Crunchy Rice

Now I am sure this post will surprise (insert sarcasm here) anyone who has ever crossed my path - it is ALL ABOUT FOOD ; )  This past weekend I was introduced to traditional Vietnamese and Louse( I think that is how to spell it). Saturday after a relaxing day of walking and shopping I met up with some friends for dinner. We ventured into a district I had never even stepped foot into, there are many of those for me to still discover though. I think it is safe to say the majority of the population in this area is Asian. I have actually never seen so many Asian themed restaurants in one location - Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese - you name it they had a restaurant. After passing by about 50 places we stumbled up to one that had a line out the door and around the corner - at this point not only was I starving but I was convinced with that many options around this place HAD TO BE GOOD.  My girlfriend has been coming here for years (She is Vietnamese) and knows the owner, so we were greeted with a smile, but the only way to not wait in line was to sit on the terrace.Now normally I would prefer to be here but this day in Paris had been gray and going back and forth between warm and cold and rainy and dry..... after debating all pros and cons the 5 of us decided it would be worth the risk and if it was going to rain it would have started by then. We ordered drinks and our hostess ordered the starters for us - since she is an expert int he cuisine. About 30 seconds after our drinks - yup you guessed it .. enter rain. After rearranging the table, getting umbrellas set up and managing to keep the rain from dripping off the umbrella onto us - we were all soggy but hysterically laughing.  When all was said and done, the rain reflecting from the neon lights of all the restaurants made it feel like we weren't even in Paris anymore but sitting outside in some other country at some other time... we tried everything from Crunchy rice salad with pork you wrap in lettuce leaves, some Vietnamese egg roll type wrap thing with shrimp and bean sprouts and fresh mint, Vietnamese raviolis with I am not actually sure what was in it or on it but the sauce was delectable and all sorts or sticky rice and rice noodles and curries and vegetables for the meal.  It was honestly amazing - I know I say that a lot about food, but this was really unbelievable.