Tien Nguyen

Queen's Bakery in Chinatown sits innocuously between a Sam Woo and Wing Wa Hing Gifts and Arts Co. (this is a one-stop shop: you can get everything from paper lanterns to fresh herbs here). The bakery is small, modest, and Pepto-Bismol pink. In fact, if you didn't know any better,......

A Vietnamese-style breakfast really is not so different than one you would find at, say, Denny's: scrambled or sunny-side up eggs, meat (usually cha lua or other Vietnamese sausage), and bread (ideally, a hot, buttered bánh mì). Turn the above ingredients into a breakfast sandwich perfect for the American to-go......

Cognoscenti Coffee at Proof Bakery in Atwater Village calls a spade a spade. That is, the coffee station inside the bakery, run by Yeekai Lim, lists a generally off-menu item -- the cortado -- as a cortado. To really appreciate the novelty of this listing, let's take a step back......