A six-foot tall statue of Buddha smiles as it stands between a pair of fake trees decorated for the Lunar New Year. Behind him, you can hear the ambient trickling of waterfalls; two of them are built into a long, marble-tiled wall, sandwiching a freshly-carved sandstone mural of China’s most iconic wonder, the Great Wall.
Look around some more and see: a hair salon, nail supply store, Taiwanese boba tea shop, assorted Vietnamese and Thai restaurants, an insurance agency and a T-Mobile outlet.
Now look back to the Buddha. Stare into those jolly, stone eyes. Look down at the gold-lettered placard below his feet (skipping over the protruding round belly), and read: “MeKong Plaza.”
Here, the décor tells the tale: This 2-year-old Asian shopping center on Dobson Road and Main Street randomly blends traditional and modern, cultural and commercial, into an oddly functional retail destination.
MeKong Plaza’s main draw is its food. Anchored by an Asian supermarket, the 100,000-square-foot plaza includes several freestanding restaurants and an additional food court in back. But mixed into the stir-fry are retail tenants such as a bakery, a jeweler and a Thai foot massage parlor (the aptly named “Thai Foot Massage”).
Cultural awareness events also set MeKong apart, notably its annual Tet Festival celebration, which is reportedly the largest celebration of the Vietnamese New Year in Arizona. For a weekend each year, traditional dancers, costumed performances, cultural exhibitions and food vendors of all sorts overwhelm the plaza. (This year’s festival takes place January 29-30.)
The key to MeKong Plaza’s location is not that it’s in Mesa, but that it’s the right piece of property, says property manager Tina Luong Martinez. It was bought rather than leased, allowing for the freedom to hold festivities like Tet. The space is also near Loop 202, the U.S. 60 and now, the Sycamore and Main station of Metro Light Rail.
“Just logistically, [MeKong Plaza] is functional,” she says.
The cultural/shopping center opened as MeKong Plaza in October 2008 with a focus not only on Asian-American communities, Martinez says, but on all communities in the area. Most important is that it serves as a “focal point and meeting place” for Asian culture, fare, events and products, she says.
Outside, the plaza looks like a traditional Asian pagoda, but functions like a climate-controlled indoor market once shoppers pass through the gates. Inside, trappings like the Buddha statue and China wall carving — “art that cost thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars” — bring old elements of Chinese, Vietnamese, and other Asian cultures into a contemporary, consumer-friendly context. Martinez says it’s well worth the money: “[The plaza is] clean, it’s beautiful, it’s different, and aesthetically, it’s attractive — don’t you think? Right?”
Ultimately, that’s your call. After exploring this self-proclaimed culture/retail hub some afternoon, grab a seat at one of the plaza’s scarce outdoor patio tables. Look around again, and appreciate the true charm of this open-to-all, kind of campy, Asian marketplace that’s been plopped in a Mesa strip mall. Go there and you might see this:
An old man with a long black ponytail reads a Chinese newspaper over a Styrofoam take-out bowl of noodles or soup, as two gangly tweens dawdle past with cups of M&M-heavy frozen yogurt, all with the soundtrack of Top 40 hip-hop that’s bumpin’ from an SUV as it rolls through the parking lot.
Take all this in. Then, look toward the front entrance of MeKong Plaza, and notice the two Chinese guardian lion statues. They’re watching the menagerie too, and their permanent, sharp-toothed grins seem to express pleasure at the good commerce being done around them.
If you go:
MeKong Plaza 66 S. Dobson Road, Mesa 480-833-0095, mekongplaza.com
Here's a breakdown of SPM's favorite plaza spots:
MeKong Supermarket
Dear college student: We hope you like instant noodles, ‘cause MeKong Supermarket has about 100 different kinds of them. No joke. Though they lose something in translation (in Chinese, they’re called “convenience noodles”), the price and, well, convenience of instant and ramen noodles easily crosses cultural boundaries.
Not all items here are as universally appealing — ASU students may or may not be impressed by the huge freezer aisle devoted to tofu and fish balls — but the array of Asian spices, sauces, fruits and vegetables should attract most any shopper.
You can think of MeKong Supermarket as a downsized version of Lee Lee Oriental Supermarket in Chandler. It has a less “international” selection, focusing mostly on Vietnamese, Chinese/Taiwanese, with a little Filipino thrown in.
This place has perhaps the craziest “special promotion” in Mesa-based Asian supermarket history: 10 percent off your entire bill, no matter what.
SPM Recommends: Kirin Ichiban, 40 ounce, malt. (Yeah bro, you read right: imported forties.)
Com Tam Thuan Kieu
This place distinguishes itself from the other Vietnamese restaurants in MeKong Plaza because it’s so simple and delicious. (Also, the staff is quick, friendly and eager.)
Com Tam Thuan Kieu doesn’t serve Pho, the Vietnamese popular meat-and-noodle soup, but they offer other kinds of noodle soup, as well as vermicelli, stir-fry and broken rice dishes — more than 200 menu options in all.
Prices are on par with other Vietnamese restaurants, which is to say, pretty affordable — almost nothing is over $10. This equals spare cash to experiment with their appetizer and specialty drink menus.
SPM Recommends: Phan Bi Cuon (shredded pork spring rolls, menu item no. 7); Hu Tieu Nam Vang (house special clear noodles, no. 95); Tra Thai (Thai iced tea, no. 231)
i-Twist Frozen Yogurt
i-Twist stands out at MeKong with its cutesy, fluorescent-color-and-quirky-geometric-furniture interior design. Maybe you like that look. If you don’t, try to get over it, because the build-your-own frozen yogurt cups or smoothies are delicious at 38 cents per ounce. (The self-serve setup and restaurant aesthetic are similar to FroYo joints such as Red Mango, Pinkberry or Mojo Yogurt.) Choose from several flavors (many non-fat) and dozens of toppings: sweets, fruits, fruit jellies, even mochi (the little marshmallow-esque Japanese rice cakes).
In addition, i-Twist offers reasonably priced fruit smoothies, milk teas and Italian sodas. Plus, free WiFi and a 25 percent discount for ASU or MCC students.
SPM recommends: Taro frozen yogurt with kiwi fruit, coconut jelly and mochi. It seems like a strange combo, but the oddly refreshing taro flavor, with its sweet tartness, is worth a try.
Reach the reporter at trabens@asu.edu
