Our journey began in 1996, when our family immigrated from Saigon, Vietnam to Portland, Oregon.

Three years later, in 1999, my mother opened a small food cart in downtown Portland, just outside the iconic Pink Building. At the time, that block was becoming the city’s very first food-cart hub, home to only thirteen carts, including ours, Saigon Food To Go.

Much of my childhood was spent there, helping prep ingredients at home before opening hours, standing beside my mother during service, and learning what it meant to feed a community.

Spice was always part of that story. Chili heat ran deep in our household. I took my first bite of a fresh chili pepper in second grade and never looked back. When the cart launched, we offered the classics such as teriyaki sauce, sriracha, fish sauce, and hoisin. My mother also created something special, a bold, aromatic chili oil she called Saigon Satay.

She knew it might not be for everyone. But it tasted like home.

Over the next eighteen years, that chili oil grew alongside our customers. Soon, “extra chili oil on the side, please” became a daily request. It was spooned over spring rolls, pho, wonton soup, fried rice, teriyaki beef or chicken. Pretty much everything. It turns out it does go with anything.

The food cart closed in 2017, but the sauce never did.

We continued making and selling Saigon Satay in its signature hexagonal jar with a gold lid, finished with a logo inspired by the iconic Bến Thành Market back in Saigon, a small nod to where it all began.

Today, we are excited to share our family’s chili oil with a wider world of spice lovers and heat seekers everywhere.

From our kitchen to yours, this is Saigon Satay.