Kim Hoa Hue

While we’ve found better versions of bun bo hue, nem lui and the various regional rice cakes at South El Monte’s 5 Stars Hue, this nearby restaurant offers a few hard-to-find, delicious central Vietnamese dishes worthy of seeking out. For seafood lovers, there’s the com hen, a bowl of rice mixed with regular and miniature clams, sesame seeds, elephant ear (a type of celery-like vegetable), pork rinds, crushed peanuts and fresh herbs. Bites are meant to be eaten in between sips of a light clam broth. Fragrant banana leaf-wrapped pieces of cha hue (Hue-style pork sausage) are sold by the piece, best dunked into the delicate, multilayered nuoc cham. We also recommend the Vietnamese-style papaya salad and the bun mit mam nem, a delicious rice vermicelli bowl topped with pork sausage, minced shrimp, jackfruit, peanuts and herbs. The fermented anchovy sauce served on the side gives the dish a pungent, but unforgettable flavor.