Return to Brodard's and a Mac attack!

Fresh from our quick foray into blueberry donutland, we headed back down to Little Saigon, taking the surface streets. We drove through Anaheim, Santa Ana, and a few other cities and ended up in Garden Grove.

Our next destination was right across from one of the many locations of Lee's Sandwiches, a Vietnamese chain which popularized the Banh Mi sandwich to Americans. The original location is on Bolsa Blvd, across from the Asian Garden Mall (thanks Wandering Chopsticks!).

There it is...the 99 Cent Store in a non descript strip mall, called "The Mall of Fortune".

Ignore your GPS directions and  go around the BACK...

Where you will nab your parking spot and head on in to Brodard's, which isn't even listed on their awning. Instead, their specialty is listed, "Nem Nuong Restaurant".

Last time I was in the area was nearly two years ago and these shops weren't there, or perhaps they went under a different name. Two of them were having their grand opening.

Bert and TC were able to get seated while I stood in line and drooled like an animal decided which macs to get for later.

The exterior and odd location of this restaurant (behind the Mall of Fortune) gave way to a very large and open space. It was nicely decorated and servers were busy going back and forth between all of the tables, many filled with large families enjoying their lunches.

TC liked this branch decorated with orchid sprays.

We wanted only three things on the menu (for this visit, at least).

We had to get their Nem Nuong Cuon (Pork Spring Roll) and their Chao Tom Cuon (Shrimp Spring Roll), which I didn't get last time I was here.

The other item we ordered was the Banh Khot which I loved last time but this time, Bert and TC would be able to enjoy it.

Bert's iced coffee ($2.25) and TC's pineapple and melon smoothie ($3 or $3.50 I believe). Both were very refreshing on this very hot day.

Condiments at the table - Sriracha, Chili paste, another kind of chili sauce, and  container filled with raw garlic cloves and red and green chilis!

TC was amused by this - Our pork spring rolls were "stuck", leaving me to believe that these were pre-made, and indeed, they do have an assembly line of women making these things non-stop.

As I was taking the photo, the bottom one fell, which made us all laugh.

The sauce to go with the rolls was amazing! I don't know what they put in it, but it's like crack. I wanted to take this home, but it would have gotten spoiled in the car. There was pork, garlic, and it was also sweet (maybe sugar or honey?).

The rolls had pork paste rolled up with lettuc, a crunchy fried spring roll wrapper, flat chives

I love biting into these - the fried spring roll wrapper in there is a nice mix of crunchy with the soft and pliable outer wrapper.

Our Banh Khot was next. These tasted like a Banh Xeo but in tinier form. I was wondering why there was only seven. After looking online on how these were made, I saw that the iron used for making them has seven indentations. Makes sense.

We enjoyed the crisp shell filled with shrimp and spring onions. The dipping sauce was a sweet fish sauce which was refreshing with these little bites of delight.

Here was the other roll, the Shrimp Paste. I know it looks pretty much the same as the Pork version, but with shrimp instead. These are just as amazing!

The sauce they use is also the same, which was also great.

Back to the macarons. I got a wide selection. As you can see by their menu, they offer a lot of different flavors. I was especially attracted by the taro, lychee and the durian.

These were only $1.25 each!

I got 14 total, but a few were "doubles", like the two toned lychee (the red and white), the mango-passionfruit (orange), the chocolate, which was inexplicably green, as well as the taro (purple).

Here they are at home. We ejoyed these a few days later.  Starting at the top (red): Lychee, mango-passionfruit, taro, pistachio, strawberry, green tea, chocolate, coffee, durian, and in the middle, coconut.

These are so adorable!!!

TC thought the red and white lychee macaron looked like the Pokemon ball.

The coconut was very intense. The fillings were so light.

I liked how they combined mango with passionfruit but thought it was odd that the shells for the chocolate mac were green. It made me think it would taste like chocolate mint, but it did not have a particular flavor. Only the filling was chocolate. The taro was also good.

Now, as for the durian...TC was the brave one. She took a bite and said, "Oh, it's not that bad. It tastes like jackfruit!".

(notice the shirt? It's the "Bobby Brady" shirt with the Bruce Lee iron on, as seen in this post)

Hmmm, jackfruit? So Bert and I each took a small bite and let me tell you, it did NOT taste like jackfruit at all!!!  The shell itself was okay, but the filling tasted like rotten onions. I kid you not. I wanted to scrape my tongue with sandpaper. Later on, she admitted she said that to make us eat it. Wut! Ha ha! Sneaky kid.

Previous visit to Brodard's:
September 2011 when I went on a food road trip with D...
*Note - That post links other bloggers' posts  on Brodard's that are worth checking out which include Wandering Chopsticks and Monster Munching's write ups.

Here is a more recent post by Kirbie - April 2012, where she proclams their nem nuong cuon as the best spring rolls she's ever had!

Brodard's Restaurant
9892 Westminster Ave, Suite R
Gardend Grove, CA 992844
(7141) 5330-11744

brodard.net

I'd love to go here again and explore more of their menu and try the other flavors of their macarons. I'll have to pass on that durian though!

Our next stop would be a free marine mammal rehab center on our way to beach...