MSG150: Seattle International District Lunch Food: February 2010

Hey, you got your June in my February! It was almost sixty degrees today as we strolled up the hill to Little Saigon. Our destination today is another Vietnamese restaurant in the same strip-mall as Tamarind Tree and Saigon House. Thanh Vi has a more favorable location than the previous two, being on the street side of the strip-mall. The dumpsters are hardly visible. Rob recently got his training wheels off so he biked over to meet us to show off his new skills and join in on the MSG150 fun.

Thanh Vi, Seattle
Address: 1046 S Jackson St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Average rating: 3.6 chopsticks
Lunch date: 2/2/2010 @ 11:45:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 1 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 8 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 40 minutes
Chopstix quality: Nice Plastic
Do they use MSG?: Some dishes have a little bit.
Where is the owner/chef from?: Saigon
Number of tables: 18
Number of occupied tables: 7 (38%)
Number of business lunch tables: 4 (57%)
Number of "local" tables: 3 (42%)
Healthcode Score: 15
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Canh chua chay - Hot & Sour Tofu Soup - $7.25
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Adam's Review

We headed into Thanh Vi with 5 veteran lunchers today. The menu was pretty varied, but with these wily vets we were able to get a good sampling of the menu. I'd never had Vietnamese Hot & Sour soup, so that's what I went with.

Right from the first sip, I really liked the broth. Have you ever had a Thai hot and sour soup (tom yum)? Similar broth, but without the influence of a lot of the other flavors. Very clean flavor. I liked it.

The next thing I noticed about the soup was the unidentifiable vegetable that was in it. One of the employees (owner?) brought over a picture of the plant, but couldn't tell us the name. It was good: a light flavor with a slight crisp. The other components of the soup were good, but unremarkable.

The atmosphere of the restaurant was nice. Maybe it was just because the sun was shining, and this place had windows facing the right direction... but the lighting was really nice. I felt like I could really see my food.

Good soup. Good atmosphere. Nothing remarkable though. A solid pick.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Banh Xeo - Vietnamese Crepe with Pork and Shrimp - $6.95
Rating: 4 Chopsticks

Geary's Review

Thanh Vi is large and clean and like Vietnam House it is cheerfully decorated with plastic flowers, nice table cloths, painted walls with decorative accents, and paintings. Oddly the painting over our table appeared to be of Lake Como. Unlike Vietnam House Thanh Vi was mostly empty when we arrived. We grabbed a well-lit table in the corner and studied the menu. It too is large and full of typical Vietnamese favorites. Again I went with the Banh Xeo and again it was delicious. They were a little skimpy on the greens, but the crepe was great. Some of the pork slices were mixed in with the batter such that they got grilled and crunchy a bit on one side. Yum!

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Bun Mum nuoc leo ca sac - Fish Stewed Noodle Soup - $7.50
Rating: 4 Chopsticks

Emmett's Review

I was pleasantly surprised by this place. Is that... Lake Como on the wall? Who cares. This food is great. I went with the special - Fish Stew. Thick, delicious broth, heavy flavor, lots of variety. There's some fatty fish in here, whole okra!, some french fried thingies, chinese eggplant, and some noodles. It's a hearty, tasty dish that I'll definitely come back for.

Everything else on the table looked good, too. Next time you're in this area, give this place a shot.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: Bun dau hu xao xa ot - Vermicelli with Lemongrass Tofu (Spicy) - $6.25
Rating: 4 Chopsticks

Rob's Review

This shouldn't be a hard review to write, but I've been putting it off. The veggie bun was good stuff: tasty chunks of tofu, tasty chunks of veggies, ground peanuts, homemade fish sauce, and the small side salad tucked in. As I was munching my way through the meal, I quickly decided to give Thanh Vi a 4. But then I finished, and I was still a bit hungry (probably because I hadn't had breakfast...). And then I remembered I had basically this same dish at Green Leaf. I'd given them a 4, and their version I liked a little more than Thanh Vi's. Should it follow that Thanh Vi gets a 3? Further, you get a veggie sauce at Green Leaf, but then again the homemade fish sauce at Thanh Vi is really, really nice. The Green Leaf salad had refreshing bits of mint in it, and Thanh Vi's had not-as-refreshing bits of basil. But you usually have to wait before getting a table at Green Leaf, whereas Thanh Vi was wide open and even a touch cheaper. How should I let all that affect the rating? Weeks slipped by as I agonized over this decision, until everyone received a three word email from Emmett, "Waiting on rob." So yeah, should those other things matter? Still don't know, but I'll stop worrying about it and stick with my original rating: 4! Ahh, that feels better.

Luncher: Jared

Lunch: Bun tom thit nuong - Vermicelli with Charbroiled Shrimp and Pork - $6.50
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Thanh Vi Photos

Thanh Vi

Wall Menu

Interior

Thanh Vi Menu

Lake Como?

Banh Xeo - Vietnamese Crepe with Pork and Shrimp

Bun tom thit nuong - Vermicelli with Charbroiled Shrimp and Pork

Bun Mum nuoc leo ca sac - Fish Stewed Noodle Soup

Bun dau hu xao xa ot - Vermicelli with Lemongrass Tofu (Spicy)

Canh chua chay - Hot & Sour Tofu Soup

Soup Greens

Eating Banh Xeo

Eating Banh Xeo II

The Vietnamese were late to the Seattle immigration party and so ended up with assorted strip-malls for Little Saigon. I suspect that in many ways there are advantages to being in a 30-year-old strip mall, as opposed to a 100 year old Chinatown building. But from an ambiance point of view there is a limit to what can be done to recover from the reality that your storefront is in a parking lot. Tamarind Tree has done just about as much as possible to overcome this but it still looks like lipstick on a pig. Immediately next-door to the Tamarind Tree is a small restaurant named Vietnam House. There is very little in the external appearance of this place that might draw you in if you happened to find your way to the back side of this particular strip-mall, especially if you noticed the Tamarind Tree. We, on the other hand, are bound by our mission to eat everywhere. So, today we showed up with a crew of six MSG150 lunchers to brave the unknown.

Vietnam House, Seattle
Address: 1038 S Jackson St (A), Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Average rating: 3.3 chopsticks
Lunch date: 1/22/2010 @ 12:09:00
Time taken to be seated: 2 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 3 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 48 minutes
Chopstix quality: Nice Plastic
Do they use MSG?: Yes. A little.
Where is the owner/chef from?: Saigon
Number of tables: 10
Number of occupied tables: 10 (100%)
Number of business lunch tables: 1 (10%)
Number of "local" tables: 9 (90%)
Healthcode Score: 17
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: #8 - Pho Dac Viet - Special Beef Noodle Soup - $6.25
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Emmett's Review

Perfectly average. Seriously, there is absolutely nothing that is unique, extraordinary, or special about Vietnam House. The food was decent enough. Decor is sparse. Service was fine. If I'm invited to lunch here, I'll gladly join in. But don't make a special trip here.

And since this is a blog, I feel compelled to write something. I love Vietnamese food, I love New Orleans cuisine. I've been reading and cooking out of my favorite Christmas present: John Besh's "My New Orleans", where he describes a sizeable Vietnamese migration to the New Orleans area since the early 1970s. He even incorporates some Asian elements into his recipes. I want to see a restaurant combine these two great cuisines. If you know of a place that does this, hit me up in the comments.

I hear Crawfish King is run by some Vietnamese. Need to check it out.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: #13 - Pho Tai Bo Vien - Round Steak and Meatball (Small) - $5.95
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Adam's Review

So, six large white men walk into Vietnam House... and it's like a record scratched. It really felt like the entire restaurant turned their heads to look at us. But that was totally fine, just a little weird.

They moved a group of 2 people away from the 6-person table, so we could use it, which was very nice of the customers we displaced. Every table in this restaurant seemed to be in a good place: Easy to get out of, easy to get service. I hate it when a restaurant is laid-out all weird and gets awkward when someone wants to do something other than sit.

Anyways, the Pho I got was pretty good. Nothing spectacular about it. The broth had a solid flavor, and had its own legs to stand on. The noodles were good. The meat balls were good. And the steak was good. It was all good.

I'm probably not going to make a specific trip back to Vietnam House, but I won't hesitate when someone else suggests it.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Banh Xeo - $6.95
Rating: 4 Chopsticks

Geary's Review

To my surprise Vietnam House was packed. We were the only group who didn't appear to be of Vietnamese origin. The interior is cheerfully decorated with purple plastic flowers, mirrors, ceiling fan and couple paintings of Vietnam. We had to wait a few minutes for a seat while the friendly staff rearranged tables and other customers to make room for us. The menu is extensive and filled with the Vietnamese favorites, many of which I now recognize. Having recently enjoyed the Banh Xeo at the Tamarind Tree I thought I’d give it a go here as well.

Banh Xeo is a large savory yellow pan-fried crepe filled with shrimp, pork, onions, and bean sprouts. It’s served with a pile of lettuce leaves, basil, mint, other greens, and a bowl of sweet and tangy fish sauce (nuoc cham). To eat, cut off a bite off crepe and wrap it in a handful of greens and dunk it in the nuoc cham. It’s delicious. My dish showed up last but was worth the wait. I’m always amazed at the pile of greens and herbs that show up with this dish. These alone would set you back a Hamilton or two at the typical suburban grocery store. My only complaint was that the crepe was a bit too oily.

There are better and worse Vietnamese restaurants than Vietnam House but to me average Vietnamese is better than 80% of other lunch offerings in the neighborhood.

Luncher: Scott

Lunch: Spicy Stir Fried Chicken with Lemongrass with Onion and Rice Vermicelli - $7.25
Rating: 4 Chopsticks

Scott's Review

Vietnam House was an interesting experience for me. The parking lot in front is small and overused. It's shared by several local establishments, so don't expect to easily drive and park there for lunch. It was also a little weird to see that it was sandwiched between what looked to be a fancier place to eat and a grocery store with stinky fruit larger than my head (which is saying something). From the outside, my guard probably would have been up if it weren't for my previous adventures in the land of the MSG150 and PBR150.

Once inside, it was pretty standard to look at. Lots of tables, all of them full. They quickly shuffled some other people around to fit our 6-person group at a table together, so that was nice. The menu had something like 96 items in it, well organized. Not feeling adventurous, I went for buzzwords I typically like, such as "chicken", "crispy", "spicy" and "vermicelli."

The most disappointing thing about my order was that right after I ordered it the old guy sitting next to me (Al) ordered the same thing. 95 other options, buddy. 95!

The food was everything the menu said it would be and I quite enjoyed it. Vietnam House is not a place that I would actively recruit people to go eat at, because I have similar options much closer. In short, I got a crispy spicy chicken noodle thing that didn't disappoint, paid a price that wasn't unreasonable, and issued it 4 out of 5 chopsticks because it's better than all-you-can-eat tacos at the Industry Lounge.