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| - I feel I must defend Tram's...
Point one: It's dirty.
So it's not a freakin' Panera Bread in there... with 7 high school students wiping down tables at all times. It's not super clean, so what? Please name for me a spotlessly clean Vietnamese restaurant in the city of Pittsburgh. Seriously, take a spin through the alley behind Pho Minh in Garfield, *ahem* sorry in the Penn Avenue Arts District... Their backyard is like an open sewer... I've still eaten there and lived to tell the tale.
Point two: But for hipsters, it would not be in business.
Don't give yourselves too much credit, my friends. In the ancient era B.C.H. (Before Coming of Hipsters), Tram's still did a brisk business serving tasty if basic Pittsburgh-Vietnamese cuisine (they've taken the shimp curry over french fries off the menu, but you can still order it) to those who would brave the wilds of Lawrenceville (a distinctly unfashionable address, circa 1995) to get it. Did Tram's have all but a corner on the market at the time? Sure. Would people return if it was terrible? I would hope not.
As for the food, I am no student of Vietnamese cuisine, but the bun, or as it's billed here: "grilled meat (why they don't just call it pork is a mystery, perhaps they're leaving their options open?) over vermicelli" (pronounced "ver-miss-eh-lee," by our esteemed host) is tasty and filling, as are the spring rolls. I can't comment on the pho as I have had too many inedible-mystery-tendon experiences at "real" Vietnamese restaurants in "real" cites to "really" be all that excited about the dish...
Long lives Tram's! Haters beware....
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