How the Flavors of Vietnam Found Their Way Across the U.S.

Phat Vu’s journey to opening his first restaurant required navigating turbulent waters—in more ways than one.

At age two, Vu, his eight siblings, his parents and another 25 family members crammed aboard his father’s shrimping boat in the middle of the night, setting sail to escape the fall of Saigon in 1975. They managed to make their way to a refugee camp in Malaysia, where, as a condition of their stay,...