San Jose Vietnamese

[dfunghi]

Hi all , I will be passing through S.J. next Tuesday (17th) and would like to get some lunch at a great Viet restaurant. We have good pho here in So.Cal but I am looking for more diverse menu. Like the wonderful pancake type things and duck salad, etc. I have been to a place on Santa Clara ave years ago near the great BBQ ( william something is his name) place. Like 6th and S.C. But do not remeber name of place or if it is still any good or even still there. Any suggestions ? We are adventurous eaters. The whole reason for the stop is to get some ducks and ribs from the BBq place for our camping trip to Big Basin that week. It will be around lunch time though so hope to eat as well. Decor or service not important to us , food, cleanliness is.

TIA

David

[Gifted Gourmet]

any of these look promising??

[tanabutler]

Paging Andrea Nyugen! Paging Andrea Nyugen!

[Andrea Nguyen]

I will be passing through S.J. next Tuesday (17th) and would like to get some lunch at a great Viet restaurant. We have good pho here in So.Cal but I am looking for more diverse menu.

Southern California's Little Saigon has some of the best Viet food around! But hey, there is the second largest population of Vietnamese Americans in the San Jose area so you might try some and make the comparison for yourself.

The one Vietnamese restaurant of note that I've been to recently is called Miss Saigon (yeah, what a name) on 1455 Landess Avenue in Milpitas (408-942-1240). They have 7-course fish instead of 7-course beef. The food and service are nice and the prices quite reasonable. They own a sister restaurant in Saigon so there are a lot of transnational connections in the food. Some ingredients they bring over here themself. The food isn't cloyingly sweet as at most Viet restaurants and the owners are very friendly.

Back at home, you should try Quan Hy on Bolsa Avenue. It's a lovely restaurant that's offering moderately high end Vietnamese food. It's hip and the food is pretty good. The food emphasis there is central Vietnamese so go for banh beo steamed rice pancakes and bun bo Hue soup noodles. For banh xeo, the crepe you mentioned, on Bolsa, there used to be spot called Thanh Vi in a strip mall. The woman turned out beautiful sizzling crepes.

Have a good trip,

Andrea

[dfunghi]

Thanks Andrea. We will be on our way to a camping trip so nothing quite so heavy as a 7 course maybe. Plus we will be driving alot before and after the meal. Any other recs? Unless of course you are saying this is a "do not miss" type place in which case we can do it. As to Westminster it is great but about an hour form me so I dont get there often enough.

Thanks

David

[Joe Blowe]

I wish I could remember the source where I got this recommendation, but I must've put it in my address book for a good reason:

Pho Y

1660 E. Capitol Expwy.

San Jose, CA 95121

408-274-1769

For my last trip up north, I distilled everything down to a "best of" list. This is the one pho place that remained.

Anyone in the area, please chime in if you happen to know if it is, or was, good. Always culling the list...

[Han]

I mentioned several recs in "San Jose eats" (scroll down/next page) that might interest you. Not sure how it compares with LA but these places are the epicenter of Vietnamese areas. Pls report your findings !

[jschyun]

Back at home, you should try Quan Hy on Bolsa Avenue. It's a lovely restaurant that's offering moderately high end Vietnamese food. It's hip and the food is pretty good. The food emphasis there is central Vietnamese so go for banh beo steamed rice pancakes and bun bo Hue soup noodles. For banh xeo, the crepe you mentioned, on Bolsa, there used to be spot called Thanh Vi in a strip mall. The woman turned out beautiful sizzling crepes.

Isn't Quan Hy owned by a famous actor?

[Nathan P.]

I dropped in to Miss Saigon for lunch today based upon Andreas's rec above. The only thing she got wrong was that there were actually 8 courses of fish! Fish Salad, Fresh rolls w/ Fish and an interesting thin milky peanut sauce (this and the previous dish were citrus 'cooked' fish), a combo platter with: cha gio, Fried patties on skewers, sauteed w/ turmeric and dill, sausages wrapped in lot leaves, and simple batter fried filets, and the meal was completed with fish congee. For the middle courses we were provided with rice paper for rolls and a platter w/ lettuce, mint and cilantro.

I thought every item was very good and the meal was a great value at $27 for 2 people. The standouts for me were the starting salad and the lot leaf wrapped fish sausage.

Han- have you tried this place? Isn't this your area of expertise?

Andrea- While it would be hard to pass up another shot at the fish meal I was wondering if anything else on the menu stands out?

Nathan

I found a MercNews review of Miss Saigon: http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/mercuryn...mel/7380467.htm

[Han]

I have not tried it. Actually there are many restaurants (Vietnamese) that I have not tried in SJ. I have tried quite a few already.