January 14, 2024 • 32 mins
**Introduction:**
Explore the vibrant world of Vietnamese cuisine and culture with Quyền Phan, the visionary behind Seattle's largest Vietnamese restaurant, Anchovies and Salt. Join us on a culinary adventure as Quyền shares the inspirations and stories that have shaped his approach to Vietnamese food.
---
**Segment 1: Origins of Anchovies and Salt
Quyền's culinary journey began influenced by Hanoi's Fat Tin. Originating from Nam Dịt Town, the fall of Hanoi became the focal point inspiring Anchovies and Salt's unique menu.
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**Segment 2: The Northern Pho Revelation
Experience the distinction of Northern pho at Anchovies and Salt, deviating from the Southern counterpart. The light and delicate nature of Northern pho, devoid of heavy MSG use, define its authenticity. Fresh fall noodles replace the traditional dehydrated version, adding a unique texture.
---
**Segment 3: Culinary Secrets and Signature Dishes
Quyền's team crafted signature dishes, like deep-fried pho pillows, a rarity in the U.S. The forbidden eggplant challenges stereotypes with pickled eggplant and shrimp paste. Sizzling steak and eggs, along with short ribs infused with pho flavors, became unexpected favorites.
---
**Segment 4: Building Anchovies and Salt
As the largest Vietnamese restaurant outside Vietnam, Anchovies and Salt showcases Saigon, Đà Nẵng, and Hanoi, paying homage to different regions. Quyền's dedication to authenticity is reflected in every detail of the restaurant's design.
---
**Segment 5: Family Meals and Cultural Bridge
Family meals in Vietnamese culture find a place in Seattle through Anchovies and Salt. The cultural bridge, symbolized by the hand of God and the Golden Bridge, connects Vietnam and the U.S. The restaurant becomes a platform to share Vietnamese culture globally.
---
**Segment 6: The Journey Continues
Quyền plans to expand Anchovies and Salt's menu, introducing diverse dishes from different regions of Vietnam. Unapologetically authentic Vietnamese cuisine remains the driving force behind Anchovies and Salt's success.
---
**Conclusion:**
Anchovies and Salt is Quyền Phan's commitment to preserving and sharing Vietnamese culture through diverse and authentic culinary offerings. Join us in the next episode for more on Quyền's journey and the wonders at Anchovies and Salt.
Website: https://www.anchoviesandsalt.com/
IG: anchoviesandsalt
Season2
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
Welcome back to part two, as we follow along Quyen's
(00:03):
journey and explore Vietnameseculture and cuisine. Let's talk
a little bit about your dishes.
So can you tell me what dishesare the most popular right now
among your customers? Wow,that's a loaded question. It is
of northern Thailand, which is asalty sofa
Quyền Phan (00:22):
inspired by fat tin in Hanoi, which is a well for
context. Fall originated inHanoi and not in Hanoi itself.
Legends is that it originatedfrom Nam Ditton, which is a town
where my culinary directors fromhe created a recipe that is
inspired by Fortson, which wentviral. And it's like very
(00:45):
popular right now in Hanoi. Theydo a salt a steak, and they eat
it with onions white got like aheap in full bowl of onions and
idea. We I tried it and I reallyliked it. I said, Wow, this is
actually one of the few northernfar that I really enjoy, because
northern fall tend to be verylight, delicate, but also MSG
(01:10):
heavy as opposed to bone broth,heavy, Southern fall tends to be
very fatty, it has more whatthey call nuke mill on the top,
okay, whereas Northern, youwon't see the fat condensing or
coagulating on top of the brothinteresting. So therefore, they
eat it quickly. There's nobeansprout there's no bean
basil. There's not a lot of sighveggies. Matter of fact that
(01:33):
sigh veggies is often pickledgarlic, red chilies. And that's
kind of what I've known sinceI've been to Hanoi pretty much
every single file in Seattle forthe last 30 years sells a
southern farm even if yourrestaurant is named fallback,
for example, which is one of thebest restaurants in Seattle for
(01:53):
the last 40 years. They sellsouthern fun, they don't sell
Northern. Okay. The name itselfis North translated to North Ah,
but they couldn't sell anorthern far because the palate
of everybody here southern I gotit. Okay. So when we started
selling northern far two monthsago, I've seen everybody just
drink the whole bowl of soup. Tobe fair, we serve a small bowl.
(02:16):
So if people like it, they woulddrink up everything. I mean,
pretty much every bowl I've seenhas pretty much gone empty.
Because people really enjoyedsoup, enjoy something that's
different. On top of that, weuse a fresh fall noodle, which
everybody has really notgravitated to, or moved to yet
because fresh fall noodleswasn't always available in
Seattle. It's always like adehydrated version that you
(02:38):
rehydrate in boiling water notfresh. So the texture the
chewiness the consistency isvery different than fresh file.
Okay, for example, for Boxty weuse it a dehydrated file Venus
on my flagship brand, all fiveof my location, we still use the
hydrated file, right? It's justeasier to do and it's a lot less
(02:59):
expensive. Sure, we are going tomove to fresh fried noodles in
2024 which is like right now youknow people is going to be very
surprised me like well, how comethis doesn't look like anything
that I've had in a long time.
Now without noodles in SouthSanta introduced it like about
three, four years back when theymade it in house. It's something
that is trending peopleunderstand that a there's such a
thing as a different type offall noodles is flat. And in
(03:23):
speaking of fun, who knows a lotof people including like half of
my community don't realize thatfall is not a soup that fall is
a rice pasta, okay? It hasnothing to do with the soup
itself. The the first soupitself just happens to be the
most popular version of itright? That's just like you eat
(03:44):
in 10 different form of pasta,some of it might be baked like a
lasagna. And some of it might besaute. Some of it might be
poached or steam, whatever itmight be. That leads me to my
poly this one of my most populardishes is a deep fry Fabula Oh
interesting, which is a sheet offar cut into ravioli size Okay,
and deep fry into a puffy barpuffy square of fall noodles and
(04:09):
topped with sauteed mustardgreen and steak and onions. Oh
my gosh, I've never heard ofthat. That sounds amazing. It's
eaten with a pineapple fishsauce. Wow. And papaya pickles
and I found that in aneighborhood called Kong Musa in
less Hanoi. So how bad is likeon the southern tip of Westlake
(04:31):
and Westlake is one of thebiggest lake in Hanoi Okay, and
on the southeast corner which iswhere renting is renting is in
the southeast corner of LakeWashington and then this
neighborhood they selleverything that is far except
the suit. Oh, wow. Okay, yeah,you can have stir fry. You can
have egg noodle fall noodle deepfry with egg batter. You can
(04:52):
have deep fried pho pillowswhich is what I my favorite
thing. You can have steamedpho rolls the whole sheet just
roll with steak and basil insidethat neighborhood people
congregate there just for that.
That's kind of like the foodscene in Vietnam is like one
person does something reallywell. There's like 10s and
(05:14):
millions of people in in Hanoior in Saigon. So they will
congregate to one street. Oh, tomake sure that street become
known for this street isFreifunk. This street is
pharmaceuticals. This tree is byme it becomes like a full a
small neighborhood of one singlething almost Yeah. And there's
enough population to kind ofsupport that concept of lung.
(05:37):
Why are we are opening rightnext door to each other and
selling the same exact thing.
The fry for pillows is reallyhard to do, you won't find
anybody doing. I haven't foundanybody in the United States
that have done it. It justrecently kind of migrated to Ho
Chi Minh City or Saigon. Butpeople don't do it. The concept
of it to do it probably takeyears to master Wow. And we only
(05:57):
offer it for dinner and offerfor lunch. Okay, because lunch
is slower, and it allows us thetime to do a dinner crowd is too
much. So we do not offer fivepillows, I'm gonna have to come
in and try it. You've reallycaptured my palate. I can't even
tell you the way you describedit. I'm like, Yeah, I'm craving
that. I gotta try it. It'sdefinitely one of our signature
(06:20):
dishes. I know, northern dishes.
So we have a good five, sixsignature from the north, a good
four or five signature fromcentral Vietnam. Our executive
chef is from central Vietnam, myculinary director who lives in
Vietnam. That's amazing. He'sfrom London, which is the origin
of it. But he lives in Saigonnow okay, and he consult on all
(06:44):
of the dishes because he justhas an amazing palette. I love
it. And then a lot of the saucesand recipe from the south is my
mom's recipe. So we we try torepresent all three regions.
Even the restaurant is built outin three regions and our
restaurant is like 200 feet longthat runs north and south.
Unknown (07:03):
In the US, is that right?
Quyền Phan (07:08):
It is the largest Vietnamese restaurant on Earth
outside of it now. Oh my gosh,from all of our research maximum
capacity of 441 11,000 squarefeet inside outside. I didn't
attempt for it to be that way.
It just it came naturally. Wow.
So the only thing that we knowof is Samsung and oh Kim Sung in
(07:29):
Houston. They have threelocations that are like a fake
banquet halls that are like over20,000 square feet. The name is
Vietnamese, but their food isanchored by Vietnamese, Chinese
and sometimes Japanese food forme personally when I made that
statement, I don't think if yousell Chinese food, then you can
claim your restaurant as being aVietnamese restaurant. Because
(07:49):
you need another culture to kindof help fill the space right?
You have Chinese restaurants areabundant. But if you had to put
Chinese food into a Vietnameserestaurant, I think that
automatically in my mind justdisqualifies them as being a
Vietnamese exclusivelyVietnamese restaurant. So two
more quick food questions. Whatunusual dish Should I order from
(08:09):
your menu for dinner all thesides we have a villagers pork
belly, which is basically baconlemongrass and shrimp paste one
of the most nostalgic thing youcan eat from the enemy's food it
resonate with North South andCentral Vietnamese being that it
just a goes like a teeny bit ofit can feed a whole family if
(08:30):
you eat it with white rice,right? Our culture is very rice
centric.
Like we sell Vietnamese familydinner, which is highly
encouraged to be balanced withveggies, savory food, rice and
soup. It has to be a combinationof everything. Sometimes I will
have somebody sit there and eatup a clay pot. Black Cod that is
(08:52):
that is very savory. Yes withoutrights without anything, right?
And I'm like, Oh no, that's notthat's not going to be balanced.
or somebody's eating a sour soupby itself. When it's meant to be
shared with five differentpeople. I see the thing that I
am most proud of. We sell athing called the forbidden
eggplant not fermented eggplantpickled eggplant sometime
(09:15):
lightly just toss in avinaigrette. Yes, obliged us but
dipped in a shrimp paste andadded it was delicious. I
remember that we have both theoption of northern and southern
shrimp base in our culturegrowing up in the United States
this negative stigma to itsmells so bad. Our parents, our
(09:35):
friends, everybody would beafraid to bring it to school.
Like you wouldn't put that inyour lunchbox Sure. It is never
in my life. Have I've seen itserve in a Vietnamese
restaurant. Okay, but it's verytasty. Yes, it's full of it's
made out of shrimp salt inNepali MSG, all right. The fact
that we put it on the menu andwe feature it proudly on our
(09:58):
sauce bar is because we areI'm apologetically authentic.
We're not going to apologize forwhat we love. So we put it front
and center. I mean, if you can'tstand the smell, if you can't
stand the flavor, then we aredefinitely not, it's definitely
not something you should try. Weare so inclusive is that,
because we know that the menuranges the opposite end of the
(10:18):
spectrum is we have Wagyu beefskewers with North Vietnamese
pepper, something that thatalmost everybody loves, because
who doesn't love wagyu steak ona steak? Oh my gosh, we have
sizzling steak and eggs. We havethe short ribs, which is brace
and fast spices and finish offon the grill. Probably our
(10:39):
number one seller I had the musaid try this. And I did. And oh
my god, that was unbelievablygood. That that is probably
going to be our number oneseller for a long, long time,
along with the fact that they'rethe only complaint I've ever
heard about that it might be alittle bit too fatty. In two
months, we probably sold 1000sof those short ribs already. We
(10:59):
can audit quickly enough. Wow.
And that's like, and I almostrefrain from encouraging that
dish. Yeah, because that's kindof like one of the very few
dishes that is modern. Okay,it's my take on everyone put in
short ribs and they're far soit's like we're this far is too
big. How can we put it in abowl, if this short rib is too
(11:20):
big to be put in a bowl, weinstead of putting the rib into
the fall? We put the fall intothe rib? So we cook it in for
spyshots. Okay, and we justinfused far flavor into the
short ribs. It was my culinarydirectors idea. I told him Look,
everybody selling short ribs.
He's like, Yeah, but I hate theway they do it. I love that
(11:42):
sometime. It looks like a dogbone inside a ball. Yeah,
there's no love into it. He'slike, I think I am going to do
something different. Yeah, whenhe presented it to me, and I ate
it. I started texting on my myteam. I said, this is the best
thing I've eaten in 40 years.
I've kind of gotten almost sickof it. Because I've eaten it
barley like oh my god 100 timesin the last five, six months of
(12:05):
r&d in it. But it's so good.
That's how many times I'veemailed. It almost takes us away
from our purpose, you know,right. All Purpose introduced
culture and soul into Vietnamesefood. Oh, I love that. That is
so amazing. Because you did youreally did. I mean, from my
perspective, and my wife'sperspective that keeps us coming
back. We have so much I like totell people audience, anybody's
(12:26):
like, look, I will alwaysguaranteed that if you try
something you don't like it's onthe house. And they say, well,
we don't want to do that wedon't want to, we don't want to
feel like we're robbing you orcheating you. So now you
actually are helping me becauseif you like every single dish on
the menu, which is going to berare, but if you like 60 70% of
the menu, as opposed to just onedish that you always go to,
(12:50):
you're going to come back to myrestaurant many more times. You
come three times. But I want youto eat three different things
every single time. And that isgoing to make you come back for
me so much more my businessmodel. Yeah, I always want to
guarantee the food, right. Andwe have a Vietnamese brunch and
lunch menu that is so inclusiveof North Central and South
(13:12):
Vietnam. And then people comefor dinner. It's like, well, I
want to eat that breakfast dish.
And I'm sorry, do you go to theMetropolitan grill and ask him
if they have bacon and egg butthen Oh, could they do you like
an egg omelet and French toastfor dinner? Every culture has
different aspects of a food.
Yeah. And we want to introduce abrunch culture and lunch
(13:33):
culture, a street food cultureand a dinner culture. Right. And
I have to coach on my owncommunity with that. It's like
they come in and they're like,Well, why don't you guys have
been well, why? Or why don't youguys offer steak and eggs for
dinner. I'm like I am offeringyou family meal, which has not
exist in Seattle for the lastsince 1975 When the first
(13:56):
Vietnamese might be boughtmigrated. Wow, no one has so
family food and is so unique,but they are so used to fun.
Like they said, Oh, even thoughI'm Vietnamese I came here for
fun only. This is Vietnamesefamily meal. Yeah, this is the
stuff I want you to eat. This isthe stuff that I want you to
bring your mom and I want you towrite home about I want you to
(14:18):
bring in your friends tointroduce them to a completely
different part of the culturethat has never been highlighted.
And I want it to put it on thelargest stage possible to
understand what Vietnamesedinner looks like. And I want
Vietnamese family to sit downand finally eat a family meal
again part of the culture that'sbeen forgotten because everybody
(14:39):
sits at the table with an iPhoneand an iPad. True. I feel like
if the food is good enough, itwill stop you from playing with
your phone. It will stop youfrom taking pictures even Yeah,
I was so happy this morning whenI saw a post on on the foodie
group. It just it was all inwords is that oh my goodness.
(15:00):
My culinary experience atanchovies was mind boggling. And
I don't have any pictures toprove it. Oh, wow. You know,
because I ate it all too fast.
And I want to thank the creatorsof Seattle, the Seattle foodies
group, because that's how I metyou. That's how I found out that
you were open. And that's how Ithought I got to have them come
on the show, I gotta have themshared a story. They are by far
my favorite group I've ever beena part of. It's incredible,
(15:23):
extremely positive. They don'tfilter anything until it goes by
weight. So when I post it showsup for restaurant, they allow
restaurant to post one times amonth, and most restaurants
don't even knew that becausethey are afraid of spamming
people. Right? Right. So it'svery respectful. In terms of the
restaurant community. They'regood guys. Like when I tried to
(15:44):
pose I want it to be education,because it's this such part of
the community that they don'tknow what Vietnamese steak and
eggs is like. They don't knowthat we have pate in it because
we was colonized by the Frenchfor 100 years. Okay, that we've
been making Vietnamese parte for200 years now. Wow. And it's
like Vietnamese, by today isgoing to be so different than
(16:06):
French, right? They don't knowthat Vietnamese culture. We are.
We have a lot of head cheese.
Right? Yeah. Which if somepeople don't know, cheeses, it's
like a hammer most right? I can,like put together with fat and
all of the best part of the pigand make it into a meat cheese.
(16:26):
Right? You got nothing to dowith dairy. But it's still call
head cheese, right. But there'sa big part of my community that
has never seen head cheese.
If I was to put it on the menuthat only their mom would
appreciate it.
So, you know, it's the amount ofpositive energy that has
(16:47):
resonated out of the diningexperience at the table. It's
been amazing. It's that's whyI'm at the table all the time,
because I needed them to see myperspective on why I did so that
they don't draw their ownconclusions. So it's been a
blessing, to have time andhealth. Just to be at the table
side to kind of say hi to everYeah, I'm coming through the
(17:10):
restaurant, right? Just imagineI'm walking. I park I come down.
I'm looking at the waterfrontand I walk into this beautiful
restaurant. come walking in yourrestaurant, what do I see? I
built it to represent family andbuilt it to represent more
importantly culture. I built itto represent Vietnam. Yep.
Geographically, culturally,family food when you walk into a
(17:33):
doors, probably the biggest doorof any Vietnamese restaurant you
will ever see. And it'shandcrafted by me and myself and
my own team out of tea, righttick is a hot word found in
Southeast Asia and found inVietnam, very prized, and it's
gonna hold up to the element.
It's a what you call it a pivotdoor. It's humongous, but it's
people friendly. It's very easyto open and immediately when you
(17:56):
go in the grandiose size of thewaiting area is like 20 feet
high with anchovies. And so onthe left Yeah, because I wanted
a background for people toremember that they just enter
anchovies and so and on theright we have beautiful woodwork
with that represent thecraftsmanship and the love that
we put into this and ourhostesses are wearing
(18:16):
traditional Vietnamese iei whichis the national dress of Vietnam
Yes, it's also symbolic made outof oyster shells and sea shells
on all of our ingrained into allof our tables. That's the first
thing I want people to know thatthis is Vietnamese traditional
this is what we were right infront of you as you hit it
you're gonna be stopped by thishumongous four foot why Onyx? J
(18:38):
this jade is abundant in centralVietnam. And it's like a gateway
to your house. It brings energyinto good energy into the
restaurant growing up Buddhists.
I want my space to be Zen to bewelcoming to be warm. Yes, I
have a huge shelf that displayVietnamese culture right behind
(19:01):
it. I wanted it to be toned downbecause I want it to not not to
be the only story that was toldon your right hand side you see
this water dragon so my son hasZodiac is in his element is the
water dragon. Wow. Just likeGreek mythology and every
mythology, he anchors myinfrastructure because we are on
(19:21):
the lake. And just imagine wehave 200 lineal feet of
waterfront with 100 seatsoutdoor, and my son and I we
share a super special bond, wehave the same burden. Oh, we
have the same birthmark. Andhe's like an identical clone. If
cloning was about, I don't knowhow that is even possible. So I
always like to think that I'mbeyond blessed. Right? Yeah. And
(19:44):
I will always answer everyquestion of how you is because I
have really nothing to complainabout. So on the right of that
we have the whole main banquetroom is anchored by him and it's
the Saigon room. It anchorssouthern Vietnam.
With beautiful architecture,everything is handcrafted wood,
it's 100% Cherry, our office isgoing up the stairs is going to
(20:08):
be the employees office, it'ssome of the remnants that I kept
from the previousinfrastructure. So I kept it
there and I built wooden screensaround it really make it look
like it's, it's southernVietnam. So when you go towards
your love, you're gonna see amural with the hand of God on
it. The hand of God is a bridgein BANA hills in SunWorld. In
(20:30):
Vietnam, and it's they call theofficial name is the golden
bridge, okay? Like the GoldenGate Bridge, but it connects to,
to mountain side. And it so it'svery symbolic. It's crazy to see
that two hands coming out of themountain holding up a bridge.
And the artists that Icommissioned has been Amis
artists. And he immediately hesaw it as a bridge of culture,
(20:55):
right, just bridge in the northand the south bridge in Seattle
with Vietnam. Like it's acultural bridge. So, so the
first thing he did was like,he's like, let me draw this on a
napkin. And he made it into ananchovy. Oh my gosh, he's like,
bro, you are using this tinylittle fish to bridge a
humongous gap in culturalunderstand. Wow, enlightening
(21:19):
not only myself, but just theculture put in and highlight and
Vietnamese fish sauce. Anchoviespays on the map, something so
insignificant yet it's thebackbone of conversation. This.
It's the bridge between now andthen. So it's like, man, it took
this guy a minute to puttogether this message that I've
(21:41):
been dreaming about for like,Oh, that is incredible. Yep. So
I instantly instantly said yesto it. And so that's why you see
this giant hands holding upanchovies. And I call it the
banana kitchen. Because the townis called mana hills. And it's
in central Vietnam. And thenwhen you look to your left, we
(22:01):
have this beautiful teal bluebar, because it's a reflection
of a dining which is a beachtown in Vietnam in central
Vietnam, which is like 30minutes from by now you just
traveling through Vietnam. Now,all of our doors are my folding.
So they it's like accordiondoors that open, the whole
restaurant will open up to thewaterfront. And this bar is like
(22:24):
a tiki bar that you can walk upto from the water. So when you
walk through the bar, andtowards the north end, you will
enter who I am. Who I am is anancient city right next to
Danang, it's only 30 minutesaway. It's one of my favorite
city on Earth. And it's UNESCOprotected high end is an ancient
trade import for Vietnam, China,Japan, France, it's untouchable
(22:49):
because the world has chosen toprotect it. And it's a UNESCO
protected site. And I built itout to look exactly like the way
home and would look in a privateroom with lanterns and color
scheme plant life. It's like Iwant you to be Trent transported
into a whole tropical world.
That is who I am.
(23:11):
Yeah, I have a painting there. Ibought 20 years ago for my dad
at Zodiac is it's embroider bysome blind kids in a school and
a tiger. So the tiger representmy dad because he's like a
Liberian. He reads a lot. He'svery educated. Yet he's never
taken any chances in life. Otherthan the fact that he brought us
(23:34):
to the United States. That washis biggest accomplishment,
right? bringing us to the UnitedStates and just working his butt
off in a factory day and nightso that he can afford to build
Wow. So he was able to bring mywhole family eventually on nine
kids to come to the UnitedStates. And not once did he have
a chance to spread his wings. SoI have him just chillin are just
(23:55):
inside this library that isconsider her and that's just my
tribute to to, to hissacrifices. Go on outside. I
have two more pillars that isalso drawn by those either the
artists like the foundation ofmy infrastructure is my youngest
son who is a ox. He's a golden,my wife who is the goat they
(24:16):
anchor infrastructure and theydon't really get the limelight.
My wife, she's not fancy. Shedoesn't show up about anything.
I feel like they all are myfoundation. And then above the
Nang is the hallway lounge. Sohey, is where my wife is from.
My executive chef is somewherein the hallway is the ancient
(24:38):
capital city of it. Wow. Theactual palace. We call it that
in a way or the Imperial Palace.
My wife lives like five minutesaway. I may the whole room feel
like it was Imperial Vietnam,from the woodwork to the
craftsmanship. It needed toreflect what I understood about
Vietnam.
(25:00):
I'm about the ancient times. AndI don't have a deep history
lessons of sure, but I did mybest. So it's been very well
received probably everybody'sfavorite room beyond the
homeland, because it has thewhole water view 50 feet of
water, wow, on that room. Sogoing down the stairs, you're
(25:20):
gonna see like in front of youa, like a Buddha, a gigantic
Buddha floating on a bridge thatyou normally won't see. And it's
precision behind the hand ofGod, and I have it very hidden
is because I don't like toimpose religion on anybody. I
just want it to be extremely lowkey, because my faith or my
family's faith, it's about Zenis about peace, it's about
(25:44):
tranquility, it has nothing todo with essentially will all we
want is like peace, and theability to be able to provide
for ourselves and other people.
That's kind of what my mom doesall day, now that she was
retired, that she just take careof people and in the form of
some type of charity, that'swhat I look up to, that there is
symbolic of my mom, and herdevout faith to Buddhism. And
(26:05):
the teaching that that sheinstilled in all of us is just
like, life is just full ofcosmic forces. So just go out
into the world and do good. Andthat's all you can really ask.
And don't ask for nothing inreturn. Just do it. And that's
kind of business saying inVietnamese is call Look, don't
buy take karma take karma todefeat talent. That's kinda like
(26:29):
an old ancient saying, inVietnam that, you know, comma,
without, without do or talentany day. And you know what I was
thinking about this, as you weretelling me the stories of your
restaurants and the struggles inthe beginning and the success
that you've had. That is trulykarma. There's no question in my
mind that you have amazingkarma. I could just feel it. As
(26:51):
you're sharing these stories.
I'm like, you're doing theseamazing things. I gotta say
this. So if you are listeningright now, and you're in
Seattle, or the Seattle area, oryou're coming to Seattle, you
have to go see anchovies, andsalt. You have to experience
this amazing restaurant in thisamazing Vietnamese culture and
food. Thank you so much. Thelast thing is just the north end
(27:14):
of the restaurant is dedicatedinto three rooms. They are like
beautiful private rooms, orpublic because we're overflow to
sit in there. And it's meant torepresent Hanoi, SAPA and Halong
Bay, and it's just symbolic ofthe geography and the culture. I
never thought in my wildestdream that northern food will be
(27:34):
my favorite food on Earth. Rightbeing that I'm from the south
Asia is mind blowing, finally,visit Hanoi coming back many
times. And wow, there's like allof this has been kept from me
all my life. People telling menot to go here. That the food's
Wow. And I'm like, Wow, thisthing is amazing. It just the
(27:57):
weather is nice, certain timesthat the year you're in June and
July is hot as hell yeah. Itjust full of mountains and
lakes. So Hanoi is beautiful.
Saba, which I haven't even got achance to go to yet. But the
pictures are so mesmerizing,that it's like mountains and
mountains of rice. Like you saymountains rise, you wouldn't
think that rice grows onmountain men. My people carve
(28:18):
the side of a mountain to grow.
Right? Wow. I don't know howthat's like, I can't even fathom
that as a child. How is thateven practical? How do you get
water irrigation to go up ahill? Or is there any source of
water from the top to even beable to do this? And it's just
(28:40):
mind boggling. That can be athing because I grew up in a
rice paddy field in SouthVietnam. And it was always flat.
SAPA is like really, reallyingrained in my mind. And I want
to visit it very soon. And thenHalong Bay, which is a biggest
room in the north end. And it'sall it has its own private
entry, its waterfront, it hasthe screens for you to do
(29:02):
corporate and family dinner, andit's beautiful. And I have my
uncle just drew like a humongouseight by 10. Eight by 12
painting of Halloween. Oh mygod. He's an artist. He's like
80 years old from France. And hebuilt he drew this amazing art.
Wow. Most people don't knowthat. Halong Bay is like, it's
considered the eighth wonder ofthe world. Yeah, it's a natural
(29:25):
wonder, like, unlike anythingthat you ever seen over 1600
Island, in a bag. Oh, my gosh,beautiful and tranquil. And I
believe that it's already aWorld Heritage Site. It's
protected by the globalcommunity. It can't be taught
people are living on floatingcities. And you just I don't
know. I went there for like oneday and I feel like I need to be
(29:47):
out there for like, a whole yearto be able to touch every corner
of it to see like, this thing iscrazy. I'm adding it to a bucket
list. I'm adding it to my bucketlist. I think it's the eighth
wonder of the world.
It should be everybody's bucketlist. I went there and I was
just canoeing around and I'mgoing into from one caves over
to the next lagoon. It's likeyou going from lagoon to Lagoon
(30:11):
by going under a rock. It's sohard to conceptualize with the
mind, every picture that I lookonline, it just doesn't do it
justice, because it's so farranging that no one can take a
picture, right? You need apicture from an airplane when
there's when the day and theclouds are absolutely clear for
you to kind of see what 1600islands in a day, you know, so I
(30:33):
really want people to reallywalk the whole restaurant, and
allows them to kind of betransported to visit. Yeah,
that's amazing. I just My wifeis an artist and she was blown
away by the art and the carethat you put into the design. I
mean, you can really see it.
It's not a typical restaurant.
It's a true experience. So howcan our listeners connect with
(30:55):
you? How do we find you online?
How do we get to yourrestaurant? How do we experience
anchovies salt, just check usout on Instagram or on on our
website. I'm always looking atthe emails come directly to me.
I'm simply one email a phonecall away even when I'm at the
restaurant. What's your email,Quinn at anchovies and salt.com.
He's also going to have a guestpage on our voice for chefs
(31:18):
website. I can't thank youenough for being a guest for
sure in your culture, yourjourney. You are truly a voice
for chefs and a voice forVietnam. Thank you, sir. Thank
you. Welcome back to part two,as we follow along Quinn's
journey and explore Vietnameseculture and cuisine
Welcome back to part two, as we follow along Quyen's
(00:03):
journey and explore Vietnameseculture and cuisine. Let's talk
a little bit about your dishes.
So can you tell me what dishesare the most popular right now
among your customers? Wow,that's a loaded question. It is
of northern Thailand, which is asalty sofa
Quyền Phan (00:22):
inspired by fat tin in Hanoi, which is a well for
context. Fall originated inHanoi and not in Hanoi itself.
Legends is that it originatedfrom Nam Ditton, which is a town
where my culinary directors fromhe created a recipe that is
inspired by Fortson, which wentviral. And it's like very
(00:45):
popular right now in Hanoi. Theydo a salt a steak, and they eat
it with onions white got like aheap in full bowl of onions and
idea. We I tried it and I reallyliked it. I said, Wow, this is
actually one of the few northernfar that I really enjoy, because
northern fall tend to be verylight, delicate, but also MSG
(01:10):
heavy as opposed to bone broth,heavy, Southern fall tends to be
very fatty, it has more whatthey call nuke mill on the top,
okay, whereas Northern, youwon't see the fat condensing or
coagulating on top of the brothinteresting. So therefore, they
eat it quickly. There's nobeansprout there's no bean
basil. There's not a lot of sighveggies. Matter of fact that
(01:33):
sigh veggies is often pickledgarlic, red chilies. And that's
kind of what I've known sinceI've been to Hanoi pretty much
every single file in Seattle forthe last 30 years sells a
southern farm even if yourrestaurant is named fallback,
for example, which is one of thebest restaurants in Seattle for
(01:53):
the last 40 years. They sellsouthern fun, they don't sell
Northern. Okay. The name itselfis North translated to North Ah,
but they couldn't sell anorthern far because the palate
of everybody here southern I gotit. Okay. So when we started
selling northern far two monthsago, I've seen everybody just
drink the whole bowl of soup. Tobe fair, we serve a small bowl.
(02:16):
So if people like it, they woulddrink up everything. I mean,
pretty much every bowl I've seenhas pretty much gone empty.
Because people really enjoyedsoup, enjoy something that's
different. On top of that, weuse a fresh fall noodle, which
everybody has really notgravitated to, or moved to yet
because fresh fall noodleswasn't always available in
Seattle. It's always like adehydrated version that you
(02:38):
rehydrate in boiling water notfresh. So the texture the
chewiness the consistency isvery different than fresh file.
Okay, for example, for Boxty weuse it a dehydrated file Venus
on my flagship brand, all fiveof my location, we still use the
hydrated file, right? It's justeasier to do and it's a lot less
(02:59):
expensive. Sure, we are going tomove to fresh fried noodles in
2024 which is like right now youknow people is going to be very
surprised me like well, how comethis doesn't look like anything
that I've had in a long time.
Now without noodles in SouthSanta introduced it like about
three, four years back when theymade it in house. It's something
that is trending peopleunderstand that a there's such a
thing as a different type offall noodles is flat. And in
(03:23):
speaking of fun, who knows a lotof people including like half of
my community don't realize thatfall is not a soup that fall is
a rice pasta, okay? It hasnothing to do with the soup
itself. The the first soupitself just happens to be the
most popular version of itright? That's just like you eat
(03:44):
in 10 different form of pasta,some of it might be baked like a
lasagna. And some of it might besaute. Some of it might be
poached or steam, whatever itmight be. That leads me to my
poly this one of my most populardishes is a deep fry Fabula Oh
interesting, which is a sheet offar cut into ravioli size Okay,
and deep fry into a puffy barpuffy square of fall noodles and
(04:09):
topped with sauteed mustardgreen and steak and onions. Oh
my gosh, I've never heard ofthat. That sounds amazing. It's
eaten with a pineapple fishsauce. Wow. And papaya pickles
and I found that in aneighborhood called Kong Musa in
less Hanoi. So how bad is likeon the southern tip of Westlake
(04:31):
and Westlake is one of thebiggest lake in Hanoi Okay, and
on the southeast corner which iswhere renting is renting is in
the southeast corner of LakeWashington and then this
neighborhood they selleverything that is far except
the suit. Oh, wow. Okay, yeah,you can have stir fry. You can
have egg noodle fall noodle deepfry with egg batter. You can
(04:52):
have deep fried pho pillowswhich is what I my favorite
thing. You can have steamedpho rolls the whole sheet just
roll with steak and basil insidethat neighborhood people
congregate there just for that.
That's kind of like the foodscene in Vietnam is like one
person does something reallywell. There's like 10s and
(05:14):
millions of people in in Hanoior in Saigon. So they will
congregate to one street. Oh, tomake sure that street become
known for this street isFreifunk. This street is
pharmaceuticals. This tree is byme it becomes like a full a
small neighborhood of one singlething almost Yeah. And there's
enough population to kind ofsupport that concept of lung.
(05:37):
Why are we are opening rightnext door to each other and
selling the same exact thing.
The fry for pillows is reallyhard to do, you won't find
anybody doing. I haven't foundanybody in the United States
that have done it. It justrecently kind of migrated to Ho
Chi Minh City or Saigon. Butpeople don't do it. The concept
of it to do it probably takeyears to master Wow. And we only
(05:57):
offer it for dinner and offerfor lunch. Okay, because lunch
is slower, and it allows us thetime to do a dinner crowd is too
much. So we do not offer fivepillows, I'm gonna have to come
in and try it. You've reallycaptured my palate. I can't even
tell you the way you describedit. I'm like, Yeah, I'm craving
that. I gotta try it. It'sdefinitely one of our signature
(06:20):
dishes. I know, northern dishes.
So we have a good five, sixsignature from the north, a good
four or five signature fromcentral Vietnam. Our executive
chef is from central Vietnam, myculinary director who lives in
Vietnam. That's amazing. He'sfrom London, which is the origin
of it. But he lives in Saigonnow okay, and he consult on all
(06:44):
of the dishes because he justhas an amazing palette. I love
it. And then a lot of the saucesand recipe from the south is my
mom's recipe. So we we try torepresent all three regions.
Even the restaurant is built outin three regions and our
restaurant is like 200 feet longthat runs north and south.
Unknown (07:03):
In the US, is that right?
Quyền Phan (07:08):
It is the largest Vietnamese restaurant on Earth
outside of it now. Oh my gosh,from all of our research maximum
capacity of 441 11,000 squarefeet inside outside. I didn't
attempt for it to be that way.
It just it came naturally. Wow.
So the only thing that we knowof is Samsung and oh Kim Sung in
(07:29):
Houston. They have threelocations that are like a fake
banquet halls that are like over20,000 square feet. The name is
Vietnamese, but their food isanchored by Vietnamese, Chinese
and sometimes Japanese food forme personally when I made that
statement, I don't think if yousell Chinese food, then you can
claim your restaurant as being aVietnamese restaurant. Because
(07:49):
you need another culture to kindof help fill the space right?
You have Chinese restaurants areabundant. But if you had to put
Chinese food into a Vietnameserestaurant, I think that
automatically in my mind justdisqualifies them as being a
Vietnamese exclusivelyVietnamese restaurant. So two
more quick food questions. Whatunusual dish Should I order from
(08:09):
your menu for dinner all thesides we have a villagers pork
belly, which is basically baconlemongrass and shrimp paste one
of the most nostalgic thing youcan eat from the enemy's food it
resonate with North South andCentral Vietnamese being that it
just a goes like a teeny bit ofit can feed a whole family if
(08:30):
you eat it with white rice,right? Our culture is very rice
centric.
Like we sell Vietnamese familydinner, which is highly
encouraged to be balanced withveggies, savory food, rice and
soup. It has to be a combinationof everything. Sometimes I will
have somebody sit there and eatup a clay pot. Black Cod that is
(08:52):
that is very savory. Yes withoutrights without anything, right?
And I'm like, Oh no, that's notthat's not going to be balanced.
or somebody's eating a sour soupby itself. When it's meant to be
shared with five differentpeople. I see the thing that I
am most proud of. We sell athing called the forbidden
eggplant not fermented eggplantpickled eggplant sometime
(09:15):
lightly just toss in avinaigrette. Yes, obliged us but
dipped in a shrimp paste andadded it was delicious. I
remember that we have both theoption of northern and southern
shrimp base in our culturegrowing up in the United States
this negative stigma to itsmells so bad. Our parents, our
(09:35):
friends, everybody would beafraid to bring it to school.
Like you wouldn't put that inyour lunchbox Sure. It is never
in my life. Have I've seen itserve in a Vietnamese
restaurant. Okay, but it's verytasty. Yes, it's full of it's
made out of shrimp salt inNepali MSG, all right. The fact
that we put it on the menu andwe feature it proudly on our
(09:58):
sauce bar is because we areI'm apologetically authentic.
We're not going to apologize forwhat we love. So we put it front
and center. I mean, if you can'tstand the smell, if you can't
stand the flavor, then we aredefinitely not, it's definitely
not something you should try. Weare so inclusive is that,
because we know that the menuranges the opposite end of the
(10:18):
spectrum is we have Wagyu beefskewers with North Vietnamese
pepper, something that thatalmost everybody loves, because
who doesn't love wagyu steak ona steak? Oh my gosh, we have
sizzling steak and eggs. We havethe short ribs, which is brace
and fast spices and finish offon the grill. Probably our
(10:39):
number one seller I had the musaid try this. And I did. And oh
my god, that was unbelievablygood. That that is probably
going to be our number oneseller for a long, long time,
along with the fact that they'rethe only complaint I've ever
heard about that it might be alittle bit too fatty. In two
months, we probably sold 1000sof those short ribs already. We
(10:59):
can audit quickly enough. Wow.
And that's like, and I almostrefrain from encouraging that
dish. Yeah, because that's kindof like one of the very few
dishes that is modern. Okay,it's my take on everyone put in
short ribs and they're far soit's like we're this far is too
big. How can we put it in abowl, if this short rib is too
(11:20):
big to be put in a bowl, weinstead of putting the rib into
the fall? We put the fall intothe rib? So we cook it in for
spyshots. Okay, and we justinfused far flavor into the
short ribs. It was my culinarydirectors idea. I told him Look,
everybody selling short ribs.
He's like, Yeah, but I hate theway they do it. I love that
(11:42):
sometime. It looks like a dogbone inside a ball. Yeah,
there's no love into it. He'slike, I think I am going to do
something different. Yeah, whenhe presented it to me, and I ate
it. I started texting on my myteam. I said, this is the best
thing I've eaten in 40 years.
I've kind of gotten almost sickof it. Because I've eaten it
barley like oh my god 100 timesin the last five, six months of
(12:05):
r&d in it. But it's so good.
That's how many times I'veemailed. It almost takes us away
from our purpose, you know,right. All Purpose introduced
culture and soul into Vietnamesefood. Oh, I love that. That is
so amazing. Because you did youreally did. I mean, from my
perspective, and my wife'sperspective that keeps us coming
back. We have so much I like totell people audience, anybody's
(12:26):
like, look, I will alwaysguaranteed that if you try
something you don't like it's onthe house. And they say, well,
we don't want to do that wedon't want to, we don't want to
feel like we're robbing you orcheating you. So now you
actually are helping me becauseif you like every single dish on
the menu, which is going to berare, but if you like 60 70% of
the menu, as opposed to just onedish that you always go to,
(12:50):
you're going to come back to myrestaurant many more times. You
come three times. But I want youto eat three different things
every single time. And that isgoing to make you come back for
me so much more my businessmodel. Yeah, I always want to
guarantee the food, right. Andwe have a Vietnamese brunch and
lunch menu that is so inclusiveof North Central and South
(13:12):
Vietnam. And then people comefor dinner. It's like, well, I
want to eat that breakfast dish.
And I'm sorry, do you go to theMetropolitan grill and ask him
if they have bacon and egg butthen Oh, could they do you like
an egg omelet and French toastfor dinner? Every culture has
different aspects of a food.
Yeah. And we want to introduce abrunch culture and lunch
(13:33):
culture, a street food cultureand a dinner culture. Right. And
I have to coach on my owncommunity with that. It's like
they come in and they're like,Well, why don't you guys have
been well, why? Or why don't youguys offer steak and eggs for
dinner. I'm like I am offeringyou family meal, which has not
exist in Seattle for the lastsince 1975 When the first
(13:56):
Vietnamese might be boughtmigrated. Wow, no one has so
family food and is so unique,but they are so used to fun.
Like they said, Oh, even thoughI'm Vietnamese I came here for
fun only. This is Vietnamesefamily meal. Yeah, this is the
stuff I want you to eat. This isthe stuff that I want you to
bring your mom and I want you towrite home about I want you to
(14:18):
bring in your friends tointroduce them to a completely
different part of the culturethat has never been highlighted.
And I want it to put it on thelargest stage possible to
understand what Vietnamesedinner looks like. And I want
Vietnamese family to sit downand finally eat a family meal
again part of the culture that'sbeen forgotten because everybody
(14:39):
sits at the table with an iPhoneand an iPad. True. I feel like
if the food is good enough, itwill stop you from playing with
your phone. It will stop youfrom taking pictures even Yeah,
I was so happy this morning whenI saw a post on on the foodie
group. It just it was all inwords is that oh my goodness.
(15:00):
My culinary experience atanchovies was mind boggling. And
I don't have any pictures toprove it. Oh, wow. You know,
because I ate it all too fast.
And I want to thank the creatorsof Seattle, the Seattle foodies
group, because that's how I metyou. That's how I found out that
you were open. And that's how Ithought I got to have them come
on the show, I gotta have themshared a story. They are by far
my favorite group I've ever beena part of. It's incredible,
(15:23):
extremely positive. They don'tfilter anything until it goes by
weight. So when I post it showsup for restaurant, they allow
restaurant to post one times amonth, and most restaurants
don't even knew that becausethey are afraid of spamming
people. Right? Right. So it'svery respectful. In terms of the
restaurant community. They'regood guys. Like when I tried to
(15:44):
pose I want it to be education,because it's this such part of
the community that they don'tknow what Vietnamese steak and
eggs is like. They don't knowthat we have pate in it because
we was colonized by the Frenchfor 100 years. Okay, that we've
been making Vietnamese parte for200 years now. Wow. And it's
like Vietnamese, by today isgoing to be so different than
(16:06):
French, right? They don't knowthat Vietnamese culture. We are.
We have a lot of head cheese.
Right? Yeah. Which if somepeople don't know, cheeses, it's
like a hammer most right? I can,like put together with fat and
all of the best part of the pigand make it into a meat cheese.
(16:26):
Right? You got nothing to dowith dairy. But it's still call
head cheese, right. But there'sa big part of my community that
has never seen head cheese.
If I was to put it on the menuthat only their mom would
appreciate it.
So, you know, it's the amount ofpositive energy that has
(16:47):
resonated out of the diningexperience at the table. It's
been amazing. It's that's whyI'm at the table all the time,
because I needed them to see myperspective on why I did so that
they don't draw their ownconclusions. So it's been a
blessing, to have time andhealth. Just to be at the table
side to kind of say hi to everYeah, I'm coming through the
(17:10):
restaurant, right? Just imagineI'm walking. I park I come down.
I'm looking at the waterfrontand I walk into this beautiful
restaurant. come walking in yourrestaurant, what do I see? I
built it to represent family andbuilt it to represent more
importantly culture. I built itto represent Vietnam. Yep.
Geographically, culturally,family food when you walk into a
(17:33):
doors, probably the biggest doorof any Vietnamese restaurant you
will ever see. And it'shandcrafted by me and myself and
my own team out of tea, righttick is a hot word found in
Southeast Asia and found inVietnam, very prized, and it's
gonna hold up to the element.
It's a what you call it a pivotdoor. It's humongous, but it's
people friendly. It's very easyto open and immediately when you
(17:56):
go in the grandiose size of thewaiting area is like 20 feet
high with anchovies. And so onthe left Yeah, because I wanted
a background for people toremember that they just enter
anchovies and so and on theright we have beautiful woodwork
with that represent thecraftsmanship and the love that
we put into this and ourhostesses are wearing
(18:16):
traditional Vietnamese iei whichis the national dress of Vietnam
Yes, it's also symbolic made outof oyster shells and sea shells
on all of our ingrained into allof our tables. That's the first
thing I want people to know thatthis is Vietnamese traditional
this is what we were right infront of you as you hit it
you're gonna be stopped by thishumongous four foot why Onyx? J
(18:38):
this jade is abundant in centralVietnam. And it's like a gateway
to your house. It brings energyinto good energy into the
restaurant growing up Buddhists.
I want my space to be Zen to bewelcoming to be warm. Yes, I
have a huge shelf that displayVietnamese culture right behind
(19:01):
it. I wanted it to be toned downbecause I want it to not not to
be the only story that was toldon your right hand side you see
this water dragon so my son hasZodiac is in his element is the
water dragon. Wow. Just likeGreek mythology and every
mythology, he anchors myinfrastructure because we are on
(19:21):
the lake. And just imagine wehave 200 lineal feet of
waterfront with 100 seatsoutdoor, and my son and I we
share a super special bond, wehave the same burden. Oh, we
have the same birthmark. Andhe's like an identical clone. If
cloning was about, I don't knowhow that is even possible. So I
always like to think that I'mbeyond blessed. Right? Yeah. And
(19:44):
I will always answer everyquestion of how you is because I
have really nothing to complainabout. So on the right of that
we have the whole main banquetroom is anchored by him and it's
the Saigon room. It anchorssouthern Vietnam.
With beautiful architecture,everything is handcrafted wood,
it's 100% Cherry, our office isgoing up the stairs is going to
(20:08):
be the employees office, it'ssome of the remnants that I kept
from the previousinfrastructure. So I kept it
there and I built wooden screensaround it really make it look
like it's, it's southernVietnam. So when you go towards
your love, you're gonna see amural with the hand of God on
it. The hand of God is a bridgein BANA hills in SunWorld. In
(20:30):
Vietnam, and it's they call theofficial name is the golden
bridge, okay? Like the GoldenGate Bridge, but it connects to,
to mountain side. And it so it'svery symbolic. It's crazy to see
that two hands coming out of themountain holding up a bridge.
And the artists that Icommissioned has been Amis
artists. And he immediately hesaw it as a bridge of culture,
(20:55):
right, just bridge in the northand the south bridge in Seattle
with Vietnam. Like it's acultural bridge. So, so the
first thing he did was like,he's like, let me draw this on a
napkin. And he made it into ananchovy. Oh my gosh, he's like,
bro, you are using this tinylittle fish to bridge a
humongous gap in culturalunderstand. Wow, enlightening
(21:19):
not only myself, but just theculture put in and highlight and
Vietnamese fish sauce. Anchoviespays on the map, something so
insignificant yet it's thebackbone of conversation. This.
It's the bridge between now andthen. So it's like, man, it took
this guy a minute to puttogether this message that I've
(21:41):
been dreaming about for like,Oh, that is incredible. Yep. So
I instantly instantly said yesto it. And so that's why you see
this giant hands holding upanchovies. And I call it the
banana kitchen. Because the townis called mana hills. And it's
in central Vietnam. And thenwhen you look to your left, we
(22:01):
have this beautiful teal bluebar, because it's a reflection
of a dining which is a beachtown in Vietnam in central
Vietnam, which is like 30minutes from by now you just
traveling through Vietnam. Now,all of our doors are my folding.
So they it's like accordiondoors that open, the whole
restaurant will open up to thewaterfront. And this bar is like
(22:24):
a tiki bar that you can walk upto from the water. So when you
walk through the bar, andtowards the north end, you will
enter who I am. Who I am is anancient city right next to
Danang, it's only 30 minutesaway. It's one of my favorite
city on Earth. And it's UNESCOprotected high end is an ancient
trade import for Vietnam, China,Japan, France, it's untouchable
(22:49):
because the world has chosen toprotect it. And it's a UNESCO
protected site. And I built itout to look exactly like the way
home and would look in a privateroom with lanterns and color
scheme plant life. It's like Iwant you to be Trent transported
into a whole tropical world.
That is who I am.
(23:11):
Yeah, I have a painting there. Ibought 20 years ago for my dad
at Zodiac is it's embroider bysome blind kids in a school and
a tiger. So the tiger representmy dad because he's like a
Liberian. He reads a lot. He'svery educated. Yet he's never
taken any chances in life. Otherthan the fact that he brought us
(23:34):
to the United States. That washis biggest accomplishment,
right? bringing us to the UnitedStates and just working his butt
off in a factory day and nightso that he can afford to build
Wow. So he was able to bring mywhole family eventually on nine
kids to come to the UnitedStates. And not once did he have
a chance to spread his wings. SoI have him just chillin are just
(23:55):
inside this library that isconsider her and that's just my
tribute to to, to hissacrifices. Go on outside. I
have two more pillars that isalso drawn by those either the
artists like the foundation ofmy infrastructure is my youngest
son who is a ox. He's a golden,my wife who is the goat they
(24:16):
anchor infrastructure and theydon't really get the limelight.
My wife, she's not fancy. Shedoesn't show up about anything.
I feel like they all are myfoundation. And then above the
Nang is the hallway lounge. Sohey, is where my wife is from.
My executive chef is somewherein the hallway is the ancient
(24:38):
capital city of it. Wow. Theactual palace. We call it that
in a way or the Imperial Palace.
My wife lives like five minutesaway. I may the whole room feel
like it was Imperial Vietnam,from the woodwork to the
craftsmanship. It needed toreflect what I understood about
Vietnam.
(25:00):
I'm about the ancient times. AndI don't have a deep history
lessons of sure, but I did mybest. So it's been very well
received probably everybody'sfavorite room beyond the
homeland, because it has thewhole water view 50 feet of
water, wow, on that room. Sogoing down the stairs, you're
(25:20):
gonna see like in front of youa, like a Buddha, a gigantic
Buddha floating on a bridge thatyou normally won't see. And it's
precision behind the hand ofGod, and I have it very hidden
is because I don't like toimpose religion on anybody. I
just want it to be extremely lowkey, because my faith or my
family's faith, it's about Zenis about peace, it's about
(25:44):
tranquility, it has nothing todo with essentially will all we
want is like peace, and theability to be able to provide
for ourselves and other people.
That's kind of what my mom doesall day, now that she was
retired, that she just take careof people and in the form of
some type of charity, that'swhat I look up to, that there is
symbolic of my mom, and herdevout faith to Buddhism. And
(26:05):
the teaching that that sheinstilled in all of us is just
like, life is just full ofcosmic forces. So just go out
into the world and do good. Andthat's all you can really ask.
And don't ask for nothing inreturn. Just do it. And that's
kind of business saying inVietnamese is call Look, don't
buy take karma take karma todefeat talent. That's kinda like
(26:29):
an old ancient saying, inVietnam that, you know, comma,
without, without do or talentany day. And you know what I was
thinking about this, as you weretelling me the stories of your
restaurants and the struggles inthe beginning and the success
that you've had. That is trulykarma. There's no question in my
mind that you have amazingkarma. I could just feel it. As
(26:51):
you're sharing these stories.
I'm like, you're doing theseamazing things. I gotta say
this. So if you are listeningright now, and you're in
Seattle, or the Seattle area, oryou're coming to Seattle, you
have to go see anchovies, andsalt. You have to experience
this amazing restaurant in thisamazing Vietnamese culture and
food. Thank you so much. Thelast thing is just the north end
(27:14):
of the restaurant is dedicatedinto three rooms. They are like
beautiful private rooms, orpublic because we're overflow to
sit in there. And it's meant torepresent Hanoi, SAPA and Halong
Bay, and it's just symbolic ofthe geography and the culture. I
never thought in my wildestdream that northern food will be
(27:34):
my favorite food on Earth. Rightbeing that I'm from the south
Asia is mind blowing, finally,visit Hanoi coming back many
times. And wow, there's like allof this has been kept from me
all my life. People telling menot to go here. That the food's
Wow. And I'm like, Wow, thisthing is amazing. It just the
(27:57):
weather is nice, certain timesthat the year you're in June and
July is hot as hell yeah. Itjust full of mountains and
lakes. So Hanoi is beautiful.
Saba, which I haven't even got achance to go to yet. But the
pictures are so mesmerizing,that it's like mountains and
mountains of rice. Like you saymountains rise, you wouldn't
think that rice grows onmountain men. My people carve
(28:18):
the side of a mountain to grow.
Right? Wow. I don't know howthat's like, I can't even fathom
that as a child. How is thateven practical? How do you get
water irrigation to go up ahill? Or is there any source of
water from the top to even beable to do this? And it's just
(28:40):
mind boggling. That can be athing because I grew up in a
rice paddy field in SouthVietnam. And it was always flat.
SAPA is like really, reallyingrained in my mind. And I want
to visit it very soon. And thenHalong Bay, which is a biggest
room in the north end. And it'sall it has its own private
entry, its waterfront, it hasthe screens for you to do
(29:02):
corporate and family dinner, andit's beautiful. And I have my
uncle just drew like a humongouseight by 10. Eight by 12
painting of Halloween. Oh mygod. He's an artist. He's like
80 years old from France. And hebuilt he drew this amazing art.
Wow. Most people don't knowthat. Halong Bay is like, it's
considered the eighth wonder ofthe world. Yeah, it's a natural
(29:25):
wonder, like, unlike anythingthat you ever seen over 1600
Island, in a bag. Oh, my gosh,beautiful and tranquil. And I
believe that it's already aWorld Heritage Site. It's
protected by the globalcommunity. It can't be taught
people are living on floatingcities. And you just I don't
know. I went there for like oneday and I feel like I need to be
(29:47):
out there for like, a whole yearto be able to touch every corner
of it to see like, this thing iscrazy. I'm adding it to a bucket
list. I'm adding it to my bucketlist. I think it's the eighth
wonder of the world.
It should be everybody's bucketlist. I went there and I was
just canoeing around and I'mgoing into from one caves over
to the next lagoon. It's likeyou going from lagoon to Lagoon
(30:11):
by going under a rock. It's sohard to conceptualize with the
mind, every picture that I lookonline, it just doesn't do it
justice, because it's so farranging that no one can take a
picture, right? You need apicture from an airplane when
there's when the day and theclouds are absolutely clear for
you to kind of see what 1600islands in a day, you know, so I
(30:33):
really want people to reallywalk the whole restaurant, and
allows them to kind of betransported to visit. Yeah,
that's amazing. I just My wifeis an artist and she was blown
away by the art and the carethat you put into the design. I
mean, you can really see it.
It's not a typical restaurant.
It's a true experience. So howcan our listeners connect with
(30:55):
you? How do we find you online?
How do we get to yourrestaurant? How do we experience
anchovies salt, just check usout on Instagram or on on our
website. I'm always looking atthe emails come directly to me.
I'm simply one email a phonecall away even when I'm at the
restaurant. What's your email,Quinn at anchovies and salt.com.
He's also going to have a guestpage on our voice for chefs
(31:18):
website. I can't thank youenough for being a guest for
sure in your culture, yourjourney. You are truly a voice
for chefs and a voice forVietnam. Thank you, sir. Thank
you. Welcome back to part two,as we follow along Quinn's
journey and explore Vietnameseculture and cuisine
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