50 years later, the fall of Saigon still resonates throughout Houston's Vietnamese diaspora [View all]

Nikki Tran was enticed by Houston’s sweltering southeast Texas heat and a surprisingly large Vietnamese community that gave the Ho Chi Minh City-born restaurateur an intimate sense of home. But it was the city’s underappreciated reputation as a “global food mecca” that cemented Tran’s place as an international ambassador for Houston’s innovative culinary scene.

Over the past decade, Tran has become a pioneer of Houston’s Viet-Cajun — or, as he calls it, Viejun — cuisine, which transformed the Gulf Coast’s trademark crawfish boils into a global fusion sensation. Tran built a Michelin-blessed Montrose neighborhood restaurant and exported Houston’s Viejun style back to Vietnam, where his unique approach to food caught the attention of restaurateur and author David Chang, who showcased the chef’s cooking on his Netflix series “Ugly Delicious.”

“The food scene here (in Houston) is crazy,” said Tran, who sports a “Fish Sauce American” tattoo on his forearm. “I’m very proud to be here and thankful for those that paved the way for me.”

Tran is emblematic of the impact the Vietnamese diaspora has had on Houston over the 50 years since the fall of Saigon and the end of the war in Vietnam. Houston became one of the main sanctuaries for refugees who fled the republic after North Vietnamese fighters drove American and South Vietnamese forces out of the country.

The Houston area now is home to America’s largest Vietnamese population outside of California, with estimates between 100,000 and 150,000. The growth of Harris County’s Vietnamese population has outpaced all other Asian groups, according to estimates by the U.S. Census and the Pew Research Center.


https://houstonlanding.org/50-years-later-the-fall-of-saigon-still-resonates-throughout-houstons-vietnamese-diaspora/