For married couple Duy An and Hieu Le, food isn’t just a profession, it’s a passion, and it is evident in the the food at their pop-up concept, Hết Sẩy, which translates to “Awesome!”

Born in different parts of Vietnam, they met in Toronto and moved to San Jose, finding a home where food traditions, trade, agriculture and cultures meet. His day job is in technology and she is in retail, but they both knew that more than anything, cooking and sharing food was their future. As part of our video series illustrating stories of San Jose businesses surviving through COVID, we tell their story on our YouTube channel.

Ambitious home cooks, they had been making their own spiced sausages, vanilla extract, salt-cured lemons and kimchee from their home kitchen, and soon had a popular pop-up in an East San Jose deli. They were on the brink of opening a restaurant to expand on their capacity when COVID struck. They pivoted from pop-up to pick-up to cope through the pandemic, and never stopped sharing their takes on classic and fusion Vietnamese home cooking. You can check out the menu and place an order for pickup or delivery through their website. 

With the expanded capacity provided by leasing a spot in a commercial kitchen, they are now catering local events such as the SoFA opening of the new Veggielution pocket park and featuring a changeable menu on Saturdays at the San Jose Rose Garden Farmer’s Market.

OEDCA was able to visit the Rose Garden venue and sample an amazing braised/grilled spare rib with sticky coconut rice, while capturing footage for our video. We then interviewed them at their commercial kitchen in San Jose, just before they started their food prep. The video tells the story.

Savvy marketers, The couple share their food obsessions via their Hết Sẩy Instagram account, where their amazing food photography vies with their colorful outfits.