A recent girls’ night out brought me and my gal pals to San Gabriel’s Phong Dinh Restaurant. I’m not sure what constitutes a roaring good time for you and yours, but for me and mine, it’s a killer baked catfish. I roll with the best posse ever.

Thien An in Rosemead has always been my go-to spot for baked catfish, but we decided to try Phong Dinh this evening at the recommendation of my friend Thien. She promised that the catfish here was even better than the one at Thien An.

According to the restaurant’s menu, Chef and Founder Minh Trang was the first to introduce baked catfish (ca dut lo hau giang) to the area in 1994.

Before the star of the show arrived, accoutrements were scattered about the table—a large platter of herbs and lettuce, pickled carrots and daikon, cucumber spears, vermicelli rice noodles, rice papers, and best of all, a tangy-sweet tamarind dipping sauce.

Our waitress revealed that the recipe for the sauce came from her aunt, who hails from Can Tho. Now that I’ve experienced this seriously awesome sauce, I can’t ever go back to eating plain ol’ nuoc cham or mam nem (fermented anchovy dipping sauce) with my catfish. Consider me a changed woman.

We called in our catfish order ahead of time to make sure that it would be ready upon arrival. As soon as our butts hit the seat, the ca dut lo hau giang made its appearance. Hello, Beautiful.

The fish’s prized crispy skin, charred in some spots and golden throughout, gave way to moist and tender flesh imbued with honey and turmeric. Crushed peanuts, fresh cilantro, and scallion oil were heaped atop the fish. Strewn around the edge of the platter were romaine lettuce leaves, orange slices, and my favorite, rings of caramelized onions. 

We garnished, wrapped, and dipped to our hearts’ content. All that was left was a pile of bones when we were through. Delicious.

We ordered two additional dishes to supplement our enormous catfish. First up was the oc len xao dua ($12.95), “telescope mud creeper sea snails” bathed in a rich coconut broth. It was quite fun slurping out the snails and sipping the broth.

And finally, an order of bo la lot ($12.95), seasoned beef wrapped in fresh betel leaves. The ratio of meat to greenery was skewed toward the latter, which made for some intensely grassy bites.

Phong Dinh’s baked catfish was as stupendous as promised, especially paired with the tamarind sauce. The Astronomer will be graduating from Caltech next month and we’re planning on coming here immediately after for a celebratory feast with our families. Baked catfish and PhDs, sounds like a good time to me!

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Phong Dinh Restaurant
107 East Valley Boulevard
San Gabriel, CA 91776
Phone: 626-307-8868

God must’ve spent a little more time on San Gabriel:

• Bánh Mì & Chè Cali – San Gabriel
• Boston Lobster – San Gabriel
• Chung King Restaurant – San Gabriel
• Cơm Tấm Thuận Kiều – San Gabriel
• Ducks Restaurant – San Gabriel
• Five Star Seafood Restaurant – San Gabriel
• Golden Deli – San Gabriel
• Hà Tiên Quán – San Gabriel
• Happy Tasty – San Gabriel
• Hui Tou Xiang Noodles House – San Gabriel
• Kingburg Kitchen – San Gabriel
• Lu’s Garden – San Gabriel
• Lucky Noodle King – San Gabriel
• Luscious Dumplings Inc. – San Gabriel
• Nha Trang – San Gabriel
• Omar’s Xinjiang Halal Restaurant – San Gabriel
• Phở Nguyễn Hoàng – San Gabriel
• Saigon’s Bakery & Sandwiches – San Gabriel / San Jose
• Southern Mini Town – San Gabriel
• Sweethome Grill – San Gabriel
• Tasty Noodle House – San Gabriel
• Ton Chan Ramen – San Gabriel
• Vietnam House – San Gabriel
• Vietnam Restaurant – San Gabriel
• Wang Xing Ji – San Gabriel
• Wedding Banquet Redux at New Capital Seafood
• Yama Seafood – San Gabriel
• Yum Cha Cafe – San Gabriel
• {swoon} Vietnamese Chè at Bambu