King Com Tam

Broken rice reigns supreme at this San Gabriel spot located a stone's throw from Hawaii Supermarket. Once a subsistence dish cooked by Vietnamese rice farmers with inferior product, these soft mounds of grain now accompany a bounty of proteins, pickled vegetables and aromatic pork broth at King Com Tam. Choose from various styles of beef, pork, chicken and shrimp for a lighter com tam fix, but the combination plates containing steamed egg loaf (cha trung hap) also offer the hard-to-find traditional side dish. For a lighter, more playful texture, King Com Tam's enormous menu includes banh hoi—molded squares of rice vermicelli—as well as the usual bun (loose vermicelli). Don't skip the delicious cornmeal-battered cha gio either.