CLIPBOARD : DISCOVERY : MY LINH GARDEN RESTAURANT

“Are you familiar with Vietnamese food?” the owner of My Linh Garden Restaurant asked a new customer. Because if you’re not, staffers are more than happy to introduce you gently to Vietnamese cuisine.

Welcoming Southern Californians to their native foods was the owners’ intention: they hired a Cantonese cook and included Chinese food on their menu to complement the Vietnamese for that very reason. Americans daunted by the Vietnamese offerings could fall back on old Chinese favorites.

“We wanted to serve all types of people,” not exclusively Vietnamese patrons, said Lien Dinh, co-owner. Indeed, most of the customers are not Vietnamese at this point. And, unlike waiters and waitresses in the typical restaurants on Bolsa Avenue, Little Saigon’s “main drag,” the ones here speak English.

The most popular dishes are the special marinated chicken (half a Cornish game hen)--so tender that it falls off your fork; the charbroiled shrimp and pork with vermicelli noodles; Vietnamese spring rolls (shrimp, lettuce, cucumber and bean sprouts wrapped in rice paper and garnished with peanut sauce) and pho , Vietnamese beef noodle soup with rice. Bean sprouts, mint leaves, lettuce and chili pepper are served on the side--to be mixed with the soup broth at the customer’s discretion and taste.

A delicious drink on the menu might appear to be a vegetarian health-food item. The liquid delicacy, called “green bean drink,” is made from the sweet inner lining of the bean pod mixed with coconut juice.

My Linh Garden, which opened in September, is a family affair, although customers are likely to see only Lien Dinh and her husband, Peter Caovan, or her sister, Kim. The Dinh family came to the United States in 1975, when Lien was 10. In 10th grade, she was asked to write an essay about her boat trip from her home in Ho Nai Bien Hoe via Saigon, and it won first place in a national contest called Project Democracy.

The decor of this modest restaurant is typical of a Southern California eatery. There are eight booths and four tables, padded seats covered in coral-pink vinyl, potted plants, two ceiling fans and, for the season, a Christmas tree.

Lien Dinh said the owners also pride themselves on serving light food, low in fat and cholesterol. A notice on the menu states that sugar, salt, cornstarch and MSG will be omitted upon request.

Beyond the small ads that have run in Common Talk, Pennysaver and Orange Independent, word of My Linh Garden has grown by word of mouth. Prices are very reasonable, portions quite generous. And the pride in the native cuisine is evident in the food served. “I am from another world, another country,” Lien wrote in her essay, “and I’m proud to be what I am!”

The food prepared by family members is the real thing, though. What makes this restaurant different is a sensitivity to Western tastes and a willingness to speak English. As Lien puts it: “We’re authentic, but we improvise a little.”

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Luncheon specials served only from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Address: 3424 E. Chapman Ave., Orange

Telephone: (714) 997-8262

Miscellaneous Information: English is spoken.