On Fri, 07 Jan 2005 04:59:29 -0600, GregoryD > wrote:
> For the past two years, I've lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. In
> Arlington, there's a restaurant called Le's Fire Pot that has a bunch of
> Vietnamese food as well as a fire pot/hot pot. I used to make a weekly
> trip there on Saturday, load up on food, and then go home to watch the
> football games, stuffed for the day. I've moved to New Orleans recently
> and am fiending for this stuff (I'm a local, so the local food doesn't
> exactly overwhelm me, even if it is good).

New Orleans seems to have a significant Vietnamese
population, particularly in the eastern part out near the Beau Sauvage
wildlife refuge. We drove through there just a few weeks ago while on
vacation, and they had lots of little groceries as well as some
restaurants. Might be a good place to get your Vietnamese food fix or
to shop for ingredients!

(There's a place off Chef Menteur Hwy called Duong Phoung...half is
a restaurant, half is a bakery that sells sandwiches as well as
bread, pastries, etc. We loved it, and it seemed extremely popular
with the locals as well.)

> I miss a few things over there, and I'm wondering if anyone can help me
> out here. Specifically, the following:
>
> (a) curry chicken with potatoes
> (b) vietnamese meatballs (for pho or hot pot... pretty sure they bought
> these because they came in beef and either chicken or turkey)

Yeah, generally those are storebought. I can find them here
(Ohio) in just about any Asian grocery sto beef, pork, shrimp,
fish, etc.

> (c) spring rolls (seemed to be rice paper, not fried.. with a blade of
> grass that tasted like lemon... not sure what that was, though).

I'm guessing they use the spring roll wrappers that require a
quick dip in warm water before using. These too, should be an easy
find in an Asian grocery, they're the wrappers that aren't
refrigerated, IME. The blade of grass that tasted like lemon was
probably lemongrass...but I've never had it in a spring roll before.

> (d) vietnamese sausage.. the spring rolls usually had either sausage or
> shrimp in them.
>
> Also, what cut of beef do these restaurants usually slice for shabu shabu
> or hot pot? And lastly, there was a sweet, dark sauce along with the fish
> sauce and the chili sauce.. wasn't teriyaki, though. Any ideas?

Hmmm. I thought shabu-shabu was Japanese? I've never made it
at home, but recipes seem to indicate using a thin sliced tender cut
of beef. Some Asian groceries will sell this to you already sliced,
and labeled specifically for shabu-shabu, but I'm guessing it's more
expensive this way.

Ariane