Super Bowl Update: Vietnamese

Showing posts with label Vietnamese. Show all posts

Long Thanh

3:26 AM | Labels: Chinese restaurants, Independent Restaurants, Long Thanh, lunch places, Northside Restaurant, Vietnamese

Some friends of mine recently challenged me on twitter about my lack of pho love and suggested I try Long Thanh to get some that I might like. I was kind of surprised that they liked this place so much because it is really super close to my house and I have never eaten there. I will admit, I went in once shortly after we moved here, and picked up a menu, but just never went back. Since then, they have classed the place up a bit with some décor (I remember it being just pretty much white all over and kind of divey) and some tablecloths. Also, the lady who waited on me both times (one of the husband/wife owners I believe) was really nice and when I came the second time remembered me and asked me if I wanted the same drink.

So I met my friends for lunch shortly after their recommendation to see if they were right. Although, on this first trip, I didn’t order the pho. Just being difficult I guess, but I haven’t found pho in Indy that I really like yet, so I wanted to try something else first and get an idea if I liked the place before I moved on to something that I am obviously kind of picky about. I had a Vietnamese spring roll (you know, the non-fried kind)($2.75 for 2) and the “grilled shrimp noodle”(#54)($6.95). So, I have to admit, those non-fried spring rolls don’t usually really get me going unless they are wrapped really tight and are small and easy to eat. And it helps if there is a fair amount of meat in them (I like to be able to see several shrimp). This one was more like a salad roll with mostly (fresh) greens—lettuce and herbs. There was a little meat in it, but not much. And it was kind of fat and messy and not my favorite thing. They were served with a thick, plum sauce with peanuts on top to dip in though which helped a bit.

I really liked the noodles and shrimp dish though—it was a bowl filled with lettuce and bean sprouts and topped with hot rice noodles, and sautéed shrimp and green onions. There were some crushed peanuts on top as well as some shredded carrots. I really like rice noodles in general—they are lighter and don’t feel so filling and the combo of the nicely cooked shrimp with some noodles and some crunchy veggies from the bottom of the bowl was good. It was served with a light, slightly sweet sauce (with a bit of chili paste and garlic it) that I enjoyed dunking my noodles into. So they were right, I was liking this place.

So the next challenge was to go back and get the pho and see how it went. I met a friend again (different one this time) and we started with the Vietnamese pancake ($6.95). I love these in general, and this one in particular. It was truly like a crepe, they way I like them, light and really thin but perfectly crispy on the edges. Folded inside were sprouts, sautéed onions, pork, shrimp, and with cilantro and romaine lettuce on the side and served with some of the same sauce I had above with my noodles. My only complaint, if I had one, is that the inside stuff was just a little oily, but not so much that it stopped us from eating ALL of it. And it is pretty generous in size. I would certainly get this again. I really really liked how crisp the outside was. Perfect.

So, I got the rare beef pho ($6.75). And guess what? I liked it. This is the first pho I have had in Indy where I felt like the dish really had some flavor. And the flavor comes from the broth—the noodles are the same rice noodles that I had had in the dish before and they are just a complement to the broth really. There are also some sautéed onions and green onions in the bowl as well as the very thin slices of beef. So, of course, there is no way the beef really stays rare in that steaming broth, but these pieces of beef were thin and tender and very good. I thought they were fairly plentiful as well as I kept making sure I got all of them. You are also served a fresh plate with bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, jalapeno slices and a juicy lime wedge. I did add some of all of this into the bowl, which more than anything added a wonderful aroma. I did not have to add any sauces to it, which I have had to do in the past at other places just to get a little flavor. The broth stood on its own and I can officially say I found a pho that I liked. Cheers to my friends who recommended it (and if you have a favorite pho location, please share!).

Long Thanh

5707 East 71^st Street

Indy 46220

317/842-6499

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Saigon - Revisit

3:25 AM | Labels: Independent Restaurants, lunch places, Saigon Restaurant, Vietnamese, Westside restaurants

Ugh, I hate the sophomore slump. You know, the second time you go somewhere you really liked the first time (applies to movies and bands a lot too) and it lets you down the next time. I don’t know, maybe it was all our fault and I ordered wrong (I am confident I will hear about it from you all if that is the problem, and go ahead and start yelling at me for not trying the Pho now) but I was not nearly as impressed this time with Saigon this time. Nothing was bad, but let’s just say, I am glad it wasn’t my first time. Because I might not head back if it was.

So we started with the steamed dumplings ($2.95). These were actually fine—a lot like a classic pot sticker, minced pork and seasonings inside a slightly thinner wonton wrapper than a lot of pot stickers. I preferred this slightly thinner wrapper so that you didn’t feel like you were totally bloated after eating them—and there were 6, so between 2 people, I was already starting to feel pretty full after eating 3 of them. But they were fresh and hot, and all in all, probably the best thing we had on this visit. But they weren’t amazing. (You can also get them pan fried if you want that crisp edge).

Before we had even arrived, hubby was excited about trying their version of Shaking beef (here called “shaky steak” or Bo Luc Lac for those following along in Vietnamese) ($8.50). We had had the Cambodian version recently at the Asian Grill, and had really enjoyed it, and it had awakened the need to try it again at a Vietnamese place. So, it was pretty disappointing. The beef was cubed, and of good quality and fairly tender, but there was little to no seasoning flavor. There were some onions, green peppers and tomatoes stir fried in as well. But I know from making it myself that there are a lot of differing seasonings and ingredients used (at least in the recipe I used), and I couldn’t really taste much of any of it here. It also didn’t have that slightly crispy edge on the meat that comes from frying it at a really high heat and then adding the sauce, which is something hubby really likes about this dish at other places. So this is a dish I wouldn’t order again.

We also had their version of the Vietnamese pancake ($5.25), which is also something I have really enjoyed at several places. It was better than the beef, but only average in comparison to others I have had. The “pancake” is sort of like a crepe that is heavy on the egg, and is served with thin sliced pork, shrimp and a ton of bean sprouts inside. Again, there was nothing inherently wrong with the dish; it just didn’t get me as excited as some others. It was served with a sweet fish sauce on the side that really brightened it up—dipping the pancake in it certainly made me enjoy it more. Actually, I started dipping the beef in there too. It wasn’t overly sweet, not thick and syrupy or anything. It was a thin sauce and tasted like it had a fair amount of lime, as well as I am assuming fish sauce, some red chili and some sweetener, but not too much. I enjoyed the sauce with it all. The fresh lettuce and basil with the crepe was nice as well to give it a fresh crunch with the crepe.

So that’s it. Nothing was terrible, but honestly, in almost each dish, I can think of a place, in Indy no less, that does it better. So I will go back and try other things (and the menu is freakin’ enormous), but like I said, I am sure glad this wasn’t my first visit. Let’s hope the third time’s a charm.

Saigon Restaurant

3103 Lafayette Road

Indy 46222

317/927-7270

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Asian Grill

3:33 AM | Labels: Asian, Chinese restaurants, Independent Restaurants, kid friendly, lunch places, Noblesville, Northside Restaurant, Vietnamese

My sister is a Groupon addict and often buys Groupons for random restaurants all around the city, which works out well for me, because she tries places all over and when she finds one she really likes, she lets me know. This is how we ended up at Asian Grill. They went and liked it and then we all went together (and several of you guys had recommended it as well). So, the first thing I noticed is that I think this may be one of maybe two or three restaurants in Indy I have been to that had a significant wait at 6:00. Luckily we had made a reservation, so we didn’t have to wait the hour that many were waiting for a table (we did have to wait about 10-15 minutes past our reservation time). Seriously, this place was heaving. That always kind of gets me excited, because when you see so many people, you figure something must be good right?

So this is another of the restaurants that calls itself “pan-Asian” so it can incorporate various influences from various cuisines. They offer dishes that are Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Indian and Cambodian. This seems to be a popular thing right now, and if it is being done well, it is sort of nice to have lots of different things to choose from.

We sat down at our table (which was unfortunately very close to the door which was opening quite frequently and which made for a very chilly spot--a curtain in front of the door might be nice) but we were just happy that we had a table! We started with some apps—the crab wontons, the vegetable samosas, and the Thai beef salad.

My favorite of the apps was the samosas ($4.75). There were two decent sized fried patties filled with seasoned potatoes (Indian spices) and some mixed veggies. They were very hot and crispy and served with extremely fresh tasting cilantro chutney. These are the kind of Indian flavors I like—especially the bright cilantro dip on top. The crab wontons ($5.95) were a little different from most I had though because they were large triangles of wontons that were deep fried. They were exceptionally hot when they came out of the kitchen. Hubby likes these and was happy to have someone to agree to share them with him, since I usually refuse because they aren’t my favorite thing to order. They were served with a thin, sweet sauce. For crab wontons, they were good and hubby quite enjoyed them.

Crab Wontons

My least favorite thing was the Thai beef salad ($5.50) which I normally really like, but not in this case. It is a cold beef salad, and the beef was actually tasty and tender, but the vegetables it was served with were pretty much all raw red and green pepper chunks, which are not my favorite thing to eat by the forkful. In the past, I have had this served with lettuce and pickled red onions which I preferred. It is described on the menu as being in red wine vinaigrette, but it seemed a bit sweeter than that to me.

Thai Beef Salad

We got three entrées and shared them. They are really good sized, and in my opinion you could share one between 2 people. Anyway, we had the Lok Lak Beef, the Orange Chicken, and Red Pepper Shrimp. Actually, the main dishes were all good. The Lok Lak Beef ($14.25) is Cambodian in origin and was large chunks of sirloin that were sautéed. The edges were slightly crispy from what was probably caramelization of the marinade when the pieces of beef were sautéed. It was served over sliced onions and with a side of cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes. The beef was really tender, and had a nice flavor of garlic that combined with the onions was really good. This is a Cambodian variation of the Vietnamese Shaking Beef (speaking of which, I ran across the recipe online for the Slanted Door’s version—which was one of my favorites in San Francisco. Thought I would share here.) Anyway, I would certainly order this again.

Lok Lak Beef

My brother-in-law ordered the orange chicken ($12.50), which is something I never would have ordered on my own, because if just sounds too sweet, but this dish was quite good, and wasn’t as sweet as I would have thought. It is described as having an orange pulp infused sauce—and while it was somewhat sweet, it did maintain a bit of the tangy flavor of the orange as well. The pieces of chicken were white meat and were lightly battered and fried and pleasantly tender.

Red Pepper Shrimp

The pepper shrimp were also good ($14.50), although a little dry (as in, without sauce). They were even more lightly breaded than the chicken and sort of dry fried and served with toasty peanuts, green onions, and red chilies. The shrimp were a nice size and were cooked very well and were seasoned with black pepper. All the dishes came with three types of rice—white rice, fried rice and seasoned Indian-style rice. They were all good—the rice was a bit sticky, which is how I prefer it.

I have read some complaints about service, and I have to say, other than waiting past our reservation time to be seated, I was surprised with how good the service was. They were certainly very busy, but we did not wait long for anything once we were seated. We all really enjoyed the experience and I would say we will certainly be back. I know some of you will say, how “authentic” is any of it? But honestly, who am I to say what is authentic or not, when I have never been to Asia? Much of it tasted good, and that is what I go by.

Asian Grill

74 North 9^th Street

Noblesville, IN 46060

317/773-9990

www.asiangrillindy.com

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Sizzling Wok

2:51 AM | Labels: Chinese restaurants, Independent Restaurants, lunch places, Sizzling Wok, Vietnamese, Westside restaurants

I had been having a lot of different people recommend Sizzling Wok to me for different reasons, and I was in the mood to give Pho another go, and someone had just told me that the Pho here was good, so we were off.

First of all, I hadn’t been to the West side for quite awhile and we got stuck in some killer traffic at 38^th and Lafayette Road because of construction. I am not sure when it is supposed to be done, but if you are looking for a fast lunch, you may want to take this fact into consideration.

We finally made it and sat down to try and figure out what to order. I had read that the Vietnamese pancake was good, and it sounded good to me, so we ordered that as a starter. This thing is huge and full of lots of stuff, so honestly, it would be a very filling lunch on its own. It was a very light eggy pancake/crepe type thing that was filled with sliced of tender and flavorful pork as well as a few small shrimps and lots of sautéed bean sprouts. The pieces of pork were not tough but had nice crisp seared edges. The shrimp were also tasty. The sprouts gave a nice crunch. The whole thing was served on top of large Romaine lettuce leaves which our server informed us you were supposed to rip off and fill with the crepe (as well as some fresh basil leaves on the side) and then dip the whole bite into a sweet chile sauce. Hubby was complaining that we had obviously ordered too much, but as it turned out, not only was this pancake really good, it was also the best thing we ate that day, so we were glad we had order it.

I ordered the rare beef Pho. They did a good job with the beef—they obviously just dropped raw beef slices into the broth to keep it from overcooking. The strips of beef were quite tender; they just lacked much flavor, which is the overall problem I have with Pho. This broth had some richness to it, and got a little more spicy and flavorful after I immediately added all the fresh peppers served alongside as well as most of the basil. But honestly, I still just can’t get that excited about Pho. It is hard to eat (all those noodles and all the broth—spoon or chopsticks? You can’t get both at the same time). I think I would rather have some flavorful noodles fried with some veggies and eat my soup separately. I just haven’t met a Pho that has changed my opinion on this issue yet. This is probably the best one I have had, but compared with the pancake, it was boring.

Hubby had a lunch special from the Chinese side of the menu (they have a Vietnamese side as well as a Chinese side). He had his perennial favorite, General Tso’s chicken. He also got a cup of hot and sour soup with it and a spring roll and fried rice (included as part of the lunch deal). The soup was not particularly hot or sour, and was quite eggy. There was a bit of pepper in it, but not the real peppery and sour flavor that a good hot and sour soup has. It was ok, but again, a little bland.

As for the chicken, he hated it. I think the word he used was “horrible.” The sauce was really gloopy and sweet and according to him tasted like it was straight out of a bottle. He literally ate one or two pieces and didn’t touch the rest. The fried rice was basically “brown with peas in it.” (Again, hubby’s words). He described it as flavorless. He gave up and just finished off the pancake.

So while we started out well, and I would totally get the pancake again if I ever went back (questionable), I would stay away from the Chinese side of the menu and try and stick with the Vietnamese side. Based on our limited experience, it seems a bit more finessed. But as my fortune cookie said that day, “It is proper to speak the truth.” So there you go. The truth is, other than the first course, which I really liked, it wasn’t that good.

Sizzling Wok

4351 Lafayette Road

Indy 46254

317/297-3441

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Saigon Restaurant

4:52 AM | Labels: Independent Restaurants, lunch places, Saigon Restaurant, Vietnamese, Westside restaurants

Ahhh…there you go. My faith is restored. It IS possible to get good Vietnamese in Indy. Even though hubby was grumbling about it after our last foray into Vietnamese cuisine, he let me convince him to give at least one more place a try. So this time, we headed out to the west side.

Saigon is in a pretty dingy looking strip mall on Lafayette road. But when you walk in, you notice how tidy everything is, and you feel welcomed. The walls are painted a slightly disturbing shade of pinkish red, but other than that, it has a nice feel. One word of advice, if you are sensitive to air conditioning as I am, notice which hanging lights are swaying in the breeze, and choose to sit at one of the other tables.

We weren’t really sure what we were going to order, and even though several readers recommended I try their pho, after my last experience, I was a little jaded and wanted to get something else. One of these days I will go down that road again, but for now, I am just going to ignore it and get something else because well, maybe that just isn’t my dish.

We decided not to get the lunch specials either (which are a good deal at around $5 and you get a spring roll and soup with your entrée) because they sounded kind of boring --“chicken and broccoli” and stuff like that. I really wanted the chicken and eggplant (#95), so that is what I ordered, and hubby, after reading someone’s comment online, got the crispy egg noodles stir fried with veggies and meat (#60).

First though, I started with small cup of the crabmeat asparagus soup which comes with the lunch specials. I like both those things a lot, so it sounded good to me. It was a thick soup, reminding me of egg drop soup (there was egg in there too) with very very cooked down soft pieces of asparagus and slivers of crab. My first bite was a little fishy tasting (wondering if some of it is the fake “krab”), but after a couple more, it wasn’t bad. I don’t know that I would pay extra to get it with a dinner, but if I got the lunch special, and got the free bowl, I would certainly eat it. I also liked that the bowl was set atop a saucer from Salvatore’s Italian Gardens. Nothing like some serious recycling to make me smile.

When the entrées came out, hubby and I had the same reaction to his dish. We didn’t think it would be good. It was like one of those “bird’s nest” dishes you see at Chinese places. The noodles were fried crispy into a bowl like structure and the meat (shrimp, chicken, beef and squid) and veggies (broccoli, bok choy, onions and carrots) were on top. The whole thing was covered in a clear thick sauce. The noodles, for the moment, were quite crispy, but softened as they sat in the sauce a bit. And the sauce, while not visibly looking very flavorful, combined with the noodles and other things had a nice flavor to it. Not spicy or anything, but interesting. The more I ate it, the more it sort of grew on me. The shrimp were cooked really well (not over or under cooked) and the chicken was tender. The beef was a little weird (seemed almost boiled) and the squid was pretty inedible in its rubbery-ness, but I have yet to find squid in a dish like this that is any good. The broccoli was nice—actually more tender than most stir fries, but with a bite to it also. Hubby declared he probably wouldn’t order it a second time, but we actually quite enjoyed it as we ate it.

My dish was even better (which always makes me happy when I out-order him). The chicken was good-- but the eggplant was amazing. They cut it into small crescents and cooked them till they were melt in your mouth soft which is exactly how I like eggplant. It was in a fairly spicy sate sauce, which really saturated the eggplant (eggplant is so good at that) and made it even better. The only thing I wished, honestly, was that there was more of the sauce because I would have liked to have my rice all covered in it as well and there wasn’t quite enough of it for that. There were also lots of sliced sautéed onions in there giving a nice crunchy bite to the dish.
So they also have a Vietnamese market next door that was quite interesting. I am always most interested in what is going on in seafood area, because that is where you can see if they have any quality fresh stuff. There were several types of fish and check out the gigantic vat of live crayfish. I didn’t see any on the menu (which by the way, is enormous), but was wondering if they will cook some for you if you ask. There were also some live crabs as well. MMMmmmm…

Anyway, this place definitely has merited a repeat visit and hubby has even dubbed it dinner worthy due to the nice selection of Asian beers (he liked the Vietnamese “Saigon” beer the best on this visit). We brought the carry out menu home to study though—there is so much on there, it is going to take awhile to figure out what else to order (hubby wants the chicken and eggplant again he liked it so much).

Saigon Restaurant
3103 Lafayette Road
Indy 46222
317/927-7270

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Sandra Rice and Noodle

4:16 AM | Labels: Eastside restaurants, Independent Restaurants, Sandra Rice and Noodle, Vietnamese

After sitting and watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations in which he visited Vietnam the other night on the DVR, I declared that the next day we were trying one of the Vietnamese places that have been recommended to me. Up until he got to the part where they dined on bugs and songbirds, I wanted everything he ate. So we sort of flipped a coin between the two places on the list, and landed at Sandra Rice and Noodles on the east side.

This is one of those little strip mall restaurants, but I like the way people are finally figuring out how to make them feel a little warmer inside. Use some warm colors (here shades of brown) and skip the stark white walls. The woman who helped us (Sandra I presume?) was exceedingly friendly and helpful. When we got there (fairly early in the lunch hour) there was only one other table. By the time we left, the place was full and several people had come in for carry out.

We wanted to try several things, and the prices are pretty reasonable, so we did. We ordered the starter of egg rolls (which were more like the fried spring rolls, but usually in Vietnamese cuisine spring rolls are not fried, so maybe that is why they called them egg rolls). These were the thin crispy rolls filled with a bit of meat (pork and shrimp), glass noodles and green onions. They were served with the traditional slightly spicy Vietnamese sauce. These were nice—very crispy and quite plentiful for the $4 price tag.

We ordered two dishes to share, the lemongrass chicken lunch special (recommended by our

server) and the beef Pho. The lemongrass chicken lunch special included a starter of a small bowl of soup and one soft spring roll (wrapped in rice paper). The soup was the chicken and rice soup, which was one of my favorite things to eat when I was pregnant with my daughter. It is a chicken broth based soup, with some chunks of veggies (carrot and celery) and super soft and fat pieces of rice in it. I think I enjoyed this soup maybe more than

the Pho actually. It was tasty and comforting. The soft spring roll was nice too, although I think I prefer the crunchy ones for the variety in texture.
The main dish, the lemongrass chicken, unfortunately, was pretty disappointing, mainly because the chicken was so overcooked. It was tough and dry, and some pieces bordered on gristly. The flavor of the lemongrass sauce was nice—the sweet tangy flavor of the lemongrass with a nice underlying spicy kick that built slowly as you ate it, but it couldn’t make up for the chicken. And there wasn’t much else to this dish besides the rice (a little cilantro on top) so there was nothing to really distract from the chicken.

As for the Pho, I don’t know, maybe I just don’t like it that much. I keep looking for some that is really good and I generally have the same impression of it—it just isn’t exciting. Pho is a rice noodle soup with some sort of meat (we went with the rare beef version). Ours was made with beef broth and had a bit of scallions in it. You are served a

plate alongside with various things to

spice it up—bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, jalapenos, lime, hoisin sauce and hot sauce. Even after adding all of these things, I found it just ho hum. And after awhile, you feel like you are just playing with your food when you keep adding more and more stuff. And the “rare” beef slices may have been slightly pink before going in the soup, but were not at all once they were in the hot broth. I think raw slices of beef may have been a better option. These pieces ended up quite tough by the time you ate them. Who knows, maybe I am just a lazy eater. I like food to be prepared for me, and seasoned by the chef I guess. But I know that isn’t how Pho works. I guess I just need to stop ordering it.

My other problem is that I was spoiled in San Francisco with several really good, high end Vietnamese places. Places with a heavy French influence. Maybe that is more my taste. Because Sandra Rice has been recommended by many readers, and people I trust, and I just didn’t get it. If you like this place, tell me what you had; maybe we are just ordering wrong. Because I was a little sad when one of the two Vietnamese places that were out there giving me hope was such a disappointment. Oh well, there’s always option B.

Sandra Rice and Noodles
10625 Pendleton Pike
Indy 46236
317/823-8323

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Viet Bistro

8:29 PM | Labels: Castleton Area Restaurants, Independent Restaurants, lunch places, Northside Restaurant, Viet Bistro, Vietnamese

I really like Vietnamese food and really miss it since moving from SF. I know there are several on the east and west sides, but this place is right near my house and I have been meaning to try it. It’s another one of those strip mall places with a semi-pleasant interior.

Anyhow, the BFF and I were the first ones there, and were alone for much of our meal, although by the time we left there were several tables. I ordered an appetizer for us to share to start—the Bo tai chanh, or thinly sliced rare beef with onion and lemon juice. This was quite tasty. It was thin sliced, quite rare beef topped with a mound of very thinly sliced lemony onions and some spices on top. It was served with light crispy rice crackers that snap crackled and popped when you put anything moist on top (and there was also a slightly spicy sauce to pour over the top). I took a picture of the entire dish as well as one cracker all put together, because you couldn’t even see the beef for all the onions on the serving plate. Overall, this was my favorite thing I had and would order this again. A nice combination of flavors and the crispy crackers were a little addicting. They added a great texture to the soft meat.

For my entrée, I ordered the hu tiu ga, or thin rice noodle soup with chicken. The ingredients were all very fresh, but this soup seemed to lack any real spark. It would be a nice comforting soup to eat if you don’t feel well, but was a little too bland for me, even when I added several different types of seasonings and sauces. The chicken was nice pieces of white meat that were not overcooked, but again, the sum of the parts was just a little too boring. There was also a massive amount of noodles--you could certainly make several meals out of this bowl of soup. My friend had the clay pot rice with chicken and felt the same way about it—just nothing exciting.

It sort of bummed me out because the thing I like about Vietnamese cuisine is the unique flavors that the cuisine has as compared to other Asian foods. However, with the exception of the appetizer, there was nothing really special about it for me.

Viet Bistro
5763 E. 86th Street
Indy 46250
317/598-1899

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