re: Pho Noi Viet on Magazine - What's the verdict?

It's more of an addiction than a craze for me.

It's not exactly a craze---more like it's a food spreading beyond the historically Vietnamese enclaves in NOLA East and on the Westbank. We've had Viet restos in SE LA for more than 30 years....

ETA: just reread the last post and it's kinda sad that someone would equate a single-item fad (cupcakes) with an entire country's cuisine.

From the menu that OneophileGirl posted.

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vietnamese craze = burger craze = sushi craze = cupcake boutique craze

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You lost me at cupcakes. That was just an all and out silly fad.

Sure, a certain portion of the viet restaurants are packing in "yuppies" (a category I thought ceased to exist in the late 80s), but if you look around, you'll see plenty of (gasp) actual Vietnamese Americans, as well as a pretty diverse cross section of Louisianians. I'm not seeing exclusively hipsters, or young people, but rather many different people, old and young, and more than a few cross-cultural families.

Or maybe I'm not dining in the yuppie-attracting Viet restos. Granted, I rarely visit Magasin or Lily's and most of my Viet dining is done in decidedly unhip neighborhoods.

You're reaching r2r

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Sure, a certain portion of the viet restaurants are packing in "yuppies" (a category I thought ceased to exist in the late 80s), but if you look around, you'll see plenty of (gasp) actual Vietnamese Americans, as well as a pretty diverse cross section of Louisianians. I'm not seeing exclusively hipsters, or young people, but rather many different people, old and young, and more than a few cross-cultural families.

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Agreed I see the same thing around the Nola joints.. I also see plenty of people on social media sites who have to make sure everyone knows they're eating Vietnamese food because they need to let everyone know they're cool too. And I was speaking more to the country in general, not just New Orleans metro. Take a look at some of the higher end places across the country that are starting to incorporate Vietnamese cuisine into their menus. Hopefully here locally Viet food doesn't get "La-Thai'ed" i.e. - someone comes along and starts charging outrageous prices for something that's meant to be cheap comfort food.

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A new place is opening on Metairie Road called Rolls and Bowls. In that stretch of businesses just across the railroad tracks.

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Nice! Can't wait for the new place on Maple to open. Same owners as Tan Dinh!

Hopefully here locally Viet food doesn't get "La-Thai'ed" i.e. - someone comes along and starts charging outrageous prices for something that's meant to be cheap comfort food.
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I find this sentiment interesting...why can't Thai fusion cuisine, as cooked by a Thai-American native born Louisianian chef (specifically talking about La Thai here), be something more than "cheap comfort food"? Sounds like you're suggesting that ethnic food can't aspire to white-tablecloth status.

In the same vein, what's wrong with cross-cultural innovation? Japanese food's flavors and presentations heavily influenced the French nouvelle cuisine revolution of the 70s, which rippled outward to fine dining across the world.

On the other hand, some ppl are pretentious gits, regardless of their choice in "ethnic" dining.

My point (yes, I had one when I started) was that NOLA's vietnamese influences are multistrand--viet chefs and line cooks are in white-tablecloth kitchens, viet restaurateurs are largely behind the most recent wave of restaurant expansion, viet fishermen are landing a not insubstantial portion of Gulf seafood, and more than 15K Vietnamese Americans call SE LA home. It might be "trendy" in other locales, but it's just a fact of life here. (And in Houston, and Orange County, CA, etc)

It makes me wonder if we'll see a wave of Afghan or Iraqi restaurants 30 years from now, when war displaced immigrants have been in the US long enough to be accepted.

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I find this sentiment interesting...why can't Thai fusion cuisine, as cooked by a Thai-American native born Louisianian chef (specifically talking about La Thai here), be something more than "cheap comfort food"? Sounds like you're suggesting that ethnic food can't aspire to white-tablecloth status.

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Not saying that it can't. But when you're charging $16 for pineapple fried rice and $8 for summer rolls and not to mention their $20+ menu items .. you better be doing something different or better than the cheap Thai places .. which they're mostly not. There's nothing "fusion" about their pad thai.

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In the same vein, what's wrong with cross-cultural innovation? Japanese food's flavors and presentations heavily influenced the French nouvelle cuisine revolution of the 70s, which rippled outward to fine dining across the world.

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there's nothing wrong with it. I'm all for innovation, creativity and cross-pollination in food. just don't slap a "fusion" or "gourmet" label on something, up the price tag, then put out a bad product or the exact same thing I can get for cheaper in a restaurant down the street.

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My point (yes, I had one when I started) was that NOLA's vietnamese influences are multistrand--viet chefs and line cooks are in white-tablecloth kitchens, viet restaurateurs are largely behind the most recent wave of restaurant expansion, viet fishermen are landing a not insubstantial portion of Gulf seafood, and more than 15K Vietnamese Americans call SE LA home. It might be "trendy" in other locales, but it's just a fact of life here. (And in Houston, and Orange County, CA, etc)

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I'm on board with you there.

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It makes me wonder if we'll see a wave of Afghan or Iraqi restaurants 30 years from now, when war displaced immigrants have been in the US long enough to be accepted.

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Not sure how many afghans or iraqis we're letting into the country