The Best Vietnamese Rice Platter in Orange County

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago, farmers in Vietnam have been planting rice on their rice paddy fields. Because rice to them is such an essential crop, everything in their culture is permeated with the image of rice: rice cake, rice festival, etc. The farmers usually don't own the paddies. The lords and aristocrats had possessions of the farms; they simply loaned the farmers the fertile land for them to grow crop on. At harvest, they usually collected most of the good rice while the poor farmers are left with damaged or broken rice, called Com Tam. Regardless of the unfair offer, the Vietnamese peasants made the most out of the situation and settled the Com Tam as their main source of starch and protein.

That tradition of hardship translated into a tradition of culinary excellence, in which the damaged rice was transformed into the subconsciousness of the Vietnamese people. In America, the Com Tam is still revered as the best type of rice there is. In Little Saigon, right smack in the middle of Orange County, there sits a small and humble restaurant that specializes in Com Tam dishes. It is called Com Tam Tran Quy Cap.

Located on Harbor and Mcfadden, this restaurant enjoys the excessive influx of hungry customers since employees from nearby businesses always rush in right before lunch because they know how crowded it can get. The atmosphere inside the restaurant is pretty chic; it might not be fine-dining, but the waiters are very polite and pleasant. You might be surprised at how many non-Vietnamese people actually visit this restaurant.

Now let's get to the main point: the food. It is excellent! It is fantastic! It is succulent and so on. The most popular dish is, you guessed it, Com Tam. You get to choose what goes on your rice platter: barbecue pork, pork chops, chinese sausage, fried egg, egg cake, pork skin, chicken, shrimp kabob and tau hu ky. When mung beans are boiled and pressed into tofu, the chewy leftover of the smooth and finished tofu cubes are called tau hu ky. It is then stuffed with ground pork and pan-fried. Tau Hu Ky is perhaps what makes this restaurant so well-known.

There is also the Banh Hoi to substitute for the Com Tam. Banh Hoi is thinly cut rice vermicelli that has been boiled and rolled into thin sheets. You can also get the assorted meats mentioned above for this substitute. Your order is always accompanied by a bowl of bok-choy soup- very refreshing and delicious. You also get free jelly desert.

There is also another restaurant of the same name in the area- right on Bolsa and Harbor. However, it is not even comparable to this one. Com Tam Tran Quy Cap has proven to me times and times again why it is an icon for good traditional food made the same way for hundreds of years. It is the type of place where you don't just enjoy a meal; you get to experience the Vietnamese culture, the people and the lifestyle. Happy Eating!

Com Tam Tran Quy Cap
10522 Mc Faden #F
Garden Grove, CA 92683
(714) 839-3069