The Abridged version:
- Mẹ’s Kitchen is the sister concept to Saigon Ơi, one of South Sacramento’s top Vietnamese restaurants.
- It has a similar menu with a few additions, such as phở and Vietnamese coffee drinks.
- The flagship dish is bánh mì chảo, a breakfast skillet with several types of meat in a savory tomato sauce.
Saigon Ơi was its founding family’s introduction to South Sacramento’s rich Vietnamese food scene. In Mẹ’s Kitchen, they’re taking it to a broader audience.
The new sister restaurant began its soft opening Oct. 30 in Sierra Shops retail center, kitty-corner from Loehmann’s Plaza on Fair Oaks Boulevard in Arden Arcade.
Saigon Ơi is surrounded by Vietnamese restaurants in South Sacramento’s Little Saigon neighborhood. Mẹ’s Kitchen, on the other hand, is taking on a culinary ambassador role in a part of Sacramento County with few similar restaurants.
“We’ll still see our Vietnamese, Chinese (and other) Asian customers here, but we kind of wanted to reach out more to, like, the American crowd,” co-owner Michelle Thach said. “That’s why we chose Fair Oaks (Boulevard), because we know that there’s not a lot of Vietnamese restaurants here.”
Mẹ’s Kitchen is helmed by Kim Tran, who immigrated from Vietnam at age 17 and studied child development and cosmetology before learning to cook for her family a decade ago. Tran and her mom, Kim Nguyen, helped start Saigon Ơi in 2021 with Tran’s cousins Preston Tran and Kenny Kieu as well as Thach, Kieu’s wife.
The family also owns Seafood House Quán Ôc, a larger space that specializes in Vietnamese shellfish and sea snails a short distance down Stockton Boulevard from Saigon Ơi. The new restaurant pays homage to the owners’ mothers: “Mẹ” is Vietnamese for “mom.”
“It’s a tribute to our moms, how hard they worked to get here to build a better life for us,” said Thach, whose parents immigrated from China in 1980 and ran a series of Chinese restaurants in the Sacramento area. “Our moms brought us here and gave us the opportunity to share our traditions and our foods and everything in here.”
Most of Mẹ’s Kitchen’s menu mirrors Saigon Ơi’s, including the flagship bánh mì chảo. Filet mignon pieces, a peppery meatball, pâté, pork roll, buttery mayonnaise and two fried eggs pile into a breakfast skillet atop a layer of umami-packed tomato sauce. You’ll want to scoop up every last drop with the fluffy, crackly baguette from Hương Lan Sandwiches, Saigon Ơi’s neighbor across Stockton Boulevard (with another location in Folsom).
“I want to keep the food in its right place,” Kim Tran said. “The quality is key and the consistency of the food, so I have to be back there to make sure that when the food comes out, it’s the same.”
There’s a handful of new menu items, too, including two common Little Saigon dishes seen less frequently in Arden Arcade: phở and bánh mì. The Southern-style phở steeps for 24 hours before Tran adds thin filet mignon slices, meatballs and a fall-off-the-bone beef rib, while the bánh mì uses grilled chicken instead of the usual pork products.
Garlic noodles are new on the menu as well, along with cà phê dừa, a frosty glass of imported Vietnamese coffee, coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk topped with shredded coconut. Mẹ’s Kitchen also has taps installed for the beer and wine license owners hope to receive soon, with mimosas planned for future weekend brunches.
Faux shutters peer out at a mural of a rice paddy at Mẹ’s Kitchen, which is a smidge more upscale Saigon Ơi. It’s also meant to mirror what restaurants look like in Vietnam, from basket lamps, greenery and lanterns to a specialty paint job to give the walls a specific textured look. Dishes, too, have been replated slightly to be a bit more balanced.
Customers have asked for satellite restaurants in Roseville and Folsom, but don’t expect another Saigon Ơi clone anytime soon. If anything, Tran’s next project would be a Vietnamese bakery, she said.
Mẹ’s Kitchen
Address: 2610 Fair Oaks Blvd., Sacramento
Phone: 279-345-0727
Hours: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. all days but Wednesday
Website: xn--mkitchen-t30d.com
Vegetarian/vegan options: Egg rolls and sweet potato fries
Drinks: Vietnamese coffee, juices and dessert beverages called chè. Beer, wine and mimosas to come.
Reservations: No
Benjy Egel is the senior food editor at Abridged. Born and raised in the Sacramento region, he has covered its local restaurants and bars since 2018. He also writes and edits Abridged’s weekly food and drink newsletter, City of Treats.