Over by the Claiborne Avenue bridge, where the clanking and bang of the highway meets the gentle flow of Esplanade, there’s a crisp smell at all hours. The Manchu Food Store is open and serving. Its purple front, made famous in various local music videos, has a painted-on green sign that gives you a vague idea of what’s on offer.

“My mom’s dad was an absolute hardass,” John Nguyen says as he recalls his grandfather Kevin, a Vietnamese immigrant who bought the original Manc...