Vietnamese Restaurant Anyone?
Anyone know where I can get good Vitnamese food. Last time I had a Viet-craving I drove all the way to Philly! If you've never tried it....it is so worth it. I feel a craving coming on....but I don't want to make the drive. Help????
mayo5
There's a place in Florham Park at the south west corner of the main Columbia Tpke. intersection. Only went there once, felt like an NYC hole in the wall place with nothing but plain tables but good food. I also recently went to a nice one in Plainfield.
But otherwise, there are lots of very similar style dishes in Thai. And there's plenty of great Thai around. So it kind of depends on what kind of Vietnamese things you want.
New place on 10 in Parsippany/Morris Plains; its great! By Jersey Boy Bagels on eastbound side. Clean, trendy, inexpensive and really good food!
boysmom boysmom - I'm told by someone who travels that way every day that it's called Lemongrass and has both Thai and Vietnamese. But we haven't actually tried it yet.
cc What Vietnamese does Denville have? I've been to the Thai place there more times than I can count. But haven't heard there's any new Vietnamese that's opened up since I moved from there to here.
Joe - for many years I don't know whether I could recommend any of the restaurants around the train station. Any of them...
gc i am sorry i do not know the name of restuarant in denville , I worked for a vietnamese lady who used to go pick it up in town I think around 46 and main
cc cc - How long ago? By 46 & Main, which of the two intersections do you mean? The one by Rte 80 has only got two restaurants there - Charlie Brown's and Burger King. The other at the underpass around the Bloomfield intersection has the current Second Half on Main. That's gone through multiple places in the past years from more of a diner to upscale American to cajun (sort of) to the moved bar. Now there used to be a Chinese place next to it, if they were really Vietnamese and made food special for her, I would understand. The family that runs the Chinese across from Rattle Snake is Vietnamese but they only served Chinese that I know of. It sounds way more like it was really the Thai place which is Diamond Spring near Main St.
I went to Lemongrass on Tuesday with some people from work. Very nice and decent food (I got from the Thai menu and honestly I like Pandam Room SO much better). The service was very slow. Plan to spend some time waiting. But all in all, a decent place and I would go back.
Alison Depending on a couple of factors, I may end up there too Alison, in about 45 mins...
It's hard to beat Pandan because it's real quality.
Calico696 As the others said, it's right next to the bagel place. If you're traveling west bound, it's that little strip mall right before you get to the big Shoprite & Kohls strip mall at 46 & 202.
If you don't mind venturing into Manhattan, the Saigon Grille is near Union Square Park. I'm not sure about dinner, but lunch was very affordable and quite delicious. I do think there may be a few Saigon Grille's in the city, but this one was nice.....We took the train to Penn Station and got off at the first stop on the 7th ave. express train (14th st) and it was a few blocks from there. ..just checked the address...93 University Place. On Friday's when the market is open, it's a nice afternoon in the city.
Alison - What the heck was the name of that place? (so much for my great memory...LOL) I loved the little decorative clothesline they had hanging up in the back, very cute idea.
I think I'm ready for a long winter's nap. No matter if it's approaching spring or not - Lemongrass sure gives you a lot of food. My office mate asks if we're hungry and we end up with an appetizer sampler. Enough food for 3 people right there, shrimp and rice rolls in a rice noodle wrapper, fried cream cheese wontons, spring rolls, satay skewers, and edamame salad. Whew, I'm full already when the rice noodle platter arrives. I think they had to bring it in on a double wide because he couldn't carry anyone else's food at the same time. Loads of rice noodles, cucumber, white radishes, sprouts and your choice of three mountains of meats like ginger beef, peanut chicken, pork meatballs, tofu or coconut shrimp. Lettuce or rice noodle wrappers Korean style with choice of dipping sauces. (just don't break the rice ones in half first even if you want a smaller one, they shatter everywhere - just dunk them in the warm water first and *then* break them) I'm told the Pad Thai was also excellent.
Much more than Thai curries and Viet pho. Good sized menu with some Indonesian or Malaysian dishes as well. Reasonable decor, reasonable prices. Totally packed for lunch today but the service was fine, just busy with all the people. While waiting for a table, I made what turned out to be our waiter's day. A couple accidentally left without getting the bill, the waiter ran out the door but didn't see them. He literally jumped about 3 feet up and stomped his feet before coming back in the door - I just told him they went to the lower parking lot and could still be caught. He quick ran out again, and came back mission accomplished. From then on during the meal I was "the man". Saved that poor guy's butt, not to mention his paycheck... ;-)
Do they have the Vietnamese crepes (Banh Xeo)? Highly recommend them if you've never tried them. They are one of my favorites. Mom used to make them all the time. I tried and as the saying goes, "it wasn't like mom's".
Vietnamese spring rolls wrapped in lettuce and dipped in nuoc cham (fish sauce based dipping sauce) would really hit the spot now too. Yummm!
Thai and Vietnamese food are distinctively different. I wonder if they included Thai to broaden the appeal? I love the Pandan Room but can't say anything on their menu is similar to what I ate growing up.
emaxxman Emaxxman - Here's an article from the Daily Record. Even though it says the place is modeled after their Candian counterpart, I'd figure you're correct about being broad. Pandan does that as well - it's "Asian" so you can have a little bit of variety as in the Singapore Mei Fun, an Indian appetizer, and some Thai curries all together. But they definitely have both Thai and Vietnamese. I didn't see the bahn xeo but then I didn't spend much time on appetizers. The spring rolls and fish sauce you definitely can get at Lemongrass.
http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20100210/PTW05/100208070/Unique-mix-of-flavors-at-Lemongrass
Calico, I think it was the Florence Grill, we used to call it the bra place because of the clothesline that was hanging in the back of the restaurant. There was a bra hanging on it and someone I went to lunch with was very offended by it, so we changed the name to the bra place. It changed hands (I think the original owner was very sick), and was not the same. Loved their lunch that included an appetizer and entree for under $15.00
Bessie Drive down Bloomfield ave from 46 there are lots of neet places to eat if you dare
CagedAnimal 
GC - I hope Lemongrass does well. Too bad I don't work in Parsippany anymore otherwise I would be there in a heartbeat. I'll have to figure out how to get out there on the weekend.
fyi - The banh xeo is not an appetizer...it's an entree for sure. Attached is a pic. It's heavily French influenced (crepe) but made with Vietnamese inspired ingredients: sprouts, cilantro, shrimp, pork, whatever you want to put in it. The lettuce gives it a nice, fresh crispy texture. The crepe itself is crispy. It can be served with either a fish sauce-based dipping sauce or a soybean based sauce. My pic has the soybean based sauce (it tastes "peanutty").
Lemongrass in RT 10, by Chevys Mex.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/lemongrass-viet-thai-morris-plains
BrownEyesGuy Anthony Bourdain had a great segment on banh xeo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JIE06uJ_v8&feature=related
It starts around 3:30 in the linked video. I have trouble getting the crepe really crispy. It does require a lot of oil (so not for the cardiac wary) and some skill. My crepe was more yellow due to the added use of turmeric...mom always added it so I do the same.
Banh xeo, pho (with the tripe!), spring rolls wrapped in lettuce, Vietnamese fried rice, crispy lo mein were always traditional dishes served on the weekends.
Emaxxman - if it helps you any, what I've heard about how many French people get their crepes crispy and thin is the pan. Instead of using a concave frying pan, they have a special convex one where they dip the pan into the batter. Then it only takes up what won't drip off the hot pan. They come out super thin that way.
Yes, I've seen those traditional crepe pans and it's a good thought. Not sure if it would work here as you need to cook the ingredients with the crepe. The crepe also has to be thick and hearty enough to be a major portion of the meal.
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