The shopping centers of Westminster and Garden Grove often feel like their own cities. Even the smallest malls are densely populated with stores supplying everything you might need to survive the apocalypse. There’s Hanoi plaza, a compact center with its own ecosystem of pho, an herb shop, a vegetarian restaurant, fried chicken, a place to buy a mobile phone, a bakery and feng shui store.
Just across the street is Bolsa Plaza, with not one, but two beauty supply stores, a pharmacy, a salon that specializes in lashes and a restaurant that boasts stellar bun bo hue. You could spend an entire week eating along this specific stretch of Bolsa Avenue, between Magnolia and Euclid streets, and barely scratch the surface. On a recent Saturday, I packed my cooler for leftovers and decided to try.
I chose three restaurants in the area, plus a tea shop and a market to visit in a single afternoon. First stop: Chicken wings at Mama Hieu’s The first time I had Mama Hieu’s , it was outside of Nho Thi Le and her son Jimmy Le’s Garden Grove home. After losing their restaurant jobs in March 2020, the two decided to start a small catering operation out of their backyard.
They mostly made large trays of the Vietnamese garlic butter chicken wings Nho Thi is known for at family gatherings. Now, the family has a restaurant in the Hanoi plaza with a small dining room. I arrived just after opening to a line out the door and every seat taken.
I watched as dozens of cars pulled up to pick up lar.