Heart of the
Asian Community

By Isabella Pham

Down Tully Rd in east San Jose lies Lion Plaza, a popular Asian shopping center; and just between the fresh baked goods, moms and aunties browsing at the orchids, and families reuniting with other families, lies a small eatery called Pho Pasteur. It's open from 7 AM to 6:30 PM Monday through Friday and 6:30 AM to 7 PM Saturday through Sunday. From Vietnam to America, Pho Pasteur serves not only bun rieu and hu tieu, but also their favorite and everyone else’s: pho. 

Around a year ago during Tet, was my first time visiting Pho Pasteur. The owner served me, my sister, and my mom two trays of pho and helped us find seats in the busy cafeteria. She spoke to us as if we were family and with a kind gesture, gave us more noodles in our soup since she thought two bowls weren’t enough for three people. Looking at the steaming dark-colored broth and the fresh thick noodles, I knew the pho was going to be good; and it was.

Just about 15 years ago was a family escaping the hands of a Communist government in Vietnam and hoping to seek protection from the United States. Among the more than 900,000 Vietnamese citizens immigrating to America and accounted for the increasing 26% of immigrants migrating to America in the 2000s, according to Elijah Alperin and Jeanne Batalova in the Migration Policy Institute Spotlight, they hoped that a number of people would often visit their eatery, enjoy their pho, and sell a lot of dishes.

Hạnh: Vietnamese, they like pho a lot. They like our pho a lot because that the tastes are reasonable. We bring from Vietnam to here. We don’t change any recipe, but come over here because you know, Vietnam… that a poor country. 

Pho is a Vietnamese dish, originating from Northern Vietnam and later making its way down to Southern Vietnam after French colonization. Pho contains noodles with boiling broth poured over and add ons such as chives, onions, cloves, and more. Several people add condiments to their broth such as hoisin sauce, sriracha, and chili paste according to Anise Modern Vietnamese Eatery.

Regardless of their struggles and how high their rent gets, they strive to avoid bankruptcy because their restaurant is a home to them.

Hạnh: We love this restaurant and you know a couple months ago when it so slow, sometimes we cry. We sell too slow. Not only me. Yeah, people around also. We don’t have enough like income, not even for pay everything like rent, and you know, and electric, water, gas, employees. We try, you know, to keep it. We try the best we can. We love it, that’s why we try.

The owners’ dedication is just one component to keeping their restaurant open, but the other component? Their customers.

Hạnh: Here, you see you can see a lot of the Vietnamese food so that’s why we been… we’re here. We choose this place because you know, it’s very close with the Vietnamese. You know, we can meet new customers everyday. Form relationships. Form a social life. You know, like it makes us busy everyday.

As a location in the heart of the Asian community, the owners find Lion Plaza the best place away from silence and a place to connect with one another.

Hạnh: Almost all Vietnamese here. They talk together. Yeah, I think, I think here. And even around here they play chess and they just smoke and talk together every early morning. If you come over here you can see. Here is the place for the Asian community.

Being able to sell and serve their favorite foods and occupy their time with socializing during the long noisy breakfast hours motivates them to keep going.

Their dedication, long hours of hard work, and the warmth the workers radiate strike me to continuously support and eat at the restaurant with friends and family to try too.

With friendly faces all around, they serve their customers with more than just food and positivity, but with a new friend whom customers are able to visit and socialize with as they come across Lion Plaza.