If you feel a snack attack coming on, try satisfying your cravings with something other than the same old Cheetos and Red Vines, however crazy delicious they may be. Instead, head on over to Vua Kho Bo (translated: "King of Beef Jerky", also known as New Jerkey Manufacturing Inc). There, you'll find yourself loading up on pounds and pounds of beef jerky in its many incarnations (flavored with fruit juices, curried, five-spice flavored, pre-sliced for papaya salad, super spicy, a little spicy...). You can also buy venison jerky, cuttlefish jerky, pickled plums, dried mango or papaya, keo me (candied and spiced tamarind), and even mini dried crabs, all in bulk. Prices are by the pound.
The salespeople are quick to offer you a sample of whatever bin it is you've paused in front of. I politely declined the offer of a mini crab. Labels on the bins are in Vietnamese, so it's best you ask what it is you're sampling if you're unsure. You can get a frequent shopper stamp card if you buy at least one pound of beef jerky, which it's shockingly easy to do. Every shopper also gets one Capri-Sun with purchase, which I thought was really cute.
Fun fact: Vua Kho Bo resides in the same T&K shopping center where some of the scenes from "The Fast and the Furious" were filmed!
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