Texas food trail: DFW -- try something new!

[Richard Kilgore]

Inspired by a topic of the same name for those in the Houston area, I hope those in the North Texas area will report here on recent discoveries or re-discoveries of all types.

An Giang Vietnamese Restaurant

3347 W. Walnut St., Ste 105

Garland, Texas 75042

972.494.6666

Location Note: NE corner of Walnut & Jupiter, next to the Thai Supermarket

Having eaten at this pleasant place several times in recent weeks, I can recommend it for those who enjoy Pho and for those who are interested in Vietnamese food beyond the basic noodle soup.

Two nice touches: They serve iced Vietnamese green tea instead of water, especially appreciated when it's 104 outside and the lakes turning over make the tap water a little off. And on two occassions they served a complimentary dessert of caramalized soft tofu.

An interesting appetizer is "escargot stuffed pork w/ginger sauce" ($3.95). As sometimes happens, something may have been lost in translation. Nothing resembling snails that I could see, and then it occured to me the escargot may refer to the design - ground pork wrapped around and enclosing a 2 1/2 - 3 inch section of lemongrass. Very nice. Has anyone else run across this elsewhere?

On my first visit my waiter tried to steer me away from the "Bamboo Duck Noodle in Soup w/Cabbage Salad" ($6.95). A little conversation revealed that she was concerned that I would not like the sourness of the bamboo. I had a similar dish at First Chinese BBQ some months ago, and reassured her that it would be fine. The dish was slightly more sour than the previous one, and more delicious for it. The duck was served not in the soup, but on a bed of cabbage, bean sprouts and basil with a wonderful ginger dipping sauce on the side with a large bowl of broth and noodles.

On another visit I had the congee version ($6.50) of the above duck dish. The rice soup was filling, the duck crispy as before, but I prefered the ginger dipping sauce to the fish sauce-based dipping sauce served with this dish.

"Pnompenh Noodle Soup with Pork, Shrimp, Liver & Quail Eggs" ($5.95) has wonderful contrasts in flavor and texture. Nice plump shrimp and the quail eggs were perfectly cooked. Another soup worth trying.

"Beef with Lot Leaf" ($9.95) - small char-grilled beef sausages wrapped in a leaf, which serves he same purpose a casing does. Served with a ginger dipping sauce. A great dish my waiter said is a favorite of their Vietnamese customers. I still don't knoiw what a Lot Leaf" is - the waiter pointed to a plastic ivy leaf by way of explaining - and I would be curious to know.

If you are non-asian you may need to be tactfully persistent when ordering dishes that the staff expects non-asians to dislike. Like all restaurants, they want you to have a good experience and like many "ethnic restaurants" it worries them when someone orders dishes with strong unfamiliar flavors, especially those heavy on such as fish sauce, and they may try to steer you toward Pho or a stir-fried rice dish.

Who else has tried something new lately?