Skip to main content

Legit

 

I was just scrolling along, minding my own business, when these words caught my eye:

7:10 AM, Fri Jan 3

I have to imagine that hell is a lot like Howard County.

Well! Not the best way to wake up in the morning. I mean, I know that not everyone likes us, and sometimes they even have good reasons. But this seemed rather extreme. The response that followed, however, turned my concern into amusement.

Howard County has some legit Vietnamese restaurants. Hell does not.

Thank goodness we have something going for us. 

Truth be told, I have very little experience with Vietnamese cuisine. I have eaten Pho exactly once, possibly ten years ago. Appalling, I know. I enjoyed the experience well enough but it didn’t become a regular thing with us. 

I wonder if there’s any research on how Americans incorporate new foods into their diets. I grew up in an era when the “ethnic” food available to me was offered by Chinese and Mexican restaurants who adapted their menus to the American palate. My mother still viewed Italian cuisine as the ethnic food of her younger years.

Since then I have been introduced to and come to love Greek food, Middle Eastern food, Indian food, Afghani food, and, to some extent, Turkish food. That feels like a lot until I realize that there are so many possibilities around me locally that I just haven’t delved into: Korean food, Thai, Ethiopian, Vietnamese…
I sometimes feel as though I’d like someone experienced to guide me when exploring new cuisines. A sort of Experienced Eater Companion Service, if you will.

Anyway, back to Hell (or the lack of it.) I went looking for a comprehensive listing of every Vietnamese restaurant in Howard County to present to you here. Yelp was not helpful for this. I went to the Visit Howard County website and they have exactly one Vietnamese restaurant included in their listing, so I am not sure how their listing system works. I searched the website of the Maryland Restaurant Association, whose offices are in Columbia. No dice.
 
I don’t want “If you buy an ad you’re in the listing” or “If you’re been reviewed you’re in the listing.”  I simply want: here are all the Vietnamese restaurants in Howard County in alphabetical order, including their locations. Is this not a thing one can find anymore?

So I’m turning this over to you. Maybe the best advice is by word of mouth anyway. Will you be my Experienced Eater (virtual) companions? What is your go-to hocolocal place for Vietnamese food and what is your favorite menu item? Any advice, suggestions? 

I’ve heard that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions but not, apparently, with “legit Vietnamese restaurants.”  So I have my work cut out for me if I want to be headed in the right direction. Or simply because I’m ready to try something new. 


 







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more

Separate and Unequal

  Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in  broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not.  It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...
1 comment
Read more