RESTAURANTS / Max Jacobson : Wonderful Vietnamese Food Served Amid Mondo Bizarro Decor

One of Orange County’s greatest cultural resources is the collection of noodle houses, pate shops, bookstores, herb sellers and other emigre-run emporiums in Little Saigon, situated in Westminster and parts of Santa Ana and Garden Grove. Heading the list of attractions in my guidebook is a restaurant (naturally) called Thien Thanh. It is among the best places to eat in the neighborhood, and it’s great for people watching too.

The procession of Vietnamese passing in and out of Thien Thanh is a fascinating gamut: New Wave youths in leather pants and sunglasses, globe-trotting Asian businessmen in Savile Row suits, subtly costumed grandmothers and sleek, fashionable mothers toting wide-eyed babies.

Habits here aren’t much different than at any all-American diner--only the details are different. Afternoons, a young crowd lingers over noodle soup and filter coffee as the penetrating rhythms of Le Thu, a Vietnamese pop singer, play on the sound system. Evenings, a calmer mood prevails as families and friends gather for the restaurant’s more elaborate specialties.

Thien Thanh means, literally, “thousand blue,” an allusion to the ever blue skies of the Vietnamese homeland. That undoubtedly is why the glass-topped tables are bright blue, but there is no explanation for the lipstick-red floor--it’s a mondo bizarro combination that comes straight from Melrose Avenue. I don’t blame the New Wavers for wearing sunglasses.

The food, though, is wonderful, a dizzying melange of herbs and tropical fruits that employs both Chinese techniques and French sensibilities. It takes several visits just to scratch the surface.

Even the simple act of eating cha gio , Vietnamese egg roll, becomes a sensual experience here. Cha gio are peppery, bite-sized cylinders filled with minced pork, crab, celery, carrot and clear noodle thread; little lettuce cocoons with mint leaves, bean sprouts, ngo gai and aromatic parsley are wrapped around each roll, and then you dip the whole thing into the sweet fish sauce called nuoc mam . This dish is to the generic egg roll what cognac is to grape juice.

I began with the cha gio on my first visit and then proceeded to muc lan bot , an incredible platter of squiggly fried squids astride a fiery chile dipping sauce. After washing the squids down with soda sua hot ga , an orange-flavored milk soda whipped with beaten egg, I could eat no more. I promised to pace myself the second time.

And I brought several friends. We procured a round table (the better to fit more food on) and dug in. Cua rang muoi , cooked salted crab served in its batter-fried shell, was an unqualified hit. You might wonder why the kitchen bothers serving the shell with the crab but as you crack the shell, little flakes of batter fall off and mix with the fried onions and spices ringing the plate. Do not waste these batter flakes; they are delicious and surprising. Bo dam , described on the menu as “roasted beef centered with garlic,” turned out to be an extra-tender New York steak blackened on an iron grill, with a medium-rare center. The operative word in the description is garlic, so take note. I think the dish is fabulous.

Some dishes at Thien Thanh are clones of better-known Chinese equivalents, with a few native twists. Com thien duong chan is a lot like Yangchow fried rice but the addition of peas, corn, carrots, baked egg cake and Chinese sausage make it one of the most colorful rice dishes I’ve seen. Five-spice roast chicken, ga ngu vi huong , is sauteed with celery and green pepper, with the overpowering taste of anise. Heo xao chua ngot , sweet-and-sour pork, tastes exactly like its popular Cantonese namesake, however.

Most of the noodle dishes are familiar too. The Vietnamese prefer rice noodles over wheat noodles but the toppings--barbecued pork, duck, char-broiled beef, various seafoods--are strictly non-threatening. Only a few--such as bun moc , which comes with the oddly spongy pork balls that south Asians love, or bun oc , which uses cooked snail--could be called outre. Any of the noodle dishes would make a satisfying lunch for less than $3.

Among the more unusual items, I didn’t care for banh xeo . Similar to an omelet, it was stuffed with al dente bean sprouts and an occasional morsel of pork. The outside was a greasy mass of rice gluten and the inside was nearly raw. Canh chua ca gia can --sweet-and-sour catfish soup with large, vulgar looking chunks of pineapple and tomato floating in a pungent broth--was another dish I could have lived without. Even without the MSG I wouldn’t have liked it.

(If you object to MSG, consult your waiter. There are more than 150 dishes on this menu, and the waiters inform me that most are MSG-free.)

Make it a point to save room for the strangely appealing desserts, especially the icy suspensions known as sinh to . These are best described as fruit freezes, but the appeal is that they are made from rare Asian produce such as durian, jackfruit and custard-apple. All are wonderfully light and refreshing, not to mention exotic. The strong filter coffee with condensed milk goes down pretty well too.

Thien Thanh is inexpensive--one of the best values around. Rice noodle soups, rice noodle and rice dishes are $1.50 to $4.50. Beef specialties are $4.50 to $12.95. Other specialties are $4.95 to $14.95. Desserts are $1 to $1.50.

THIEN THANH

5423 W. 1st St., Santa Ana

(714) 554-7260

Open 7 days, 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., until 3 a.m. weekends. All major cards accepted.