Christina M.
Yelp
Just wow. I haven't seen such a varied Vietnamese menu...ever. And our food was absolutely delicious. We ordered a kid's beef pho for our 2-year old, which they wisely brought out ASAP and served sans herbs and onions. The owner also stopped by with a fortune cookie to help entertain him while we waited for the rest of our food. What a sweetheart.
I ordered the ground-pork stuffed tofu off the house specialties menu, and it was fantastic. A mixture of herbed pork, wood-ear mushrooms, and cellophane noodles is stuffed into fried(?) tofu pockets and topped with a delicious tomato sauce. I'm guessing this unexpected pairing of ingredients harks back to France's imperial influence in Vietnam. There was a yellowy tinge to the sauce hinting of turmeric. The stuffed tofu came with a generous side of steamed jasmine rice, crisp lettuce and sliced cucumber and tomato, plus pickled carrot and daikon radish. Each bite explodes in a series of contrasting texture and flavor - juicy meatball, tender tofu, savory sauce, crunchy vegetables, soft rice, and sweet, sour, and salty accompaniments. I skipped the dressing/dip over the top as it mostly tasted of Maggi sauce. We enjoyed our shrimp and pork summer rolls with plum sauce to start.
I swiped a slurp of my husband's roasted bone-in duck soup and it was tasty with a rich, dark poultry-flavored stock. Prices were fair ($12-14/entree, around $5 for the kid's soup, and $3-4 per app) - a little more than we typically spend at lunch, but portions were also huge and perfectly executed. That's rare with a menu this broad and deep. We will definitely, definitely return next time we're in town. I'm salivating just thinking about it.