Restaurants : Thien An’s Beef Feast Is 7th Heaven

A few restaurants around Little Saigon have banners or signs displaying the words Bo 7 Mon --literally, “seven courses of beef.” The best version of this specialty dinner I’ve ever tasted was at Thien An in Garden Grove, an oblong, no-frills dining hall with sticky white plastic tables and a few party decorations.

It’s an incredible bargain. Seven years ago, when I first had seven courses of beef--at Anh Hong in Westminster, probably the first American restaurant to specialize in the meal--I paid the princely sum of $9.95. Today, Thien An only charges $10.95. So much for the weak dollar.

I’ve only heard one consistent story about the origin of the seven-courses tradition. The Vietnamese are the great beef lovers of south Asia--possibly due in part to that country’s long exposure to French influences. A few generations back, the story goes, a restaurateur in Saigon (now Ho Chih Minh City) dreamed this menu up and saw it become a smash success almost overnight.

The dinner is not nearly as Gargantuan as you might think. Apart from the fact that this is basically light, lean food, the courses are arranged so intelligently, so appealingly, that you rarely sense any waste or excess.

First, you’ll be brought goi bo , a superb salad composed of thin strips of beef and poached shrimps gently tossed with julienne carrots, chopped radishes and a pungent vinaigrette. Atop the salad is the component that makes its texture magical, a sprinkling of toasted rice, crushed peanuts and a few cilantro leaves. Mix the salad together with a bit of nuoc mam (fish sauce) and the result is a complex and delicious appetizer.

If that hasn’t seduced your appetite, the next course surely will. The waiter first brings out a parade of condiments, herbs and sauces for you to doctor all of the remaining courses with. If you are not Vietnamese, someone is sure to ask whether or not you’d like some of the house anchovy sauce, a partially fermented purplish-brown paste that makes as much sense to a bo 7 mon addict as A.1. or Worcestershire does to a beefsteak lover.

Mint, cilantro leaves and various lettuces come out on a large platter; lemon grass and chile sauce appear in tiny glass dishes. Then comes the piece de resistance , a simmering fondue pot with a side dish of sliced tenderloin. You cook the beef in the broth and then wrap it in the accompanying rice flour crepes, along with any combination of the condiments and sauces.

Course three is called nuong vi , Vietnamese for griddle . The griddle in question, which has a V-shaped mound in the center, is made of heavy cast iron, so the beef cooks quickly on it. This course uses the same sliced rounds of tenderloin, but apart from being cooked in a different way, they have been marinated with lemon grass and white sesame, resulting in an entirely different surge of flavor.

After you’ve finished with the nuong vi , you get bo nuong mo chia and bo nuong la lot , two varieties of grilled beef. The first is a sort of skinless sausage, similar to the cevapcici of the Balkan cuisines: minced beef mixed with flavorings like white pepper and garlic, shaped into bite-sized pieces and charcoal grilled. The second consists of the same minced beef rolled up in la lot , an aromatic green leaf. Three of each are served per person.

Now you’re ready for my favorite course, bo cha dum . The menu refers to it as “steamed pate beef,” but it’s really a steamed meat ball--an airy, crunchy round of ground beef mixed with ground nuts, wispy mung bean noodle threads and finely chopped mushrooms, served (curiously) with the Indonesian-style fried shrimp chips called kerumpuk . This course is to Vietnamese cuisine what a great country terrine is to French food. It’s also the smallest and most insubstantial of the seven courses, a way for this kitchen to tantalize you.

To finish, there is chao bo , literally soup beef. This is a flavorful broth enriched with smashed boiled rice, minced beef and an abundance of green herbs, brought to you in a glass bowl. It may be the only course here you aren’t tempted to alter even a tiny bit with sauces or herbs.

You aren’t restricted to “seven courses of beef” at Thien An, but I’ve never seen anyone here eating anything else. The menu has a few seafood nuong vi (dishes cooked on that cast-iron griddle)--those who don’t eat beef can get squid or shrimp. And it’s also possible to have charcoal-broiled ca loc , a fish that swims in directly from Vietnam’s Mekong River. That dish takes 40 minutes to prepare and is more than double the price of the seven courses of beef.

About the only other thing worth remembering is that, in addition to fine French-style filtered coffee served hot or iced with condensed milk, there are a variety of first-rate fruit drinks. Among the best are soda with salted plum, fresh limeade and the sweetest orange juice this side of a night market in Vietnam itself.

Thien An is moderately priced, but an excellent value. The seven courses of beef is $10.95 per person. Other entrees are $8.95 to $25.95. Beverages are 65 cents to $2.

* THIEN AN

* 13518 Harbor Blvd., Suite A-6, Garden Grove.

* (714) 530-4955.

* Open 3 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

* MasterCard and Visa.