The District by Hannah An, Upscale Vietnamese near the Beverly Center

The District is a few blocks from the Beverly Center. A Vietnamese restaurant with an upscale menu and a friendly bar, chef-owner Hannah An has created an airy space with a large menu featuring organic poultry and meats, fresh seafood and a great variety of vegetable dishes that will make vegans very happy.

Many of the Vietnamese restaurants that have appeared in Los Angeles over the past year have focused on modified versions of street food: pho (the richly flavored beef or chicken noodle soup) and banh mi (French baguette sandwiches with meat and pickled vegetables). Both are available at The District, but these are versions made with high-quality, fresh ingredients and they are only two of several dozen dishes on the menu.

Hannah An is the eldest daughter of the family behind Beverly Hills' Crustacean, a restaurant known for the quality of its seafood and the elegance of the dining room. The design of the District is more casual. With an outdoor patio and windows that open to the street, the restaurant is light and airy and elegant in its own way.

Recently I joined half dozen other food writers for a tasting. We ate land animals and creatures from the deep. Some were crispy fried, others were braised with a layering of flavors. We ate steamed rice, soft braised noodles, light as air spring rolls, deeply flavored soup, a salad topped with a beautiful piece of crispy-skin salmon, an excellent Vietnamese iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk and a delicious cocktail that had plenty of heat.

The menus (lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch) overlap with dishes like pho (beef and chicken) and fried calamari available any time of day. Some like cha go roll are favorites in Vietnamese restaurants. At The District, the fried rice paper rolls practically evaporate in your mouth. There is not a drop of oil on them. Inside the well-compacted roll is a mix of ground chicken and vegetables. The garlic lime dipping sauce has enough heat and sweetness to compliment the other flavors. 

The affordably priced dishes are large enough to share. For those who want to splurge for a celebration, there is fresh lobster and filet mignon.

The best dishes at The District draw on the flavor combinations that immediately tell you the chef is from Vietnam. Whether combined in a sauce or used in the dish itself, freshly squeezed lime juice, cilantro, peppers and pepper flakes, fish sauce, fresh fruit, garlic and lemon grass are used by a practiced hand that knows exactly how much is the correct amount.

We were served black cod in a clay pot. In Vietnam the fish used would probably be catfish. Flaky and moist, the cod has a silken texture familiar to anyone who has eaten a version of Morimoto's miso-black cod, a dish served at many upscale Japanese restaurants.  Chef An uses lemon grass, fish sauce and a five spices mix to put a little edge into the darkly rich sauce. Chinese broccoli and thin uncooked ginger strips add texture.  On the very bottom of the hot pot were two triangles of fresh pineapple lying in wait for anyone who needed a bit of sweet-acid to add to the already complex flavor profile of the dish.

The calamari plate was another standout. Topped with a salad of purple kale and frisee, the crinkly leaves complimented the crispy calamari. The dipping sauce, another classic Vietnamese mix of fish sauce, peppers and lime juice rounded out the flavors. A selection of cocktails accompanied the calamari. The colorful cocktails have colorful names: Hot Asian, Side Car to Vietnam, Love You Long Time and Face Down in Saigon. 

The playfully named cocktails are well-crafted drinks designed by David Shoham, a mixologist well-known in Los Angeles. The freshly squeezed juices and the mix of heat and sweet are masterful. 

My hands down favorite of those we tasted was the Hot Asian. I could describe it, but I'll let the menu do it for me, "lemon gras infused Loft and Bear Vodka, organic Vietnamese chili agave, fresh squeezed lime juice, garnished with lime zest and Vietnamese chili." Hopefully you noticed that "chili" appeared twice in the description. Topping the ice filled glass was a whole, bright red pepper for those who wanted even more heat. 

I didn't need more heat, but I would have happily consumed another Hot Asian if I had brought along a designated driver. The cocktail was that delicious.

There is so much more to be said about The District by Hannah An. We ate a great many delicious dishes -- pho bo (beef with noodles), Hannah's noodles with crispy whole lobster, shaken beef with filet mignon so tender it really did melt in the mouth, chicken curry with fava beans, peas, thickly cut red onion rings with Thai basil and a kale Caesar salad topped with a crispy-skin salmon filet. 

There are many more dishes on the menu I want to try. I love the idea of chef An's take on French onion soup that uses bone marrow and Vietnamese spices. I want to have the roasted ginger chicken, crispy tofu, braised short ribs, District salad with prawns, kale and curly endive, duck confit salad with Vietnamese herbs, roasted cauliflower with pistachios, coriander-crusted lamb and the flatbreads (chicken, pork belly and heirloom tomato-burrata). 

They all sound delicious.

The District by Hannah An, 8722 West Third Street, LA, CA 90048, 310/278-2345.  Open for lunch Monday-Friday, dinner every night and Sunday brunch.

Pork Belly and Vegetable Pasta

I wrote a recipe for Zester Daily about my latest, favorite dish, a pasta with pork belly meat, flavored by Vietnamese style pickled vegetables.

I love pork belly but not pork belly fat. 

The recipe is my attempt to split the difference. 

I let the fat tenderize and season the meat. 

The only part of the fat I put into the pasta is the thin crackling layer, that luscious bubbling, crispy top layer. 

The cracklings are ground up and sprinkled on the pasta to give a sweet crunch to the tender, moist meat.

The pickled vegetables add to the pork's deep rich flavors. Included in the pickling are pieces of ginger which brings a subtle heat to bear on the dish.

Soup or Salad? Thai Chicken Coconut Soup Gets My Vote

I remember playing a game when I was a kid, a variation of the "If you had to choose, which would be worse: being blind or being deaf?" Only, in my food-centric world, the choice was, "If you could only have one food to eat forever, would it be soup or salad?" I couldn't imagine denying myself either, they are both so essential to good eating, but in the interest of influencing the vote to the soup-side, I'm offering up a Thai Chicken Coconut Soup recipe that was sent in by Susie Fitzgerald and Kristy Hake.

A few of the ingredients can be difficult to find: kefir lime leaves and lemongrass. Most Asian markets carry both, but if you can't find either, the soup is still delicious without those ingredients. You can also try growing your own. Susie planted a kefir lime plant she bought from a farmer at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market. The lemongrass in our garden came from a cutting I planted years ago.

There may be some nurseries that carry lemongrass plants in their herb sections, if not, you can grow one from the stalk you buy at the market. Growing lemongrass is really very easy. Buy lemongrass stalks that still have their root ends intact. Cut off the bottom 2" of the stalk and put it into a container with well-mulched dirt. Water well and keep in a sunny spot. Within a few weeks, the stalk will begin growing a root system and put out a new shoot. After a month, the roots should be well enough established for you to transplant the plant to a sunny part of your garden or into a larger pot. In time, the stalk will throw off many shoots. Then, when you need some lemongrass for a recipe, cut off the stalk just above the root, that way a new shoot will grow from the old roots. Lemongrass is self-renewing.

Susie Fitzgerald and Kristy Hake's Thai Chicken Coconut Soup

The only change I've made to their recipe is to suggest that the chicken stock be homemade. I prefer homemade because the salt content of prepackaged chicken stock is very high. Another suggestion: when using coconut milk, try to find brands like Trader Joe's and Thai Kitchen that don't use preservatives. Suzie and Kristy clearly like their soup on the hot side. If you prefer yours milder, use less of the jalapeno pepper and Thai red chili paste.

4 cups homemade chicken stock
2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, washed, cubed
1 can (14 oz.) coconut milk
2 stalks lemongrass, washed, the white part cut into 2" pieces
2" piece of ginger, washed, peeled, grated for the juice
2 tablespoons fish sauce
8-10 mushrooms, washed, thinly sliced
4-6 limes, juiced
4 fresh kefir lime leaves, washed, roughly sliced
5 cilantro sprigs, washed, stems removed, leaves only
1 jalapeno pepper, washed, seeded, thinly sliced lengthwise (to taste)
1-2 teaspoons Thai red chili paste (to taste)

Add the chicken stock, lemongrass, ginger, fish sauce, lime juice, mushrooms, and kefir lime leaves to a pot and simmer for 5 minutes. Increase the flame, bringing the soup to a boil, add the chicken, and cook 2 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk and chili paste. Reduce the flame, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the cilantro just before serving.

Serve over Basmati or Jasmine rice.

Serves 4. Preparation Time: 15 minutes. Cooking Time: 15 minutes.