Cao Nguyen in San Jose
The literal translation is “highland”, but for most Vietnamese the word Cao Nguyên brings to mind images of eye-soothing green terraces, people of ethnic minorities in colorful traditional dresses and hoop and ring jewelries, dancing around the fire, drinking rice wine with a meter-long straw out of a communal urn, and simple but sturdy stilt houses above ground. In San Jose, Cao Nguyên restaurant has the decor up to theme with an urn and straws in the corner, and a painting of a highlander couple dressed in their most comfortable attire, a wrap from the waist down, by the fire. (This blog is rated G so I’m not gonna upload a picture of the painting.)
The menu, though, isn’t particularly highlandish. At first glance it is similar to most other Vietnamese restaurants, and diners here also order the similar things they always order: hot pots and noodle soups. But if we’re to say that Lemon Grass has more single-portion dishes (the way we always do at American restaurants) and Thảo Tiên‘s focus is Mekong Delta noodle soups, then Cao Nguyên is the place to go for family meals. Most dishes are for sharing among 4-6 people, and to eat with rice.
So share we did. It’s really quite cheap this way. An order of sườn nướng sả (lemongrass grilled pork chop) costs a slim $8.25, and is indeed enough for four even as the chops too are slim like Wasa knäckebröd. It’s not fatty, perhaps a tad dry, and there was no scent of lemongrass, but grilled pork is grilled pork, it’s just never bad.
An order of cá chim chiên comes with nước mắm gừng in a wholesome bowl and some pickled vegetables for colors. The menu reads “pan fried Chinese pompano“, but not only the ca chim I know is pomfret, I’ve never seen ca chim split in half and flattened out on the plate like this, as it is already wide and flat by nature. What we had might not be ca chim after all. However, its extra crispy skin dipped in nước mắm gừng is more than enough to let the zoological tidbit slide. I even got to nibble the eyes. It was $8.95 well spent.
Just a few dimes down are the single-portion rice plates, such as this broken rice for $7.50. There’s that grilled pork chop again, sided by a heap of shredded pork skin (bì), whose chewy and grainy texture contrasts the spongy softness of ground pork and chopped cellophane vermicelli in a slice of golden yellow egg casserole (chả trứng). Somehow this combination is standard for broken rice, with sweet and savory nước chấm enhancing every grain.
Although what we got were not excellent, the restaurant’s popularity speaks differently, and we too enjoyed our meal enough to consider a takeout next time we’re in the area. Just like the highlands and their inhabitants’ cultures, Cao Nguyen isn’t the best, but it has its values.
Address: Cao Nguyên Restaurant
2549 S King Road
San Jose, CA 95122
(408) 270-9610
Lunch for two and lotsa leftovers: $29.17
Other Vietnamese restaurants in San Jose:
– Lemon Grass Vietnamese & French Cuisine
– Thảo Tiên
Good info. Lucky me I reach on your website by accident, I bookmarked it.
1I have recently started a blog, the information you offer on this site has helped me tremendously. Thanks for all of your time & work. “Quit worrying about your health. It’ll go away.” by Robert Orben.
2Appreciate it for all your efforts that you have put in this. very interesting information.
3Wonderful blog you have here but I was wanting to know if you knew of any message boards that cover the same topics discussed in this article? I’d really love to be a part of community where I can get advice from other knowledgeable people that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Appreciate it!
4Great post. I am facing a couple of these problems.
5Amazing blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple tweeks would really make my blog shine. Please let me know where you got your design. Appreciate it
6Good write-up, I’m normal visitor of one’s site, maintain up the nice operate, and It is going to be a regular visitor for a long time.
7Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You clearly know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving us something informative to read?
8Outstanding post, you have pointed out some wonderful details , I also think this s a very wonderful website.
9I really treasure your work, Great post.
10This is a topic close to my heart cheers, where are your contact details though?
11You have brought up a very superb details, regards for the post.
12Thank you for another magnificent post. Where else could anybody get that kind of info in such a perfect way of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am on the look for such information.
13Excellent items from you, man. I have be aware your stuff previous to and you are just extremely great. I really like what you have got right here, really like what you are saying and the best way during which you are saying it. You make it enjoyable and you still take care of to keep it smart. I can not wait to learn much more from you. That is actually a terrific website.
14I like this post, enjoyed this one regards for putting up. “Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.” by Ronald Reagan.
15Everything is very open and very clear explanation of issues. was truly information. Your website is very useful. Thanks for sharing.
16This is the right blog for anyone who wants to find out about this topic. You realize so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually would want…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!
17Good day! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before but after reading through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back frequently!
18I’m not that much of a internet reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back in the future. Cheers
19I have recently started a blog, the info you provide on this site has helped me tremendously. Thank you for all of your time & work.
20I was just looking for this information for a while. After 6 hours of continuous Googleing, finally I got it in your website. I wonder what is the lack of Google strategy that do not rank this type of informative websites in top of the list. Normally the top sites are full of garbage.
21Lovely just what I was searching for.Thanks to the author for taking his clock time on this one.
22Thanks for another great post. Where else could anybody get that type of info in such an ideal way of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I’m on the look for such information.
23I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Anyway keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one today..
24I think this website holds very wonderful indited subject material content.
25Great post, you have pointed out some good points, I as well think this s a very good website.
26Hi, just required you to know I he added your site to my Google bookmarks due to your layout. But seriously, I believe your internet site has 1 in the freshest theme I??ve came across. It extremely helps make reading your blog significantly easier.
27Very clear web site, thanks for this post.
28so much superb information on here, :D.
29I have recently started a blog, the information you offer on this website has helped me tremendously. Thanks for all of your time & work.
30I believe this site holds very fantastic pent articles articles.
31Wow that was strange. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted to say superb blog!
32Real nice style and excellent subject matter, nothing else we require :D.
33Rattling instructive and great structure of content material, now that’s user pleasant (:.
34I have read a few good stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you put to create such a fantastic informative site.
35so much superb info on here, :D.
36Usually I don’t read post on blogs, but I would like to say that this write-up very forced me to try and do so! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, quite nice post.
37Hello! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with SEO? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good success. If you know of any please share. Appreciate it!
38Real informative and wonderful anatomical structure of content material, now that’s user genial (:.
39Thankyou for this wondrous post, I am glad I found this web site on yahoo.
40I have read a few good stuff here. Certainly worth bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how much effort you put to create such a excellent informative site.
41Hi there this is kind of of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding expertise so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!
42This website is my breathing in, very superb design and perfect articles.
43I like this site very much, Its a very nice billet to read and get info .
44Unquestionably imagine that that you stated. Your favourite justification appeared to be at the web the simplest factor to take into accout of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed whilst folks consider issues that they plainly don’t understand about. You managed to hit the nail upon the highest and defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks
45Would love to perpetually get updated outstanding website! .
46Exactly what I was searching for, regards for putting up.
47You got a very wonderful website, Sword lily I discovered it through yahoo.
48