When I think of Crustacean’s, I think of their famous roast crab & garlic noodles.
If you don’t know already, the An Family owns multiple restaurants in SoCal & SF. Their first restaurant, Thanh Long, which I have been to, is located in the Outer Sunset.
I was excited to attend this event to watch Chef Helene An cook something up in front of our eyes… And also because I was secretly hoping that she would cook us up some garlic noodles. Hehe.
Here is the menu of the items from her new cookbook that she previewed with us.
Part of the spread, all from the cookbook.
[top left cw: Vietnamese chicken coriander cabbage salad, caramelized salmon, coconut spare ribs, filet mignon shaken beef]
They brought out so many extra dishes besides the ones that were listed.
[above are from the actual restaurant menu: crab puffs & jumbo prawn wontons]
We had a lot to eat! That’s a very Asian thing, which I L O V E.
In most Asian households, there are always leftovers; no one ever leaves hungry.
My favorite dish was this FRENCH ONION PHO WITH BEEF RAVIOLI. The mini bone marrow added richness to each bite. The broth tasted super clean. This is definitely not your average pho. I am going to try and recreate this dish from the cookbook, one of these days!
My Second favorite dish from the cookbook was probably this SPICY CHICKEN & SHRIMP RAMEN IN COGNAC XO SAUCE. If you know me, you know I NEED spice in my life.
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And just when I thought, they weren’t going to bring out the garlic noodles….
…they did!
The book is written by Chef Helene An & one of her daughters, Jacqueline An. I had the pleasure of meeting both of them and they were really nice! They personally signed each book, which I thought was very thoughtful.
She was really tired, but I had to bother her for this selfie.
[A photo of Chef Helene and I with THE Dog Filter.]
I loved listening to the An sisters, sharing their family’s story and memories associated with the food that inspired them. You, too, can read about their stories in their cookbook.
-Hee Jin