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Best of 2000: Best Place To Learn Cambodian Chess

Trieu Chau Restaurant
4653 University Avenue,
City Heights
(619) 280-4204

Sponsored
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This is the ritual: come around nine in the morning and sit in the back on the salmon-colored Formica benches, where all the Cambodians gather. Donut-shop owners, teachers, retired soldiers, shift workers. Some read newspapers, everybody talks Cambodian politics, most order the breakfast they've eaten all their lives, a kind of H-shaped fried croissant, with coffee poured over condensed milk. Maps of Kampuchea decorate the walls, as well as long-distance telephone ads. "Cambodia: $10 for 33 minutes." The menu has a large drawing of famed Angkor Wat on it. But when Kathy -- a Chinese-Cambodian -- comes to take your order, just say, "Djak kvai coffay dok ko." "Fried bread with Cambodian coffee." Or you might have the dish most Khmers (Cambodians) eat in the evenings, "if the nights are calm and there is no war," as one customer puts it: pan-fried noodles with broccoli, beef or shrimp, and gravy ("Koitiow bahat sai kho"). Don't ask for it with chicken, which Khmers consider tasteless. Now take an interest in the noisy chess game. Pieces include seashells, wooden domes, and conical-hatted kings. It's quick. It's complicated. But they'll happily teach you, and maybe they'll teach you how to sit cross-legged on the bench too. Plus, you'll pick up some language. It's a great way to dip into the Khmers' ancient, sophisticated, and wounded culture.

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Trieu Chau Restaurant
4653 University Avenue,
City Heights
(619) 280-4204

Sponsored
Sponsored

This is the ritual: come around nine in the morning and sit in the back on the salmon-colored Formica benches, where all the Cambodians gather. Donut-shop owners, teachers, retired soldiers, shift workers. Some read newspapers, everybody talks Cambodian politics, most order the breakfast they've eaten all their lives, a kind of H-shaped fried croissant, with coffee poured over condensed milk. Maps of Kampuchea decorate the walls, as well as long-distance telephone ads. "Cambodia: $10 for 33 minutes." The menu has a large drawing of famed Angkor Wat on it. But when Kathy -- a Chinese-Cambodian -- comes to take your order, just say, "Djak kvai coffay dok ko." "Fried bread with Cambodian coffee." Or you might have the dish most Khmers (Cambodians) eat in the evenings, "if the nights are calm and there is no war," as one customer puts it: pan-fried noodles with broccoli, beef or shrimp, and gravy ("Koitiow bahat sai kho"). Don't ask for it with chicken, which Khmers consider tasteless. Now take an interest in the noisy chess game. Pieces include seashells, wooden domes, and conical-hatted kings. It's quick. It's complicated. But they'll happily teach you, and maybe they'll teach you how to sit cross-legged on the bench too. Plus, you'll pick up some language. It's a great way to dip into the Khmers' ancient, sophisticated, and wounded culture.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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