Vietnam Palace

[TarteTatin]

I swear there had to have been a post on this before, with everyone always choosing sides...

However, I went through 8 pages of the search site, and didn't come up with anything.

We wanted an inexpensive meal tonight, and headed over to Vietnam Palace.

This is the one we always go to.

It's been renovated, and we like the informality of the place, very comfortable.

Ask for Twi (spelled wrong, I'm sure) the Hostess. She's been there for years, left to have a baby and is back. Her Uncle and cousins run the kitchen.

To start we had Jicama rolls in rice paper. Very crunchy and fresh, with sausage and jicama and tamarind sauce with peanuts. ($4)

Hubby had Beef special Pho ($7), with all sorts of regular and exotic stuff in it. He doesn't usually like tripe, but tried it again tonight, and said it was a bit chewy, but ate it all. It came with fresh bean sprouts, lots of great smelling mint and some jalapeno slices.

I had the Chicken with Vermicelli and Rice Papers. Roll your own, I love it...again, fresh mint, bean sprouts, also thin slices of gorgeous Daikon, carrot and delicious vermicelli. The chicken was sort of covered in bits of peanuts and scallions. I always order the red hot oil pepper sauce, and it comes with a rice vinegar. ($9) I love Daikon, but only out. When I buy it for home it gets limp and I don't use it...

He had two "33"' beers and I two glasses of white wine. I think it was $40 something plus tip.

Good, decent, Vietnamese food!

We have friends in Amsterdam from Philly, and they said they miss the Ethnic food we have here so much! They emailed recently that they'd do anything for a bowl of Pho!

(Their favorite is Pho 75 on Washington Ave-they said to go in and get the #15, I think that's the number they mentioned! We haven't done it yet)

On the same note, friends in Paris said that's what they miss the most. Good, Ethnic food with spices. The French seems afraid to use spices. Even in Indian places!

[sockii]

I love Vietnam Palace.

In the vietnamese food battle of 11th street, VP always gets my money.

The vermicelli combo plate is, like, perhaps my favorite restaurant dish anywhere. What with the charbroiled shrimp, stuffed grape leaves, spring roll, and sweet 'n sour meatballs all piled high on the noodles for all of $11, it's just a little feast of heaven on earth.

[stephenc]

I usually go to VP over V.

Edited January 25, 2006 by stephenc (log)

[mrbigjas]

The vermicelli combo plate is, like, perhaps my favorite restaurant dish anywhere. What with the charbroiled shrimp, stuffed grape leaves, spring roll, and sweet 'n sour meatballs all piled high on the noodles for all of $11, it's just a little feast of heaven on earth.   

that really is the bomb. we went over there tonight and got one of these. you left off the chicken, which is included too. it's an insane amount of food, and all good. their banh xeo is my favorite in town.

tonight we also tried the chargrilled lemongrass squid, which was tender with just a bit of char on the edges of the scored squid pieces. i didn't taste the lemongrass, though. and the phnom penh soup--a porky broth with ground pork, sliced pork, shrimp, dried shrimp, squid, and rice or egg noodles in it. served with pho condiments. not as fragrantly spiced as pho, but a good soup nonetheless.

when looking at the soup menu, i noticed no bitter melon soup. i had it for the first time last year at nam phuong--bitter melon pieces stuffed with seasoned pork in a lightly flavored broth--and i could have gone for it tonight. wonder if it's available for the asking.

but oh man, that vermicelli combo plate. lord have mercy that's some good stuff right there.

[herbacidal]

I usually skip both and go to Xe Lua.

Back in the day, I did frequent Van's Garden, which is where one of the Chinatown bus companies are currently HQ'ed at 11th and Cherry.

[mrbigjas]

I usually skip both and go to Xe Lua.

good luck with that on a wednesday.

[shacke]

We usually go to V after a single meal maaaaany years ago at VP was not up to snuff but I need to try it again obviously.

At V we are big fans of the marinated raw beef with papaya, the appetizer special (sounds similar to what is being described above) and the black eyed pea deesert with hot coconut milk and rice.

Sounds like I should not have had 11th street tunnel vision all these years.

Evan

[Diann]

Y'know what VP has that I think V is missing?

Beef STEW pho. Comes in a tomato-based, obviously thicker-than-broth soup, with chunks of beef (no thin-sliced ribeye or anything), maybe some tendon (I love me some tendon), and standard pho accompaniments.

Now if I just had some baguette to go with that (I also love me some carbs).

(But I actually like V AND VP. It's possible to have room in your heart for both!)

Edited January 26, 2006 by Diann (log)

[KatieLoeb]

Like Herb, I'm a big fan of Xe Lua. And their soup menu is off the hook. In addition to the usual pho suspects, there's a beef satay soup that's thick, stew-like and spicy and has chunks of both beef and pineapple in it. Awesome stuff.

I used to love Saigon back in the day before it was Plaza Garibaldi. On 11th Street I've been to Vietnam but I confess in all my years here I've never been to Vietnam Palace. It always looked like a "banquet joint" to me and was unappealing as a result. I also got some mixed reviews about the place from friends whose palates I trust, and since I'd already discovered Xe Lua (aka The Soup Train) it wasn't so important to me to go. More recently a bunch of us checked out Pho Ba Le on Washington Avenue and it was pretty good. But Xe Lua has my heart and my favorite Vietnamese menu in town.

[mrbigjas]

another note: if you take leftovers home from the palace, they'll put them in a container for you, add some extra salad if you don't have a lot left, and put in a separate small container of nam pla. so considerate.

it's damn good stuff. y'all haters should maybe check it out before blowing it off.

[herbacidal]

I usually skip both and go to Xe Lua.

good luck with that on a wednesday.

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Tru dat.

As far as V and VP, I thought V's spring rolls weren't crispy enough the one time I was there.

VP I thought was solid back in the day, if a little expensive.

Do either V or VP have an off day?

Edited January 27, 2006 by herbacidal (log)

[Furious Flav-or]

Y'know what VP has that I think V is missing?

Beef STEW pho. Comes in a tomato-based, obviously thicker-than-broth soup, with chunks of beef (no thin-sliced ribeye or anything), maybe some tendon (I love me some tendon), and standard pho accompaniments.

Now if I just had some baguette to go with that (I also love me some carbs).

(But I actually like V AND VP. It's possible to have room in your heart for both!)

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I'm pretty sure that's Cambodian, and I can't think of the name. I first had it up on Old York Rd., north of Rockland at a little hole in the wall on the right hand side going up the street. Not PP, but an even smaller place.

[MarketStEl]

I used to love Saigon back in the day before it was Plaza Garibaldi.  On 11th Street I've been to Vietnam but I confess in all my years here I've never been to Vietnam Palace.  It always looked like a "banquet joint" to me and was unappealing as a result.

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I'm the exact opposite of you, almost: I've been to Vietnam Palace on numerous occasions--though none since 2001--but to Vietnam only once. My impression was that VP beat V hands down in the value-for-money department, and if the food is great--which it was IMO--I can deal with basement-rec-room decor. I note the place has gotten an extreme makeover within the past few years, though, and that basement-rec-room ambience is probably a thing of the past.

Frankly, I'm not all that concerned about the decor at these places, for by and large, it's an afterthought. Pho' 75 is your high school cafeteria, only with edible food: the CityPaper editors were a little less charitable in their CP Choice Award description of the place two years ago, referring to it (IIRC) as a re-education camp. Nam Phuong, right around the corner on 11th, has the catering-hall ambience down to a T. And I don't think the new place that has replaced Rio Bravo at the 11th and Washington corner has done much to alter the former establishment's high-school-gym-dance vibe.

But I'd eat at any one of those establishments again. (Well, I haven't eaten at that new place yet.)

I realize there are exceptions: Porky and Porkie has an elegantly simple appearance, very Korean (and Japanese) in its spareness, and Cafe de Laos next door oozes intimacy and tropical charm. But the rule for me is that when I'm eating Chinese or Southeast Asian, I'm only there for the food.

Edited to add: And speaking of the food, I forgot to mention the tomato crab soup at Vietnam Palace. I could live off that for months if I had to.

Edited January 27, 2006 by MarketStEl (log)