Same bowl, new address: Phở 79, Little Saigon's James Beard classic, has moved to Bolsa Avenue

Little Saigon's most decorated bowl of phở has a new home. Phở 79 — opened in 1982, named one of America's Classics by the James Beard Foundation in 2019 — has left the Garden Grove strip mall at 9941 Hazard Ave. where it cooked for more than 40 years. Its own website (pho79.com) now lists the restaurant at 8894 Bolsa Ave. in Westminster, in the space that used to be the Grand Garden restaurant, and Yelp marks the old Hazard Avenue location as closed. The Orange County Business Journal reported in May 2026 that the family planned the move for the summer.

Why one phở shop matters this much

The number in the name is a date. According to the James Beard Foundation and LAist, the family behind Phở 79 escaped Vietnam by boat and arrived in the United States in 1979 — the restaurant, opened three years later by Tho Trần and Lieu Trần, carries that year on its sign. Before there was a restaurant, there was a VW bus: LAist reports that the family matriarch, grandmother Nguyễn Thị Dao, sold homemade Vietnamese food from the bus in a church parking lot before pushing the family to open a proper restaurant.

The kitchen, led by chef Lieu Trần, helped turn a strip-mall corner of Garden Grove into one of the anchors of Vietnamese cooking in America. In 2019, the James Beard Foundation — the group behind what are often called the Oscars of American food — named Phở 79 one of its America's Classics, the first James Beard award for any Orange County restaurant, according to LAist. The family wasn't waiting by the phone. John Nguyen, a family member who manages the restaurant, told LAist his reaction to the award call: "James Beard, we didn't know him."

The Michelin Guide lists Phở 79 too, and its inspectors call the place "an institution" — with the oxtail phở singled out as the most popular order for good reason. As of September 25, 2026, Michelin's online listing still shows the old Hazard Avenue address; the guide hasn't caught up with the move.

Twice the room on Little Saigon's main street

The move is an upgrade in size: from about 3,000 square feet on Hazard Avenue to a 6,450-square-foot space on Bolsa, according to the Orange County Business Journal. It is also a move to the neighborhood's front door. Bolsa Avenue is the street Little Saigon grew up around — and a restaurant that helped build the community's food reputation now sits on its main artery.

What hasn't changed, per the restaurant's website: the menu centers on phở, and the hours run morning to night.

Phở 79 — new location
Address: 8894 Bolsa Ave., Westminster, CA 92683
Hours: 7 a.m. – 9 p.m., Wednesday through Monday. Closed Tuesdays.
Website: pho79.com
Phone:
(714) 531-⁠2490
(714) 893-⁠1200

An institution that moved down the street, not away

Little Saigon has watched beloved businesses close for good — rising rents, retiring owners, children who chose other careers. This is the other kind of story. A 44-year-old restaurant needed more room and found it a few minutes away, still inside the neighborhood it helped define. The dining room is twice the size now. The name on the sign still counts back to 1979.