Capitol Hill/Downtown Vietnamese

[mamster]

If you count Pike/Pine as Capitol Hill, the neighborhood is now home to three upscale Vietnamese Bistros, plus one on 12th near Seattle U with pretentions. The three I'm talking about are Monsoon, Green Papaya, and Bambuza. The latter is actually downtown, but only barely (9th and Pike). I had lunch at Bambuza today.

The restaurant is in a corner of the omnipresent convention center. They've been open two or three weeks, and their full menu debuts tonight (wouldn't you know I'd miss it by mere hours). The temporary menu has a couple of types of pho, some grilled things on skewers (beef, pork, shrimp), and a couple of stir-fry entrees, including the lemongrass chicken I had. I supplemented it with a grilled shrimp skewer for $2.

The chicken dish was pretty good. It consisted of sliced chicken stir-fried with slivered onions and Vietnamese curry paste, along with a mound of steamed rice and few pieces of raw cucumber and tomato. The shrimp skewer had three medium-sized shrimp, nicely cooked. The chicken itself was very tasty, but the onions were undercooked. It actually made me tear up.

Bambuza seems to be doing well. I go by there several times a week on the way to the central library, and there are always people in there, even for weekday lunch. They have a good wine selection, including about a dozen by the glass. They're pouring glasses of Trimbach riesling and gewurtz, which would go well with a lot of the food.

I asked what the new menu would add, and my waitress said it would be a lot bigger and include fish entrees, which have been missing so far.

Total price with tax and tip: $17

Now, I am all for these Vietnamese bistros, and I'm not at all opposed to paying good money for Asian food. Of these three restaurants however, so far only Monsoon feels like it's worth the price. Their dishes are that much more complex and full-flavored, and the service is professional.

One thing I'd like to see happen at these places is to see more than one thing on a plate. Rice and salad don't count. For example, you could do that chicken dish with a small side of Chinese broccoli and a single shrimp summer roll. Something like a sit-down version of a takeout lunch special.

Has anyone else tried these places or other Vietnamese bistros around town? How about Pho Van in Portland? How does it compare?

[girl chow]

Thanks for the report Mamster. I need to do a walk by of these new places and see what that's all about. Frankly, though, with the review I just read, I don't know if I want to shell out my dining bucks there!

In a related vein (sorry if I'm skewing your topic too much) I've noticed a jump in "upscale" Thai spots around here in the South End in addition to the ones that have come to Seattle in recent years. I've counted four new "bistro" style Thai spots in the last six months around the South End. These are pretty restaurants with high aspirations. However, the food rarely hovers above the quality you can easily find at a great mom and pop joint with half the pricetag. The same goes with some of the upscale Thai places in Seattle I've tried.

My guess is that these Asian upscale "bistro" style restaurants are aimed at the crowd who perhaps are too afraid of the small, obscure and often strangely located little businesses that produce the greatest food. These are the diners who would never buy a $1.25 bahn mi at 12th and Jackson, but would pay $8 for a bahn mi sandwich in a shiny new restaurant decorated in earth tones.

Or, maybe I've got it all wrong. Maybe these upscale Thai and Vietnamese places really do have high aspirations and are on the verge of taking the food to another level. But frankly, I haven't been impressed with the upscale versions I've sampled here in the South End or the places I've tried on the Eastside or Seattle. The exceptions could be Monsoon (Vietnamese) and MAYBE Typhoon (Thai), although Typhoon has lost its luster I think. Some of the stuff I've had there (a portabella mushroom peanut sauce concoction comes to mind), just really sucks.

Sorry if I'm widening the topic by mentioning the upscale Thai restaurants, but it's just something I've been noticing and meaning to post about.

[tighe]

...plus one on 12th near Seattle U with pretentions...

Are you referring to the brand new place accross the street from campus (Ginger Lemon, or something like that) or Lemongrass, down the street a little?

Haven't tried the former, but have heard roundly mediocre reviews from my colleagues. On the other hand, I think Lemongrass is quite good, not pretentious or prices though.

[mb7o]

Bambuza=Boring.

Went there today. Had lime juice, fresh rolls (shared), and a 'tumeric crepe'; coworkers had veggie pho and a mango-strawberry smoothie.

The lime juice was fine. The smoothie was apparently excellent. The fresh rolls were quite good, fresh and with an interesting mix of texture and flavors, especially since they were vegetarian.

The main courses had no flavor. My crepe was full of various vegetables, some pork, and some shrimp, but apparently no spices beyond enough tumeric to make the rice-flour crepe yellow. In effect it was eating a plate full of steamed vegetables which I don't particularly care for. The pho was apparrently similar, a plain vegetable soup.

As noted above, the decor and music are quite nice. But at those prices, I doubt we'll return, better to stick to the Moonlight Cafe (20th & Jackson) even though it's quite a bit further away.

[trillium]

Or, maybe I've got it all wrong. Maybe these upscale Thai and Vietnamese places really do have high aspirations and are on the verge of taking the food to another level. But frankly, I haven't been impressed with the upscale versions I've sampled here in the South End or the places I've tried on the Eastside or Seattle. The exceptions could be Monsoon (Vietnamese) and MAYBE Typhoon (Thai), although Typhoon has lost its luster I think. Some of the stuff I've had there (a portabella mushroom peanut sauce concoction comes to mind), just really sucks.

Thank you... when someone on Chowhound said that Typhoon was the most authentic Thai restaurant in Portland all I could think about was that appalling portabella mushroom peanut thing and the grapes in the curry. Blech.

regards,

trillium

[LaurieA-B]

Bambuza and their crepes: featured in Matthew's article in the Times yesterday. Banh xeo I haven't eaten at Bambuza yet, but when Matthew made banh xeo at home I found the addition of sauce key to bringing the flavors together and adding interest to the vegetables. Banh xeo, despite looking like an omelet, is unusual to me and fun to eat. I'm sure we'll visit Lemongrass soon, because Matthew really liked it and I haven't been there yet.