These Garlic Noodles Cross Cultures, but Are Deeply San Franciscan
The New York Times
J. Kenji López-Alt’s take on a beloved Vietnamese American dish, invented by Helene An of Thanh Long restaurant, is creamy, garlic-packed and full of smart techniques.
Garlic noodles are not the San Francisco treat. That would be Rice-A-Roni, but garlic noodles are a San Francisco treat and one worth making for yourself.
I love Vietnamese food and spent some time traveling in the country, but I’d never heard of garlic noodles before moving to the Bay Area. And that’s because they are not Vietnamese: They are Vietnamese American, created right in San Francisco by Helene An at Thanh Long restaurant.
Born to aristocracy outside Hanoi, Ms. An and her family, the Trans, fled North Vietnam in 1955 and resettled in the South Vietnamese city of Dalat. In 1975, she was forced to flee once again, this time with her husband and three daughters. They eventually settled, penniless, in San Francisco, where they took up residence with Ms. An’s mother-in-law, Diana, who ran a small deli she bought in the Outer Sunset neighborhood in 1968.
