Saigon

Vietnamese Immigrant Wishes He'd Become a U.S. Citizen Before Cocaine Bust

Born two years before the end of the Vietnam War in Saigon, Dinh Canh Tran lived under dictatorial communist rule until about 1989 when his family relocated to the Philippines in route to live permanently in the United States. You might guess that living in a country where citizens have no real rig ... More >>

Thanh Ha's Crepe Expectations

The Vietnamese crepes at this Westminster restaurant are a worthy challenger to those at the venerable Van's Restaurant

Celebrate the Year of The Snake With Ching's Chinese New Year

Ching He-Huang may be a self-taught chef but she was taught by some of the best, her very own family. With a long line of traditional heritage, Taiwanese-born Ching helped out with a lot of the cooking growing up and moves to South Africa and later to London helped mold her tastes and styles but luc ... More >>

Little Saigon Identity Thief Who Loves Nordstrom Gets A Break

Little Saigon's Celeste Anh Nguyen is a lucky criminal.A federal judge in Orange County is giving Nguyen--a brazen identity and mail thief--a generous path to erase her crimes from the public record if she successfully completes a Conviction and Sentence Alternative "CASA" Program.CASA provides subs ... More >>

What's The Price For Cocaine, Women, Guns and Expensive Cars?

Little Saigon construction worker Khoa Dang Pham enjoyed hanging around his drug dealing buddies and he didn't think about the potential consequences because the cocaine, women, guns and expensive vehicles proved too tantalizing. Pham's legitimate employer, girlfriend, little sister and cousin all s ... More >>

Vietnam Communists Secretly Run Prominent Little Saigon Newspaper?

Two journalists at Nguoi Viet Daily News, the country's oldest and most respected Vietnamese newspaper, are suing a rival Little Saigon newspaper for publishing inflammatory accusations involving secret, foreign communist influence and sex.Dat Huy Phan and Vinh Hoang claim that Hoang Duoc Thao (AKA ... More >>

'Napalm Girl' to Speak at Newport Beach Church

Kim Phuc, who became known as "Napalm Girl" after her image was captured by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut during the Vietnam War, will speak Sunday at Liberty Baptist Church of Newport Beach.This year marks the 40th anniversary of Ut's photo, which shows a nine-year old Phuc fleeing naked fr ... More >>

Ten Great Vietnamese Restaurants in Orange County

​Pity the other publications in the stable o' stallions that is Village Voice Media, because they have to come up with a list like this, too--and they don't have Little Saigon sitting smack dab in the middle of their publication area. How do we choose from the hundreds--yes, multiple hundreds--of ... More >>

Battle: South County Pho!

ProfessorSalt.comPho King Way's brisket two ways, and a side order of oxtail​Little Saigon's pho shops make the best in the Orange County, and we dare say, the best in the country. That community is home to the largest population of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam, after all. We haven't yet found a ... More >>

[UPDATED with Sentence:] Thanh Van Tran Guilty of Murdering Lunar New Year Partier Outside Little Saigon Restaurant

​UPDATE, JULY 29, 3:02 P.M.: 29-year-old Thanh Van Tran, who a jury found guilty last month of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a Lunar New Year celebrant leaving a Garden Grove restaurant in 2009, was sentenced today to 40 years to life in state prison.Co-defendant and fellow Garden ... More >>

Little Saigon Might Be Lumped With, Dominated By Long Beach In New Congressional Redistricting Plan

​In the ongoing struggle over which congressional district to put Little Saigon in, the latest proposal may end up lumping it in with Long Beach. The OC Register's political reporter Martin Wisckol reports that the recently revealed map puts Little Saigon and other parts of Orange County in a ... More >>

Wells Fargo Bank Sued In Alleged Vietnamese Money Transfer Scheme

Little Saigon Money Wars​In Orange County, only two major businesses offer money-transfer services to Vietnam, and based on U.S. banking laws, both have relied on accounts at Wells Fargo Bank to satisfy American regulators.But now one of those Little Saigon businesses, Saigon Central Post of Westm ... More >>

Thanh Van Tran Convicted of Murdering Lunar New Year Partier Outside Little Saigon Restaurant

​A man who fatally shot a Lunar New Year celebrator outside D Saigon restaurant in Garden Grove in 2009 was found guilty by a jury today of second-degree murder.The jury also found true the sentencing enhancement for the personal discharge of a firearm causing death against Thanh Van Tran. The ... More >>

Washington Post Thinks Higher-End Pho Is a Revelation--HAHAHAHA!

Photo by Das Ubergeek​What is it about the national media that gets Vietnamese-food trends laughably late and wrong? If it's not The New York Times "discovering" Sriracha and bánh mì, it's the Washington Post devoting way too many words to some D.C.-area chefs who, as the headline puts it, "put ... More >>

Valkyrie of Transcontinental Sausage

[Best of OC 2010] Ehrline Karnaga's 10 OC Survival Tips

Two Gifted Vietnamese American Writers Coming to OC

Truong​Authors Monique Truong and Andrew Lam are scheduled to visit Orange County's Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association (VAALA) on Tuesday, September 21 to celebrate the publishing of their new books.Truong, a Saigon native who lives in New York City, will discuss Bitter in the Mout ... More >>

We'll Always Have 'Paris By Night'

At least on DVD. But thanks to all the pirated discs, the iconic, over-the-top Vietnamese-language variety show might be facing its final curtain

Harry Kho of Harry's Deli, Part Two

Kimberly Valenzuela​Today we continue with part two of our interview with Harry Kho, owner and "Executive Sandwich Creationist" of Harry's Deli in Irvine. Missed the first part of our interview? Click here. Otherwise, read on.

Quang Pham's Memoir Is Coming Out In Paperback

Pham: come along way after a sergeant called him "Fang, Fong, Fam!"​In time for the 35th anniversary of the fall of Saigon at the end of the month, Random House is publishing a $15 paperback version of "A Sense of Duty: Our Journey from Vietnam to America" by Mission Viejo resident Quang Pham.Pham ... More >>

The Ugly Side of Andy Quach & His Effort To Wreck Little Saigon's Tet Parade

Quach's 2009 drunk driving mug shot​Despite hysterical calls for the community to boycott the annual Tet parade in Orange County's Little Saigon if gay Vietnamese Americans were allowed to participate, gay Vietnamese Americans not only marched today but were welcomed as one of many groups involved ... More >>

79-Year-Old Arrested for Kicking Cop in the Nuts (Twice) Threatens to File Civil Rights Complaint

​Remember that "78-Year-Old Man Arrested for Kicking Cop in the Nuts (Twice)" in October?Two things: 1) He's 79. b. He claims to be the victim of "horrible injustice," that he "was treated like an animal" and that he will file seek "justice" via a federal civil rights complaint.

Life on the Veg: Noorani Halal Tandoori in Garden Grove

Dal Urad​Noorani's Halal Tandoori Restaurant is a hole-in-the-wall type establishment that is pretty easy to overlook, particularly amid the clusterfuck that is Little Saigon's urban design. If you do notice, chances are you'll experience a moment of severe disorientation when you realize you're l ... More >>

Vietnamese Singer Forced To Defend Himself As Anti-Communist

Get this thru your thick skulls: This Ho ain't related to the other one​One of the amusing aspects of covering Little Saigon politics is watching the world class mental gymnastics performed by the mostly elderly folks determined to spend their lives fighting the Vietnam War into perpetuity. It's n ... More >>

Crime Time: Ninja! Gang-y! Homeless! Unappreciative! Dead!

Friday: Paging Chuck Norris!​It's the Weekly's weekly round-up of local police calls--now with more unappreciative homeless men, alleged Ecstasy pushers and Ninjas, Ninjas, Ninjas! MONDAY, AUG. 3Wrong-Way Minivan After clocking a green minivan at 80 mph south on Beach Boulevard near the 405 freewa ... More >>

Scholarship Established For Ex-Weekly Reporter Vu Nguyen

Vu Nguyen​The Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield has created a website and scholarship in honor of former OC Weekly intern Nguyen Huy Vu, who died from a stroke on Mother's Day at the age of 34. Vu, who grew up in Orange County's Little Saigon, also worke ... More >>

Going in Circles

The Contempt Mandala

Broken rice at Com Tam Tran Quy Cap in Fountain Valley

A History of Violence

A brief history of anti-communist attacks in the United States

Wednesday's Headlines & Surprises: Bootlicker is back!

Tinker Bell Plot: Reporter Dave McKibben visits the turf war in Anaheim and discovers “The Disney-supported initiative, which supporters say has gathered enough signatures for the ballot, seeks to bar new housing in the resort district unless voters approve it. [But the] measure wouldn't require ... More >>

Wednesday's Headlines & Surprises: Total Idiot

Fatal Femmes! In the July 30 issue of Time, Sean Gregory reports on the Fatal Femmes Fighting Championship for all-female mixed-martial arts caged combat. Need I say more? Well, okay. In an enjoyable read based on the event in a Compton casino earlier this month, Gregory describes the brutality and ... More >>

Saturday's Headlines & Surprises

Grub Guide

Tasty morsels from the county's best damn dining guide

Letters

'Please keep covering the immigration issue as long as the poor, oppressed, white people of this country have their collective panties in a roar.'

Grub Guide

The county's best damn dining guide

Stately Soup

High-end pho reaches Little Saigon at Quan Hop

Remembrance of Tragedies Past and Present

First Mornings sad tale of immigrant hurt

Temple of the Fresh Kicks

Worship at the altar of Blends

Best of OC 2004: Part 1

Nuoc Mia Vien Tay

What Side Are You On?

Fast Forward To Death

Let Him Eat Tacos

The Boy Monk lets Kusho off easy

Diary of a Mad County

Diary of a Mad County

Laguna Hills

Nice offramps

Shortchanged

Traveling Light

Get Me Rewrite

Three Lives in search of a story

Dalat

Welcome to Vietnams Disneyland

Just Declare Victory

Little Saigon embraces Vietnam trade

Show of Farce

Despite trashing books, Vietnamese literature is readily available in Little Saigon

Beyond Politics

Asian fest films get personal