Little Sister

Thanks in large part to the entrepreneurialism and hard work of the world’s largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam, Orange County has an astonishing collection of Vietnamese restaurants – some known locally by name, many others nearly anonymous. The vast majority offer either limited menus focusing on a specific type or region of Vietnamese cuisine, or basic menus canvassing well-established dishes. Very few elevate Vietnamese food.

With several mostly LA-area locations and one offshoot (LSXO), Little Sister is part of a small local chain that focuses on elevated Vietnamese experiences. Orange County’s only Little Sister is at the Irvine Spectrum mall, where it occupies an atypically large and beautiful indoor space near the Apple Store. Dark metal and wood pair with brass, marble, and more neutral wood framing, spotlighting machine gun, barbed wire, and butterfly imagery that hint at Vietnam’s complicated histories of combat and beauty. Indoor and outdoor seating accommodate over 100 people, including bar seating near the restaurant’s only TV.

Unlike LSXO, which unapologetically blares uncensored old school hip hop in a small, speakeasy-like dining room overlooking the ocean – and includes some surprising fusion dishes – Little Sister is somewhat more restrained in ambience (the TV and speakers play hip hop, but non-explicit) and menu choices. On one visit, choices included a classic Vietnamese bo tai chanh beef salad, the increasingly standard shaky shaky beef ($42), and basic spring rolls with shrimp and pork filling ($18), plus crispy banh xeo crepes, phos, and banh mi sandwiches. Atypical items included a salmon crudo with coconut lime chili vinaigrette, and a sesame sourdough baguette with pate and European butter, the latter a nod to Vietnam’s French influences. Our second visit included crispy imperial rolls ($22), a beef pho bo soup ($28), a plate of thick pho banh cuon rice paper rolls ($21), a lemongrass chicken banh mi ($17), and a Little Sister black rice dish loaded with seafood ($39).

Putting prices entirely aside, virtually all of the items we’ve tried across these visits have ranged from pretty good to good rather than great renditions; we’ve been consistently more impressed by the portion sizes and presentation than the flavors. The banh mi, for instance, was both large and served on a plate loaded with salad greens and rice crackers, but the grilled lemongrass chicken had so little distinctive flavor and texture that it blended into the baguette rather than standing apart. We had similar issues with the filling in the pho banh cuon, the seafood in the Little Sister black rice, and so on.