Summer Roll at Brodard - Garden Grove

Going to Brodard without ordering one of their signature nem nướng cuốns is like going to Disneyland and not riding Pirates of the Caribbean. This signature item, which I've described before as "a spring roll to end all spring rolls" is an inextricable part of Brodard's DNA as the pirate ride is to the Magic Kingdom--it will never, ever go away.

So you can bet that even as Brodard is set to close its original restaurant to move to better digs in Fountain Valley later this year, the nem nướng cuốn and its secret sauce will go with it.

But this post is about the other Brodard roll that I love almost as much as the nem nướng cuốn. It's called bò bía and contains sauteed carrots and jicama, lettuce, fresh basil, peanuts and roasted shallots. The English translation is "summer roll", because, well, "spring roll" was taken and "fall roll" sounds like something you do when your clothes catch on fire.

The most defining thing about Brodard's summer roll, though, is the dried shrimp, sweet Chinese pork sausage and shreds of omelette, which I would argue make it the closest thing you can get to a breakfast burrito in Little Saigon.

I eat mine with a dip--no, make that multiple dips--in the plum sauce and in between bites of Thai chili peppers.

And since an entire serving has a tendency to disappear before my eyes like an apparition, you could say that the bò bía is like the Haunted Mansion to the nem nướng cuốn's Pirates--but that would be carrying the Disneyland analogy a bit too far.

Brodard
Mall of Fortune
9892 Westminster Avenue R
Garden Grove, CA 92844
(714) 530-1744
www.brodard.net

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