Howard C.
Yelp
I've been wanting to try this place for months. I have no idea when it is open; my wife happened to see it on Bluesky or something so we took off for lunch. Glad we did.
5 stars just for the quality of the brisket. The thing that's amazing, if you cook brisket yourself, is the quality of the trim. A uniformly thin 1/8" layer of fat cap on every piece. No idea how they do it but it's exceptional, just at the right thickness to render properly.
The brisket is top tier, maybe the second such brisket I've had in the area like it at a restaurant. Good strong smoke profile, rub is a little understated but good and uniform, everything properly rendered, plenty of gelatin and fat for moisture.
Strange thing, the brisket was $25/lb which is more than reasonable for brisket of this quality, but the pork ribs and belly were the same price. I didn't try them so I can't say why the pork costs the same as the beef; I'm guessing there is a bigger demand for the pork from the SE Asian customer base.
The hot sauce is not what I expected, quite vinegary and what I think were all red Thai peppers. To be honest I was expecting Kua Txob (Hmong pepper sauce) which would have been perfect with the meat. I'll just have to make it myself next time I find this place open.
Mac & cheese was very good, nothing super praiseworthy but a good solid tasty home-style side dish. The fries were the least interesting thing we got, but still okay.
Overall it's worth looking for and making the trek in the middle of the day, especially if you're a brisket snob/enthusiast.