been on my OC to-dine list for some time (I actually don’t have a to-dine list for the OC, but Brodard is one of the restaurants that was on the Hei radar – or as Lawrence suggested, the Heidar). Didn’t know what else to ask them to bring back, so I just requested the Nem Nuong Cuon (pork paste spring rolls) and the Chao Tom Cuon (shrimp paste spring rolls). They also brought back an order of the more common shrimp spring rolls as well.

What else can I say, other than that these are the best Viet spring rolls I’ve ever had? Really, they are. Not drive-down-to-the-OC-from-West-LA good, but damn good. The pastes were grilled well, the veggies complemented them nicely, and the fried egg roll wrapper inside is such a great contrasting touch. And they’re wrapped so nicely! The Nem Nuong Cuon and Chao Tom Cuon came with a special dipping sauce that was equally as good. Not overpowering like the sweet fish sauce or the peanut plum sauce that most people associate Viet food with, this had a nice balance of sweet and savory, with a nice meaty ragu-texture to it.

I basically ate all three orders in one sitting. Need someone to bring these up to LA on a more regular basis. Eugenia, please keep going to the OC.

Chris Hei grade: B+

Brodard
9892 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove, CA 92844
(714) 530-1744