The new NEM restaurant only has three letters in its name and only four items in its menu. This is a roll specialist and it's setting its sights on the seemingly untouchable dominance of Brodard.
Just like at Brodard, NEM's nem nướng cuốn, a spring roll tube with the grilled SPAM-like pork loaf, herbs, and a crunchy stick of egg roll skin,comes with its own special sauce.
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There's the summer roll, called bò bía, a moistened rice paper stogie filled with jicama, eggs, sliced Chinese sausage, peanuts, herbs and lettuce served with a hoisin, chili and peanut dipping sauce.
Rounding out the list is a gỏi cuốn tôm thịt (spring roll with shrimp) and the always dependable chã giò (golden fried egg roll).
What's ironic is that its website is quite elaborate for a restaurant with only four items to offer. Movies, one whole page dedicated to each roll, links to Facebook and heck, even Google+, when all that you need to know is that the prices are $0.50 each for the chã giò, $1.25 for the others, and the address, which is:
Garden Grove,
(714) 494-9499.
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.