An icon of street food culture, a silent witness to adaptability and resilience, this low plastic chair is the most ubiquitous thing you will see while traveling across my favorite country in the world. Those who visit Vietnam are wise if they take every opportunity to sit in one while eating life-altering bowls of broth and noodles and seafood next to streets packed with buzzing motorbikes. Like I did.  Excuse me while I get carried away by sweet, sour, salty, crunchy nostalgia.  But eating really good Vietnamese food does this to me, and Lotus Pond's menu offers a wide array of fun dishes no one else is serving. Before we get into discussing those dishes, though, understanding how a humble, utilitarian piece of polyethylene furniture became an iconic symbol of a country that dates back 4,000 years is a fascinating dive: being aware of it, I believe, will add so much more joy to your dining experience. Here's the throughline: Vietnam has always been a low-sitting culture, one...