9 Roses

Last night I had the pleasure of dining at Hoa Hong 9 Roses. I've been wanting to eat at this restaurant for a few years and with our other favorite Vietnamese restaurants still out of comission our friend Heather made the brilliant suggestion that a bunch of us go.

9 Roses is physically the largest Vietnamese restuarant I've been to in the city. It's huge, nearly banquet hall sized, with giant tables set up with lazy susans and occupied almost entirely by Asian families out for a big dinner. Like the restaurant itself, the menu is enormous. There must be at least 150 items on the menu and choosing what to order is a daunting task.

After much deliberation I finally settled on the Crepe appetizer, a large egg crepe filled with herbs, chicken, and mung bean sprouts, a bowl of some of the best Pho I've ever had and delicious ground pork balls which were grilled and served with pickled carrots, various herbs, lettuce, peanut sauce and spring roll wrappers. The resulting rolls had some of the best flavor contrasts I've enjoyed in a while.

The plates came out in waves and everyone at the table shared. I was able to constantly sample all kinds of different treats including delicious spring rolls, a fantastic sweet and sour catfish soup, chinese broccoli with ginger and grilled lemongrass and sweet onion Bun.

It was so nice to experience authentic Vietnamese flavors again, something that I have come to associate with living in New Orleans but has been lost to me since the storm. 9 Roses is a new favorite and I foresee many pleasant evenings spent there in the near future.

Comments

[shanna]

You are right Jonah-That dinner was indeed a delight! A new favorite for sure. Thanks Heather!

[oscar]

Jonah, you might like Kim's in Marrero. Also, Tan Dinh in Gretna, although I boycotted them for a while because they were rude. My caucasian bruthas and sistas seem to like Tan Dinh so I guess I'll let them slide. Kim's has been open for a very long time, even when most Americans considered Vietnamese food full of cat and dog meat.

[ryan]

Jonah, you need to go out to the vietnamese places in Michoud if you haven't. There are like 15 in one strip. I haven't been there since but they definitely got the goods. Also, two words: Taqueria Sanchez.

[oscar]

I agree with Ryan, although the pho bang there isn't quite as good as the one on Manhattan Blvd., but maybe they have different cooks.

For hurricane Lily my roomie and I hunted for food throughout the city with little luck. I called the Pho Bang and they said they were keeping regular hours. We bravely (or foolishly) drove through the flooded streets from Robert E. Lee to Versailles to get our beef noodle soup goodness! Btw, you know it's good pho when they have tripe and all the other nasty stuff in it! It gives the soup flavor!

[Jonah]

Yeah, I agree Oscar. The 9 Roses Pho had tripes, tendon and little sausage balls as well as the normal strips of beef. It was so delicious, though I only ate one piece of tripe. I simply cannot stomach the texture although I know it adds some of the flavor complexity to the soup.

Ryan, I'm stoked about the Metairie Taco Truck. I'm going to hit it up this week. Also, I didn't get a chance to check out the book this weekend. You should probably just go ahead and put it out.

[chomps]

for real vietnamese food you need to go to Mission Street in San Fran. I am a huge pho fan and what I had in Madison Wisconsin and San Fran is so much better than what we have here or did have here. Michoud blvd was the best in the city but to my knowledge that is now an empty street of destruction.

[Jonah]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure the Vietnamese is good in SF but ours is the real deal as well. 9 Roses is the best I've ever had.

[CHOMPS]

I have never been so I cant compare. But the quality in san fran and the amazing weird cow parts that were available were over the top. Everything fresh and super spicy. It made pho bang look like a fast food joint.

[Jonah]

That's it, we're going!