A Daughter Honors Her Mother’s Dreams at This New SGV Vietnamese Restaurant | Eater LA
"Tucked in the corner of a parking lot shared with a Circle-K at 1 East Hellman Avenue and surrounded by a mini-garden Lani Nguyen planted, I find the Alhambra outpost—opened in late October by Hanli Su as an outlet for her mother Lani Nguyen’s passions—to be vastly different from the Gardena and Little Tokyo locations. Inside, a bakery case displays Nguyen’s colorful macarons and ornate moon cakes flavored with matcha and Godiva chocolate and hand-painted with edible gold, and she painted the floor-to-ceiling mural of a vase of flowers at the entrance. Though the menu is purposely pared-down and still includes familiar dishes like oxtail pho and shrimp spring rolls, Nguyen uses this location to cook the creative dishes she’s always wanted, such as periwinkle-hued sticky rice (soaked in butterfly pea flowers) with Chinese sausage, house-made pork sung, marinated shiitake mushrooms, and soft-boiled then deep-fried eggs, plus a crispy mushroom tempura she often prepares in a Buddhist temple in Corona. Pho Ever is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–4 p.m. and 5 p.m.–8:30 p.m." - Jean Trinh