The shortage plaguing Vietnamese restaurants is just one among many, but it’s an example of the constant challenges being thrown at already-strapped small business owners
Le Bernardin’s acclaimed chef blasted a questionable pho recipe to his more than half a million Instagram followers that drew controversy (once again) over Vietnam’s national dish
PUBLISHED: 04/22/2021
By: Thao-Vy Duong
Coined in 1968 by Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee, the term “Asian American” is a marker of collectivism. Its inception is inseparable from the founding of the Asian American Political Alliance, which aimed to unite Asian American voices. Prior to the invention of this phrase, Asian Americans were simply identified by their ethnic subgroup or broadly by obtuse and racist terms. The organization of various subgroups under the banner of “Asian American” worked to centralize and amplify Asian American activist power. Now in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing targeted bigotry, this sense of collectivism is crucial.
Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month on HRN
Aired: Wednesday, April 21st 2021
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By: Thao-Vy Duong
Coined in 1968 by Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee, the term “Asian American” is a marker of collectivism. Its inception is inseparable from the founding of the Asian American Political Alliance, which aimed to unite Asian American voices. Prior to the invention of this phrase, Asian Americans were simply identified by their ethnic subgroup or broadly by obtuse and racist terms. The organization of various subgroups under the banner of “Asian American” worked to centralize and amplify Asian American activist power. Now in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing targeted bigotry, this sense of collectivism is crucial.
It wasn’t that long ago that New York’s idea of an upscale Vietnamese restaurant was Le Colonial. Appealing to a misplaced nostalgia for French colonialism, it was ensconced in an elegant mansion on East 57th Street with decor that ran to padded wicker wing chairs, potted palms, and slow-twirling ceiling fans, like a scene from Graham Greene’s
The Quiet American. It closed last year, but the food had often been good in its 25-year run.
Dine Vietnamese-style at Bolero.
Inside is a small store.
Now a more modern take on Vietnamese fine dining has symbolically replaced it. Opening on Williamsburg’s Bedford Avenue in late February before the pandemic hit, Bolero is named after a dance craze in 1950s Vietnam, according to chef Matt Le-Khac, who previously ran pop-ups at the Lower East Side’s late, lamented An Choi. He also earned a Ph.D. in pharmacology at Columbia University.