Vietnamese coffee delivers flavor and a caffeine kick like no other, and now, Spring Valley has a new spot for that. Mama Mai Vietnamese Café opened in December on Jones and Flamingo and already has garnered a loyal following for homemade banh mi sandwiches and Trung Nguyen coffee-based drinks.
Behind the operation are daughter-mother duo Tram Nguyen, 30, and Mai Truong, 65. Born and raised in Vietnam, Nguyen moved to Las Vegas in 2013, where she graduated from UNLV. While she was working as a graphic designer, her mother moved to Las Vegas, and together, they started selling Vietnamese-style bao buns at pop-ups.
“She had a language barrier. So in order for her to have income, she came up with the idea to sell homemade bao buns to the Vietnamese community. … It got some traction. And at that point, I thought maybe this has the potential to be much bigger,” says Nguyen.
Nguyen’s mother-in-law, Christy Vu, helped develop a drink menu for the pop-ups, and then, Nguyen got a nudge to go all in on starting a brick and mortar.
“In 2024, unfortunately, I got laid off from my job. But it was like a catalyst to take this whole venture seriously,” she says.
While steamed pork and quail egg bao buns are a thing of Mama Mai’s pop-up past, the women have now embarked on a new, delicious chapter—showcasing their culture through the coffee of their home region, Dak Lak, as well as Truong’s recipes.
Each of the cafe’s banh mi sandwiches ($7.25) come with plenty of crunchy veggies—fresh cucumber, pickled carrot and daikon and cilantro. Most include mayo and pâté, and they are laden with your choice of cold cuts, charbroiled pork, shredded chicken or omelet and Chinese sausage.
With her daughter translating, Truong reveals the secret to their signature pâté.
“The pâté has to meet all of the most important flavor profiles: rich, creamy, not too strong on the liver taste. The recipe was handed down from my mother,” she says with a wink.
Beaming at the business in the cafe, she says she never imagined she would have a food establishment in her name. Nguyen agrees.
“Where we came from in Vietnam, my parents had a camera shop. We did prints and photocopies for our customers. So, it was never in our minds to open a restaurant or cafe,” Nguyen says, nodding to her mother. “She says she puts everything into this, her heart, her effort, to create the food that we deliver to customers. We’re happy that our customers resonate with it.”
MAMA MAI VIETNAMESE CAFÉ 6112 W. Flamingo Road, 702-850-4007, mamamaicafe.com. Tuesday-Sunday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
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