A rarity in Vietnamese cuisine
Chef returns to Oakland with essential fresh, funky flavors
When Quynh Nhu stands at the corrugated aluminum-fronted counter that doubles as a host stand in the open kitchen at the Temple Club, she sings along with the Vietnamese ballads blasting the room.
When she talks with her husband and chef Geoffrey Deetz, often at the cooking island behind her, it’s in Vietnamese.
Looking around the room with its bright murals, marred tables and piles of green bananas and other produce on the counter, I recalled my two trips to Vietnam. The memories were reinforced by the ripe smell of fish sauce, smoke and aromatic herbs that ripple through the 49-seat dining room on Oakland’s International Boulevard.
Deetz is a Bay Area chef who two decades ago was noted for his cooking at such places as Spettro in Oakland. In 2000 he moved to Vietnam, and over the next 16 years he traveled much of the country. He opened up 22 restaurants, including a cupcake bakery and a burrito shop. He became best known for the Black Cat, a cafe that became an expat favorite. He also became known after appearing on Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations,” and creating a winning dish on the Food Network’s “Cooks vs. Cons.”
What drove him to Vietnam initially was to learn about the food. During that time he met his wife and fathered two children. Last year he and his family moved back for two reasons: Much of the food products in Vietnam are now controlled by big business — not what a chef nurtured in the Bay Area’s food scene, where locally produced ingredients are a given — could embrace. And he wanted a better education for his children.
Back in Oakland, Deetz decided to bring his training as a chef and his love of his adopted culture to another restaurant. In a way it’s become another expat restaurant, but this one for Vietnamese who are nostalgic for their homeland.
He found the space in an area that has increasingly attracted Vietnamese people and began cooking dishes that aren’t often found in this part of the world. Unlike other Vietnamese restaurants in the Bay Area, at the Temple Club, Deetz writes a new menu daily. Popular dishes on the 16-item menu come and go, and new ones are continually added, generally at the rate of two or three a week, he says.
On every visit, however, the main courses led off with Mi Quang Phu Chien ($7.50/ $14.50), described as “a special dish from Phu Chien in Quang Nam Province where it was created.” From the central part of Vietnam bordering Laos, the recipe blends elements of land and sea. It combines sweet rock shrimp, briny baby shell-on shrimp, pork, shallots, quail eggs, tomato and crushed peanuts, all piled on flat noodles moistened with a small amount of broth. The mixture gets a dose of earthiness from annatto oil, creating a multidimensional dish. Deetz is particularly fond of this street-food dish, explaining that it would be eaten in Hoi An while sitting on a stool.
On one visit our cheerful (though not very efficient) waiter announced that Goi Hoi An ($14) was making its first appearance on the menu. The appetizer, which includes marinated beef, green papaya, cherry tomatoes and onions, is presented in a purple-tinged banana leaf. Even though it’s served cold, the aroma floats to the nostrils like the mist rising from rice paddies. The blend of fresh herbs and the fish sauce spiked with tamarind tickles every region of the tongue.
As with many converts, Deetz is focused on preparing dishes the way they are served in Vietnam. An exception is his Food Network-winning pho ($7/$14) that includes sour beef broth, water celery and corned beef brisket. It’s a curious dish that was featured on two of my three visits. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to order it, but it gives me an excuse to go back.
Many recipes rely heavily on fresh herbs and raw vegetables, which requires Deetz to shop twice a day. The produce helps to moderate the earthy flavors that are inherent in some dishes. One example is Goi Cuon Nem Chua ($9), spring rolls that are plumped with sour pork sausage and sliced pig ears and served with sesame and pork liver sauce.
I didn’t tell my conservative dining companion what was in the various components until he had eaten three of the four pieces. Fortunately, the addition of the rice noodles, sesame leaf and baby greens dominated, and the offal components served as umami to deepen the effect.
Com Chien Dac Biet ($12.50) is a combination of brown and red fried rice with smoky (almost charred) nuances from annatto, musty notes of Chinese sausage and pungent sparks of garlic, both fresh and fried. In this case the shrimp were lost in the mounded rice topped with a fried duck egg. The rice was surrounded by thin coins of cucumbers, which not only made a pretty garnish but were key to refreshing the palate.
This give and take of fresh and funky was present in other dishes, including Bun Ca Nha Treang ($7.50/$13.50) where the slightly spicy broth had a powerful boost of what tasted like dried shrimp, with slices of swordfish, tomato and green onions served over rice noodles.
Some dishes could use a little more spice, but each table is set with four condiments in a Plexiglas container: Deetz makes a chile paste that can make the nose run and the face flush by simply smelling it. The other options are sliced garlic in vinegar, sambal, and serrano chiles with vinegar.
Most every dish comes with a different sauce such as sweet and sour tomato with sauteed squid and pineapple ($14.50), or honey and chile with butterflied shrimp ($12.95), which is coated in rice flakes and fried. Deetz says this preparation is little known in the United States; in Vietnam it is often seen at celebrations, particularly weddings.
Boneless pork stew ($14) with fresh tamarind, shallots and garlic comes to the table still bubbling, and reveals bits of the pickled mustard greens that help to cut the richness of the meat. It’s the type of warming dish that captures the essence of the Vietnamese flavor palate.
Many dishes, including the fried shrimp, have nearly universal appeal. Chicken wings ($12.25), sticky and sweet from a glaze that includes sugar, garlic, black pepper and fish sauce practically shout for a Tiger beer. While there’s a sign above the kitchen, about eye level for those on the dining mezzanine, advertising this popular Vietnamese brew, there were none in the cooler on our visits. No alcohol is served (but diners can bring their own). However, this will soon change; the official notice to serve beer and wine is in the window, and the cooler should be stocked by April.
Another favorite dish is marinated and grilled bone-in chicken ($9.75 half/$18.75 whole). It’s blackened on the grill and served with a lime, salt and pepper dipping sauce.
At dessert I couldn’t resist the cheesecake made with durian ($7), a fruit that Asian expert Bruce Cost once described as eating custard in a sewer. Its pungent smell belies the sweet tropical taste. It’s a fruit that echoes the juxtaposition found in the cuisine, achieving a balance between opposing flavors.
Mastering that balance can take years to learn. Deetz cooks with knowledge and passion, producing food that you’ll find when you travel to Vietnam. He continues to resist the idea of Americanizing his food.
“No,” he explains, “I’m going the opposite direction. I’m getting more extreme. I just need to get the trust of my customers.”