Legendary Vietnamese Restaurant Tay Ho Jumps From Little Saigon to San Gabriel

If heading out to Little Saigon for great Vietnamese is a regular practice, get ready to save some travel time (depending on where you live, of course). Tay Ho. the longstanding Orange County restaurant based in Westminster, just opened a takeout-only location in San Gabriel that puts the company in reach of the greater San Gabriel Valley, Downtown, most of LA’s Eastside, and beyond. Tay Ho’s new location has barely been open for two weeks but comes from a storied pedigree, having been founded by 20-year-old Vivian Yenson, the eldest granddaughter of Linda Tuyet Nguyen, the original matriarch of Tay Ho who opened Tay Ho in 1986.

It’s been a busy 36 years for the Tay Ho family, with the group expanding to Sacramento, Santa Clara, San Jose, and even Chino Hills later this year. For this new San Gabriel location the younger Yenson worked alongside her father Jayce Yenson [CEO of Tay Ho Restaurants and Tay Ho Food Company] to help develop a clear vision for the takeaway that would allow for versatility while still staying busy — something Vivian Yenson (who has also been completing her final semester at Cal State Fullerton as a finance and operations grad) should know well.

The new Tay Ho’s menu is traditional Vietnamese but with some contemporary twists, including plant-based banh cuon crepes that utilize Beyond Meat; no matter the filling, these crepes take five days to prepare. Yenson omitted pork belly from the banh xeo crepe to favor pescatarians, while preparing traditional and popular Viet dishes with bun noodle salads, rice plates, and specialty noodles. Drinks include Thai tea as well as a strawberry peach black tea, lychee green tea, taro milk tea, and lychee lemonade.

Yenson is channeling a similar path as her grandmother Nguyen, who used to cook dinner for the entire family nightly. “She passed [away] when I was nine. She always wanted every single person in the family to come home and sit around the table with us,” says Yenson. “Being able to create something that people love and share with everyone is our goal.”

Tay Ho SGV serves her slow-drip Vietnamese coffee — with a touch of chocolate — as soon as the doors open at 10am, and stays open until 4 p.m. daily at the new location at 529 E. Valley Boulevard in San Gabriel.

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