Saturday in Little Saigon

We haven’t been to the Little Saigon neighborhood of Seattle since before the pandemic. Today’s trip down there was to check out the Italian ingredients at Big John’s Pacific Food Importers. You may ask (as my sister did), why would you look for Italian ingredients in a Vietnamese enclave? Simple. Little Saigon is at the northern edge of what was called Garlic Gulch, where many Italian groceries and restaurants used to be. The last Italian grocery and bakery, Remo Boracchini’s, closed in 2020. Big John’s recently moved to Little Saigon from a neighborhood south of the stadiums. Some of the prices at Big John’s are high, but it has great specials on wine.

After we bought a few provisions at Big John’s, we walked to Hello Em Coffee to check it out. This shop is located in a building with the Friends of Little Saigon. It also shares space with Little Saigon Creative, which sells jewelry and crafts made by local Asian artists. Julian ordered a Vietnamese iced coffee, while I had a hot coffee/condensed milk drink. This is about the only way I can drink coffee, with enough sugar or chocolate to tamp down the taste. Hello Em was selling its original coffee roaster. I gently steered Julian out of the store before he got any ideas.

Once caffeinated, we checked out two Asian grocery stores in the neighborhood. Hau Hau had a large selection of produce, whereas Lams was heavy on the seafood. We didn’t buy anything at either, but I took the picture below to send to my durian-crazy nephew. This was a not-so-subtle hint to his parents that they don’t have to travel to Malaysia to get fresh durian, just to Seattle.

The weather cooperated until just before we got home, when it started pouring. All in all, a good foodie stroll.