Saturday, Vietnamese New Year, is ‘Christmas, Thanksgiving and your birthday all rolled into one’
The folks at Pham’s Kitchen are inviting the neighbors to stop by and join their celebration of Tết, the lunar new year, Vietnam’s biggest holiday. Tết is famously described as Christmas, Thanksgiving, and your birthday all at once.
This year Tết is Feb. 10, the new moon signaling the start of the Year of the Dragon. Pham’s will have free holiday specialties for visitors, plus the usual menu, which you do have to pay for.
“I’ve got Tet decorations and food this year for all the community to come share with us,” said Ngoc Lan Nguyen, who runs the place with husband Vincent Pham.
Holiday treats include two kinds of traditional sticky rice cakes: Bánh chưng and Bánh Tét.
They’re tightly packed sticky rice with mung bean and meat fillings wrapped in banana leaves. Bánh chưng, the square one, represents the Earth, while cylindrical Bánh Tét represents the moon. Also on offer: thit kho trung, pork belly and egg braised in caramel sauce.
In case you go, here’s how you greet people for Tết: “Chuc mung nam moi.”
If you order food, you’ll get a raffle ticket. The drawing, at 8:15 p.m., will include gifts like Pham’s Kitchen gift cards, and Dragon Hershey boxes.
Pham’s Kitchen
2940 Union Road, Cheektowaga, 716-901-7663
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