Sneak Peek at New Rice & Roots Vietnamese Cuisine

March 18, 2025 – An interesting paradox emerges in talking with new downtown Monterey restaurant-to-be Rice & Roots co-owner/operator Niki Nguyễn.

She really wants to focus on the food, not herself or her husband-chef-restaurant partner Ty, or her fellow Vietnamese-American collaborator Hua Ho, who will do the bubble teas, fresh fruit smoothies, Saigon coffees and desserts like the three-bean she mau or the grass jelly with chia seeds.

But at the same time, the food is very personal for her and her family, so some elements of their story, their identity and their enthusiasm for the dishes she consumed as a kid is unavoidable.

“My love for cooking began in my childhood kitchen in Vietnam—a place where life revolved around the comfort of rice, the warmth of family meals, and the fragrant aroma of herbs and grilled meats filling the air,” she says. “Food was never just food. It was a way to gather, to heal, to celebrate and to honor where we came from.”

She adds that constraints in the coastal city of Quy Nhon led to clarity. 

“For a poor family, meat was expensive, and seafood and vegetables were the only option,” she continues. “What we ate was very simple but you can taste all of the flavors without adding a bunch of ingredients—when you eat it, you can tell, ‘This is what I’m eating.’ I just want to do food from my heart. I want to put on the table what I would put on the table at home.” 

Why the personal piece matters, the food does sound compelling on its own. 

That’s why it would be enough just to peruse the tempting menus, and why they’re included here—with the key context that the Nguyễns know what they’re doing given the success of former Barnyard hit Mon Chay Vegetarian Vietnamese, inspired in large part by the cuisine in Buddhist temples. (They stepped away to raise their young kids and run her nail salon because, per Niki, two children and two businesses were “too much.”)

Papaya salads with mint and Vietnamese coriander, rare steak pho noodle soups, lemongrass tofu and grilled pork vermicelli bowls all nod to classic expressions of the cuisine. 

But there’s also a splash of fashionable creativity in plates like the fish sauce chicken wings (and garlic butter wings), bone-in short rib noodle soup, and R&R egg rolls with wood ear mushroom, mung bean, taro, shrimp and ground pork.

“I cannot find traditional tastes down here without driving to San Jose, and I want to bring it out,” she says. “And at the same time I want to bring some fusion so guests experience a contemporary [aspect] that mixes into modern decorations and also with the food.”

Menu testing starts in earnest early next month, the restaurant opens April 13, with the grand opening and ribbon cutting in concert with the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce May 13 from 4-5:30pm.

It arrives with food that all indicators suggest will speak for itself, but will also carry a family’s history.

“Every dish tells a story—of where we came from, the meals we cherish, and the joy of sharing it with you—but it’s not about us,” Niki says. “It’s all about the food I bring to the table. We want to get back to restaurants because food has always been our passion.” 

Rice & Roots Vietnamese Cuisine will open next month at 422 Tyler St. in Monterey. Opening hours are 11am-8pm daily.