Rock Salt Crab
I know little about Tet other than this
simple monosyllabic word has the power to set an entire country off into
some sort of manic hyperdrive in the weeks leading up to the lunar new
year. Then for about a week this entire country slams on the brakes as
the Vietnamese turn inward to their families. Visualize a world of no
traffic, no grocery stores and shops and mostly closed restaurants.
Yes, noisy and chaotic Vietnam grinds to a halt. I suppose anywhere so
full of color and high decibel energy the rest of the year needs a week
to recharge and regroup in anticipation of a fresh and prosperous year
ahead.
I got to thinking how our lives in
America remain in warp speed 365 days a year. Even Thanksgiving and
Christmas, our Tet equivalent, aren’t sacred anymore with people putting
events such as Black Friday ahead of season’s true meaning, if that
meaning even exists anymore. During this current Tet period my own
life has finally slowed down enough to match the much more languid pace
of the cityscape around me, and my friends and I have had the chance to
savor some truly delicious meals. If Tet is the time for the
Vietnamese to spend time with their families, so have we with each other
and food has been one common ground.
Hungry stomachs and two taxis brought
nine of us to District 1’s Cục Gạch Quán at 10 Đặng Tất Street. The
restaurant’s name literally means “mini ceramic department.”
Translation: Brick. Brick is definitely off the trail but then again
aren’t the best finds usually tucked away from the masses we eschew but
usually end up a part of anyway? The extensive menu takes Vietnamese
classics and elevates them to a point that can please even the pickiest
western palates such as mine yearning for something more than gristle,
fat and chicken guts with a meal. Dimly lit Brick has the feel of a
private villa from the turn of a century long before any of us were even
living.
Ryan selected several dishes with the
centerpiece being rock salt crab. Is foodgasm a word or even a concept
in foodie circles? If not, the taste of this dish invented the word.
Imagine a large platter of lightly fried softshell crab surrounding a
pile of greens seasoned with a lemony vinaigrette. Yes, multiple
foodgasms for sure.
He also noted that “crab is usually so
much effort for a little bit of meat.” We can all verify Ryan’s
observation as true since we’ve all been there trying to crack the hard
shell away only to suck out a stingy amount of stringy meat. All the
while we are burning our fingers, making a mess and wondering why in the
hell we didn’t just order the chicken. Rock salt crab is quite the
opposite with large amounts of meat just under a soft, brittle shell.
The only effort required is maneuvering the chopsticks into the bowl and
then bringing a juicy piece back to the mouth without dropping it
enroute.
Imagine a platter of light brown fried
crab as soft as a scallop but with an edible shell the thinness of those
annoying little yellow bits that sometimes attach to a piece of popped
corn. The entire crab melts in the mouth and the initial bite releases
a buttery tasting liquid. We simultaneously taste the sweet softness
of meat under the salty crunch of the outer layer and a mix of sour and
sweet from the nuoc mam dipping sauce. For sure this fung shui creates
the perfect harmonious Asian dish.
Sarah summed up our crab dish the best,
“It’s perfect for its simplicity. It’s just rock salt.” I’d like to
add that some of the best experiences in life are perfect in their
simplicity as well such as nine friends sharing a wonderful meal during
Tet.
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