The sign on Bryan Street doesn’t try very hard. No lemongrass, no lotus, no clever play on pho. It just says Vietnam, and it has said that since 1996.
Vietnam Restaurant sits at 4302 Bryan Street in Old East Dallas, a few blocks from the Fitzhugh corner that has become one of the more interesting eating intersections in town. It opened before Uptown filled in and before the revival east of downtown took hold. The building is older than the restaurant. So are some of the regulars.
Before 1996, the space was La Pagode, which served Chinese and Vietnamese food. One of the people working there bought the business, and the Le and Nguyen families have run it ever since. Three decades later, relatives still work the floor, the kitchen and the phones.
That history shows in the menu. One page is Vietnamese home cooking. Another still carries Chinese-style stir-fries like Mongolian beef and cashew chicken. The downtown lunch crowd orders both. On a first visit, stick to the Vietnamese side.
Start with pho. The kitchen offers the full range of cuts that separates a real pho house from a casual one: thin eye round, well-done brisket, tendon, tripe and beef meatballs, in any combination. If you have only ordered rare beef, try brisket and tendon. The tendon goes soft and almost silky after hours in the pot.
The vermicelli bowls are the best lunch here for anyone who wants something lighter than soup. Cool rice noodles go in with lettuce, sprouts, cucumber, pickled carrot, herbs and crushed peanuts, with warm grilled meat on top. Get the grilled pork and egg roll, pour on the fish sauce and stir.
Regulars tend to land on the broken rice plates. Cơm tấm is made from rice grains that broke during milling, once cheap leftovers in southern Vietnam and now a dish people seek out. It’s softer and a little sticky, and it soaks up fish sauce. The pork chop, shredded pork skin and egg cake plate is the classic, and the special 7 items version is for the truly hungry.
Look for the yellow southern crepe, too. That’s bánh xèo, a crisp, turmeric-tinted rice flour pancake folded around pork, shrimp, onion and bean sprouts, named for the sizzle the batter makes in the pan. Wrap pieces in lettuce and dip them in fish sauce.
Bring a group for the hot pots, cooked at the table on a gas burner. Order the catfish in hot and sour broth, based on canh chua, the tamarind-sour fish soup of southern Vietnamese family dinners. The catfish cooked in clay pot is another southern standard, traditionally braised until the sauce turns dark, salty and a little sweet.
The do-your-own spring rolls arrive with rice paper, noodles, greens, herbs and grilled pork and shrimp or meatballs for rolling yourself. It’s slow and messy, and it makes for a good long lunch. The Vietnamese sandwiches, on hot bread with pickled carrot, jalapeño and cilantro, taste best eaten in the car.
Don’t skip the drinks. The French coffee with milk is Vietnamese iced coffee, strong and sweetened with condensed milk. Salted lemon is a tart, salty preserved-lime drink built for hot days. The soda with egg yolk is exactly what it sounds like and better than it sounds. A vegetarian section, including tofu pho, makes mixed tables easy.
Nobody comes here for the décor. The dining room is plain and a little worn, and family business happens in the open. That’s part of the appeal. Vietnam has outlasted three decades of Dallas trends by feeding people well and charging them fairly. Regulars have long talked up a weekday lunch buffet, so call ahead if that’s what you’re after.
Vietnam Restaurant is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and closed Sunday. It takes phone orders at 214-821-4542 and delivers within a few miles. The full menu is on its website.
Order the pho with brisket and tendon, a broken rice plate for the table and an iced coffee. Then come back for the rest.
