Crustacean is a long-time Beverly Hills hotspot, where chef Helene An is marking 45 years of her iconic Vietnamese fusion. She shared the inspiration behind her world-famous garlic noodles with "CBS Saturday Morning."

Beverly Hills

Crustacean, a renowned Beverly Hills restaurant, has been a pioneer in Vietnamese cuisine for over three decades, led by founder and chef Helen Anh. Anh, who fled Vietnam with her family in 1975, developed her signature garlic noodles by blending Vietnamese and Italian influences, inspired by her children and her belief in garlic's health benefits.

Despite the restaurant's success and expansion to seven locations worldwide, rising rents are forcing the family to consider moving Crustacean from its longtime Beverly Hills location. Chef Anh continues to keep her garlic noodle recipe a closely guarded secret, emphasizing the importance of knowledge and resilience over material wealth.

The inspiration behind Crustacean's world-famous garlic noodles

In the heart of Beverly Hills where the glitz and glamour of Hollywood line the streets, that's where you'll find Crustacean, a fine dining institution that's been reimagining what Vietnamese food can look like for more than 30 years. It's an homage to founder and chef Helen Anh and her upbringing in Vietnam. The 81-year-old still works daily in her kitchen, meticulously hand-crafting each dish, including her often imitated but never duplicated, world-famous garlic noodles. What ingredients were in garlic noodles in the original form? The main thing is the garlic, but how you cook the garlic to blend inside the noodle, that's one of my secrets. Chef Anh's story began thousands of miles away in Vietnam. In 1975, as the Vietnam War ended, chef Anh and her children were forced to flee the country. One officer come to me, they knock the door and they say, you have to leave. So I'm very scared. I say, I have to take care of my children first. So I just listen to them, grab anything I can and put them in the car. And they drove me to the airbase. Reports from Saigon said thousands of people were roaming Da Nang airfield. Chef Anh's daughter, Elizabeth, was seven years old at the time. All of a sudden, I get to this airport and I've never seen so many people jammed in one place. And kids were crying, people were yelling, it was crazy. Up to then, my mother had no idea where my father was because he was in the Air Force and he was still fighting in the war. Chef Anh and the children were reunited with her husband and their father, Dan, before moving to San Francisco, where Dan's mom had bought a small Italian deli. We live together with my mother-in-law, seven people in one small apartment. Chef Anh transformed the deli into one of the first Vietnamese restaurants in San Francisco, Tan Long. But the restaurant struggled. Late 70s, early 80s, if you serve authentic, authentic Vietnamese food, I don't think the audience was quite ready for it. So Chef Anh got creative, mixing ingredients from her childhood with other popular cuisines, eventually crafting her famous garlic noodles. Your mom created these garlic noodles because you liked pasta. Yeah, I know, it's so crazy. We as kids were really good, we were well-behaved. We get to have Italian food, but we couldn't afford to do it on a regular basis. And you know, mom said, you know, I'll make it for you and I'll make it better. So then she created her garlic noodles because mom always felt that garlic is really good for you in so many aspects. That recipe put the family on a new path. Chef Anh opened Crustacean, a fine dining restaurant in San Francisco in 1991. And now she and her daughters run seven locations around the world. And you can see right here, this is my secret kitchen. While Chef Anh would not divulge how to make her garlic noodles, she did show us where it happens. This is where Chef Anh is, inside the secret kitchen, making our garlic noodles. Hi, Chef Anh, hi! I saw a few garlic noodles. These are the secret garlic noodles? Yes. Wait, wait, can I get another peek? She shut the door on me. All right, here we go. As customers move away from traditional fine dining, Crustacean is adapting too. Chef Anh and her daughter Elizabeth launched Little C, a pop-up giving Vietnamese street food an elevated experience, flavor, and flair. And this one is a banh hoi, so it looks like a tempura shrimp. We sampled some fan favorites from the menu. This is a bao ka dumpling, and it sits on a bone marrow. So you gotta grab a little of the bone marrow as well. So be generous on the sauce and have fun with it. How is it? I think that's the richest dumpling I've ever had. It's fantastic. But rich flavors can't always keep up with rising costs. After 30 years as a Beverly Hills destination, the family says Crustacean will be moving as rent continues to climb. Do you think down the road, you'll be more Little C? At the moment, it still needs to be seen. Having a beautiful crustacean like this, you know, it's very expensive. You know, it's been tough. We're just doing our best to see what's next for us. Adapting with the times, as you always have your entire life. Yes. But no matter the address, the heart of Crustacean lives in the recipes. Why do you keep it such a secret? Based on my experience, we lost everything every time. We lost so many times. I don't want to give my children the money. I just want to give them my logic. Do you believe that this recipe and your knowledge is more valuable than anything money can buy? It's true. Money and gold, it doesn't last. If you have something that you can keep for yourself, for me, I think it's help you to survive. Well, here's to that. Yes. Cheers.

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