Today I tried the BEP Vietnamese Kitchen Brunch – a pop-up just a hop, and a skip away from home.
Connie Tran is the chef (Zov’s in Tustin, Cafe D’Orient in Orange) and she serves up 8-course bi-weekly brunches at Franco on Melrose. It’s BYOB and there was a wine pairing list sent over yesterday to go with our meal.
My favorite dishes were the soup (bun rieu: minced crab & egg dumplings, tofu cafe, vermicelli in tamarand tomato broth served with threaded water spinach, bean sprouts, red cabbage, lemon balm) and the ice cream sandwich (ca rem dua: coconut lime ice cream, chili sesame cookies). There was also a spam sandwich (don’t hate- it was delish!), bo la lot: grilled beef wrapped in betel leaf, and cha ca thanh long: turmeric catfish, wilted dill, scallions.
Reservations are made via email and if you’re late you’ll miss any food that has already been served – so don’t be! They also have a little “market” that has Pho ingredients, Viet Ice Coffee ingredients and t-shirts that say Hon the cook (kiss the cook!).
ps: hey guys, i’m back after an accidental vacation. 
