Uncle Sam serving up Vietnamese specialties and speaking up in Chinatown

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At Little Saigon Café, Sam Sam is the owner, manager and chef.

"I do everything here," says Sam.

He opened shop in 2022 and serves a vast variety of pho.

"It very popular in Vietnam," he says. "It's called beef noodle soup."

Many varieties of pho are made with eye-round steak. Sam says his favorite is cooked with tendon and tripe added.

The beef stock is cooked for at least 16 hours, which he says makes the soup "very authentic."

"It's very, very good," he says.

Bánh mi and vermicelli are also on the menu, along with spring rolls made with chicken.

"You have a little bit of everything, all of my favorite things," says 6abc reporter Nydia Han.

Besides serving up good eats, he's also doing good in Chinatown, advocating for cultural events, like the Mid-Autumn Festival.

"I put it back in Chinatown," says Sam.

"Sam, you're known as 'Uncle Sam,' why is that?" asks Han.

"I'm here for over 40 years in Chinatown," says Sam. "Very happy to serve the community."

He's helped to organize against the building of, first, a baseball stadium, and more recently, a new Sixers arena slated for his neighborhood.

"So we got good people, get together, and they come to my restaurant," he says. "You wanna join the fight? Here at Little Saigon, 2nd floor, every Tuesday night."

He says his commitment to community is a consequence of his past.

"I choose to come to this country because of democracy," he says.

He was born in Vietnam to Chinese parents in 1957. He grew up there, but fled from communism, just as they had.

"We escaped by the boat," he says. "I was in a refugee camp for two years, over two years."

Since 1981, he's become deeply woven into the fabric of his close-knit neighborhood.

"I got a duty to protect my community and my culture, that's why I'm here," he says.

Little Saigon Café on Instagram | Little Saigon Café Menu

Little Saigon Café
220 N. 10th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107