Brodard Chateau

So there's this uppity Vietnamese-French restaurant in Garden Grove, in the hub of the Vietnamese community in Orange County. The restaurants in the area can be quite good, but tend to lack a sense of decor, or cleanliness, or class. Which is completely fine by me.

Then a wave of well-decorated restaurants and bars started to infiltrate the area: they're mostly filled with young Vietnamese-Americans, and the only places where their white friends feel comfortable or at home. Which is great! Diversity makes unicorns fart rainbows and sunshine.

In any case, this was the crowd at Brodard Chateau, a place that's been getting some attention for their devotion to decoration and awareness of fine food. The only problem is that most of the food isn't quite as wonderful as the soft lighting and pretty menus.

I've been here a few times with my family and usually sample their food. Some of it is delicious: their nem nuong, or grilled Vietnamese pork patties, are perfectly juicy and slightly sweet. I ate their nem nuong cuon (Roasted Pork Spring Rolls) the first time I was here. I have no pictures, sadly.

This time I wasn't too hungry and shared an appetizer with my sister, the Vegetarian Spring Roll. I'd never had eggplant or avocado in my spring rolls before, and this innovation gave the rolls a satisfying, almost meat-like richness that really surprised me. Seriously yum.

Thy took that photo, so credit her amazingness. I also had the Shrimp Satay appetizer. Apologies for the blur and washed out vegetables.

The shrimp was decent, but the sauce was yummy. It was spicy and thick with coconut milk--almost like curry without the curry powder. The vegetables were a refreshing touch. However, this was not Vietnamese food at all. Just yummy.

My siblings and cousins said their dishes were decent, but not delicious. I think I picked the right ones to eat! Below are Scallops in Black Bean Sauce (too salty, not enough scallop flavor) and Clam Fesci (again, not enough clam flavor).

Some Vietnamese are all about the seafood, so this was clearly not the best around. My mom knew better than to order her favorite fish here, so she stuck with sharing a rice dish with my aunt. The regular Vietnamese dishes, except for the nem nuong, could be improved. But all in all--pick the right dishes, and you can have a fairly authentic Vietnamese experience in a swanky place! And that's often hard to do.