From its French influences to its fragrant herbs and spices, Vietnamese food is a fusion feast for the senses. Crusty baguette sandwiches layered with savory meat, pate, cilantro, and daikon radish. Rice plates with succulent, lemongrass-marinated meats and colorful vegetables. A steaming hot bowl of pho with lime and Thai basil.
Valencia’s Rosie DiPrima is bringing the tastes of her native Vietnam to her first restaurant venture, Xa Kitchen in the Westfield Town Center Mall. DiPrima, who graduated at the top of her class from Pasadena’s Le Cordon Bleu in 2003, feels it’s a cuisine who’s time has come. “It’s basically grilled meats, lots of raw vegetables, and rice or noodles. It’s fresh and healthy. Nothing here comes from a box or a can,” DiPrima said.
At Xa (pronounced sah), everything, with the exception of special French bread delivered from Lorraine Bakery, is made from scratch. That includes a quartet of signature drinks, such as a ginger limeade that starts with lime juice and raw ginger puree. The result? A refreshing, just-right blend of tart and sweet. Meals can also be rounded out with a lemongrass-infused jasmine tea or French-press iced coffee with condensed milk.
The refreshments are perfect counterpoints to the flavorful fare emanating from the kitchen. Gorgeous summer rolls boast plump, pretty shrimp peeking through the translucent rice paper. Melding with bits of lemongrass-marinated beef, rice noodles, and lettuce, it’s an experience that becomes transcendent with a dip into an incredible homemade scallion hoisin sauce.
Grilled meats play a starring role in most of the Xa entrees, such as the rice plates or rice noodle salads. Beef and chicken are marinated in the house specialty, a namesake lemongrass sauce, while the pork gets a garlic shallot treatment. A choice of the three meats (or Vietnamese ham) can also be layered into a long, toasted baguette for a traditional Vietnamese sandwich. Grilled marinated tofu and “Taste Like Chicken” soy-protein patties are available to substitute for meat in any item, making Xa a very vegetarian-friendly restaurant.
DiPrima modeled her menu on the simple, familiar street food she first learned to cook from her aunt and grandmother after leaving Vietnam in 1975. At Xa, however, she often finds herself educating customers about a cuisine they may have never heard of. “One girl in her late teens or early 20s told me she was really afraid to try it. I told her, it’s basically salad, rice, and meat. There’s nothing weird about it,” DiPrima recalled. “She came back two or three times a week after trying it that day.”
Since opening in September, 2006, Xa has seen its business steadily increase with a growing roster of regulars. DiPrima plans to replicate its food court success with a restaurant in malls across the country, as well as a flagship restaurant or two devoted to a finer dining experience.
For busy families like DiPrima’s (she and husband Dan, who works in the movie industry, have two children), Vietnamese cuisine is a fresh alternative to current takeout options. “People don’t seem to have time for food, so they get a pizza or burgers. That’s not healthy. A fast, casual restaurant can have healthy, good-tasting food,” DiPrima said. “People complain that there’s nothing new in this valley, but here I am!”
