SUCK IT EXPANDS IN SA
WORDS AND PHOTO BY KIMBERLY SUTA
Suck It” isn’t just an insult anymore, it’s become something of a culinary empire, at least in San Antonio. What started out as a boba tea and hookah hotspot has evolved into a popular Asian eatery with four locations and counting.
If you’re on the Northside near University of Texas San Antonio, you might remember Suck It’s first location, which opened in 2010 and was sold in 2018.
“That’s why we called it Suck It, because of the boba tea,” said executive chef and owner, Vinh Hoang, who is a first generation Vietnamese American, born and raised in East Texas. He moved to San Antonio in 2002 to attend St. Mary’s University and fell in love with the Alamo City.
He learned to cook from his mother and through his travels, drawing inspiration from his annual trips to Vietnam.
“Anyone can be a chef if you have a passion for food. At one point, I would offer to work for free at any place [in Vietnam] that wowed us so I could help out and learn. One lady took advantage of it and made me do all the heavy stuff,” recalls Hoang.
In 2017, Hoang opened the second Suck It themed restaurant in the Medical Center with a menu that focuses more on fusion dishes, highlighting food that Hoang grew up eating in Texas, from ramen to Tex-Mex.
And then came Suck It Modern Asian Bistro on Commerce Street in St. Paul Square, which offers a modern twist on Vietnamese and Japanese cuisine. Here you’ll find sushi, from traditional rolls to my favorite shareable item on the menu, the Sushi Stack: bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, salmon, avocado, white truffle oil, sesame oil, sesame seeds and micro greens, served with melt-in-your-mouth crab chips that are woefully addictive.
They also offer a variety of ramens, including the divinely rich and satisfying Suck It O.G., which is made with a 36-hour pork and chicken bone broth that includes chicken feet, so it’s packed with collagen. To that they add seared pork belly, scallions, sweet corn, mushrooms, narutomaki and a ramen egg just for kicks.
Next door, you’ll find the newly opened Suck It Izakaya & Sushi, which is offering unique items like dry-aged fish to accompany their impressive collection of Japanese whiskeys.
“It takes seven to thirty days to dry most of the fish we serve and up to six months on some of the tunas. As for the Japanese whiskey, right now we have approximately 200 different kinds, the largest collection being served in Texas,” says Hoang.
Reservations are required on the weekends, when you can enjoy an omakase-style dinner, where the chef creates a unique one-on-one culinary experience for guests. It’s not something you can find at many restaurants in town, but when you do, you won’t soon forget it. Oh, and did I mention, they also offer a finger-lickin’-good Asian- fried chicken, seasoned with phở spices?
“We marinate the chicken for two days in a brine made with all the herbs and spices used to make a phở, then dry it out and dust it with rice flour before we fry it, until it’s crispy and absolutely delicious. Eight pieces — a whole chicken — come in an order,” explains Hoang.
As if that isn’t enough, this past summer, Hoang decided to partner up with Adrian and Camille De Los Reyes of Sari-Sari to open up Suck It Asian Fusion and Boba at the former Sari Sari location near Seaworld. The menu here is a fusion of Filipino, Vietnamese, Japanese, Tex-Mex and Texas cuisine, so it should be fair to say, there’s something for everyone.
“The goal here was to create more of a balance. Filipino food can be very heavy and so we wanted to give it some freshness,” says Hoang. “I really want each location to have its own unique menu and concept. They are not the same.”
When asked which dish his mom liked best, he says her favorite is the phở, which you won’t find at all locations on all days, but it’s worth the trouble to track it down. They offer a barbacoa phở at the Medical Center and Seaworld locations and a ribeye phở downtown (but on the weekends).
“She’s proud of me, but she gets on me sometimes and tells me, ‘This isn’t how you should make it,’ so I have to remind her it’s a fusion restaurant, a modern take on traditional dishes,” he shares.
So, what’s next? It looks like the Schertz area may be getting a Suck It of their own, but that may or may not be the end of the Suck It story. After Schertz, Hoang has his sights set on a new, heretofore unknown venture.
“I’m not trying to grow to the point where people have to wait three hours just to get a table. I just want to make food that I like personally and that people want to come eat on a regular basis. That’s all we’re really doing,” says Hoang.
About the Contributor
Kimberly A. Suta is editor of Edible San Antonio, a filmmaker, food writer, event planner, culinary tour guide and has a media company called Homegrown Chef. She loves nothing more than sharing the phenomenal food, chefs and restaurants that San Antonio and Texas have to offer.
