What I hear you saying is...

One of the great things about living in the South Bay (besides the weather and short commute) is that you have a world-class tourist destination only an hour away in San Francisco. If you feel the need to get away for the weekend but can't quite swing Tahoe or L.A. or some place like Seattle, you can wake up at 10 and still have time to make lunch on Fillmore or in North Beach. By not living in the city, you can be a tourist in your own backyard and still be home to walk the dog or sleep in your own bed if you prefer.

SF is an obvious place if you want to spend the better part of a day or the weekend. But what if you're down south and just want to get away for just a couple of hours? Or just lunch? Is it possible to leave town by driving just a few miles?

The answer is yes... In fact, you can feel like you've completely left the country...

Given the high frequency of Vietnamese signage in parts of San Jose, I was not surprised to learn that the South Bay hosts the largest population of Vietnamese expatriates in the U.S. But I was not prepared for the first time I visited the Grand Century Mall at the corner of Story Road and McLaughlin:

If you were to, say, rub vaseline in your eyes (not that I recommend it) your first blurry impression would be that the stucco exterior, shiny tile floors, and bright shiny shops inside the Grand Century were straight out of middle-america. But as goo receded and your eyes sharpened, you'd be amazed to see Vietnamese everywhere. And not just Vietnamese food. There are Viet music shops, dentists, clothes, travel agents, banks, bakeries, cookware, florists, etc etc.

To be fair, I've not been to Vietnam, and I kind of doubt these types of strip malls are typical in Hanoi. But if I sit back and listen to the incomprehensible sing-song chatter of the family sitting behind me, inter-mingling with the din of the pop-music piped from the cd shop... Smell the fish sauce and lemon grass and Ban Xeo frying on a grill... Slurp back a jack-fruit with cane sugar juice and look around to see that among the 300 people in view I'm the only caucasian... pinch me - I'm having lunch in Vietnam and still have time to make that 1:30 Biz Dev meeting with Mike.

So what to get? Well, basically spin the wheel at the food court and have at it. Unlike the noxious denizens one finds at other mall food courts (Sbarro anyone?) the shops here look more like mom-pop affairs, with the menus to back it up. There are the regular pho staples as well as other noodle and rice dishes, but there are also more exotic things like shrimp cakes and chicken skewers that look like they could be right out of a street cart in Da Nang.

As if this weren't enough, my favorite Banh mi shop is just a 100 yard walk away from the mall. If you head back out to the parking lot, head towards McLaughlin, wrap left around by the TK Noodle, you'll see Saigon's Bakery. Saigon's Bakery has some of the best sandwiches -- and they are ridiculously cheap: 3 sandwiches for $4. They bake all their bread on-site and serve the sandwiches on demi-baguettes. All of them are great, but I swear by the fried egg, grilled pork, and chicken (that's three different sandwiches). As Dick Vitale would say, "they're freakin' awesome (baby)!" Nobody speaks much English, but they have a point-and-shoot menu, so have no fear. You cannot go wrong at Saigon's Bakery.

And you can be there in minutes if you live in the South Bay. For you poor souls living way up in the city, Vietnam is still an hour away :-)

Grand Century Mall
1001 Story Rd
San Jose, CA
(408) 298-5149

Saigon's Bakery
953 McLaughlin Ave
San Jose, CA 95122
(408) 271-9744