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| - Surprisingly excellent Vietnamese food in the midwest.
I lived in the SF Bay area for a number of years so know Vietnamese food pretty well. This is really, really good - borderline 5 stars I think.
We started with appetizers: the lotus salad was outstanding, we could have just eaten that as an entree. The same goes for the salt-and-pepper squid which was a delightful surprise. While portions were generally large, however, this portion was much too small and left us wanting more. The summer rolls were a disappointment, quite bland. They understand seasoning well here so it was head-scratching that there were not some herbs and seasoning in the rolls, relying just on the (fine) sauce on the side to give it flavor.
For entrees, we of course tried to pho. It was great! Right up there with the most memorable I've had. Particularly pleasing was the high-quality of the beef in the pho: it was delicious. Too often, even places with excellent broth, the meat is just sub-standard and I frankly don't eat it. Here the meat was lovely, to go with a broth that is just outstanding.
The other entree I tried was a lemongrass and chili stir-fry. While initially it seemed ordinary, the more I ate the more I liked it. This was a 4 star dish that was entirely overshadowed by the rest of the meal (other than the summer rolls).
Strong recommendation for Vietnamese food lovers, and a good place to try out Vietnamese cuisine for the uninitiated.
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