Growing up in Southern California, some of chef Vince Nguyen’s earliest food memories include the glistening fruit tarts artfully displayed at his aunts’ homes and the palmier cookie pacifiers he would clutch while being pushed in a shopping cart through some Little Saigon grocery store.
But when Nguyen began plotting his new bakery, which takes over his white-tiled restaurant Berlu four mornings a week starting Tuesday, he began with a pastry rooted in the Vietnamese baking tradition, instead of the French.
Bánh bò, a steamed and coconut-scented rice flour cake made vibrantly green from pandan extract, is among the more eye-catching pastries found at most Vietnamese bakeries in Portland. Nguyen’s version is bánh bò nướng, or baked rather than steamed.
“(Bánh bò is) actually what I’m most excited about, and what I feel is going to be the best seller,” Nguyen says. “It’s a strange-looking green color, texturally it’s chewy, it’s the complete opposite of what you expect in a cake, but it’s also undeniably delicious. In recipe testing, that was something I would always give to my neighbors. I knew once they tried that they would be open to other Vietnamese pastries.”
Starting next week, customers who walk up to the door of our reigning Rising Star restaurant will find Nguyen and fellow chef Sky Haneul Kim standing behind a plexiglass shield, selling slices of bánh bò nướng in paper sleeves or reusable containers from Go Box. Among the other options? Mango-dotted cake rolls, green-hued pandan waffles, cream puffs flavored with banana or coffee, the Vietnamese meatloaf chả trứng hấp and seasonal fruit tarts topped with coconut cream and a shiny, herb-flavored glaze his aunts might appreciate.
Chef Vince Nguyen stands behind a plexiglass shield at Berlu's new Vietnamese bakery.Courtesy of Berlu/Christine Dong
Nguyen recipe-tested more than 20 pastries during the shutdown. As with his dormant tasting menu, which was revived with a plate-it-yourself takeout option this week, everything at Berlu’s new bakery is gluten- and dairy-free, an approach that helped keep the focus on traditional Vietnamese items (that, and “because gluten- and dairy-free croissants are gross,” he says). He also reached out to Vietnamese coffee company Pagi, which agreed to roast a special blend from Southwest Vietnamese beans for Berlu Bakery. That coffee will be served hot, iced or as a house-made coffee kombucha.
“This whole thing has been a learning process for me,” Nguyen says. “Not just about how to cook, but around my Vietnamese heritage as well.”
Those in the mood for a savory breakfast should focus on the chả trứng hấp, a traditional quiche-y meatloaf made with ground pork mixed with garlic, shallot, fish sauce, wood ear mushrooms and egg white, with the leftover yolk poured over the top once the dish is mostly set. Nguyen serves his version with steamed rice, herbs and cucumber.
He also thinks the aromatic banana bread could be a sleeper hit, especially once the new bakery has its operations dialed in. Down the road, the bread could be toasted in coconut oil to order, brushed with vegan pandan butter and topped with crushed avocado for a surprising take on Vietnamese avocado toast.
“It’s strange because both avocado and banana are found in Vietnamese food, and combining the two is really common in the vegan world, especially in shakes or smoothies,” Nguyen says. “But in this context it seems like an avant garde flavor combination.”
Berlu’s new Vietnamese bakery will open from 8 to 11 a.m., Tuesday-Friday at 605 S.E. Belmont St.
-- Michael Russell, mrussell@oregonian.com, @tdmrussell
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