We'd enjoyed Brodard Restaurant plenty of times, but it wasn't until a wealthy friend from Philly insisted on eating lunch there on three consecutive trips to Orange County that it sunk in: This place, which is enormously popular with the local Vietnamese community, is also an undeniable attraction to East Coast Caucasians. It offers a large, relatively inexpensive menu ranging from assorted spring rolls that are always freshly made to stir-fried noodle and rice dishes, as well as a variety of soups including pho, udon and French-Vietnamese-style beef stew. Nobody in Little Saigon makes a better spicy beef salad. For dessert, don't leave without trying the fried banana, flan custard or one of the fresh fruit smoothies. Anticipate a 15- to 20-minute wait to get a table during the rush, and don't be alarmed that the restaurant is on the backside of a shopping plaza.
