The Chinatown Favorite Goes West

Like the sequel to a beloved movie, a benchmark restaurant’s second location is an enterprise fraught with danger and the potential to disappoint. It is, after all, impossible to look at the follow-up (in either case) with fresh eyes. The context has already been established— regardless of how different the new one may be—and therefore will almost assuredly color the experience.

So it was with a sense of dread that I drove up to 47th and Baltimore. The original Vietnam, after all, is a benchmark of sorts among Philadelphia’s legions of Southeast Asian food fanatics. So why, I desperately wanted to know, would owner Benny Lai want to spread out the love when there already seemed to be more than enough to go around in his two-story spot on North 11th Street?

The answer is far simpler than I’d ever imagined: Because he can. Thankfully—perhaps miraculously—Lai’s West Philly spot, though significantly smaller than the Chinatown original, dishes out just as much deliciousness.

Nem Nuong Cuon, or grilled meatball rolls, were anchored by almost shockingly succulent balls of aromatic, faintly exotic ground pork, definitely not the stuff of mom’s Sunday-night gravy. Their deep sense of porkiness—highlighted by hand-pounded aromatic spices— was balanced by the fresh green snap of lettuce, basil leaves and bean sprouts, all tightly rolled in whisper-thin rice paper.

Muc Nuong Xa, or grilled squid, was also deceptively simple. In fact, its preparation was so straightforward that it constituted a highwire-act of sorts. Here, the squid is simply grilled with a bit of lemongrass and served with nothing more than ground peanuts on top and a fluffy bed of thin-sliced lettuce as a base, leaving little room for missing the mark with either seasoning or cooking time.

But here as at the original restaurant, the kitchen staff handles the challenge with grace. The pinky-size pieces of cephalopod snapped with just a bit of pressure from the teeth, and the high temperature of the cooking had charred the edges of some of them, rendering them just the slightest bit smoky. With the safety net of a fried-batter crust removed, this dish could have been a train-wreck; in reality, it was a revelation of simplicity and restraint.

Pho sate, a large enough portion for two meals, was built on what is certainly one of the heartiest broths in town. Kissed with the smoky heat of sliced jalapenos and the sweet earthiness of ground peanuts, this entrée-rich soup was filled out with surprisingly tender slices of flank steak as well as bean sprouts and lettuce.

There are a few simple combinations in town that offer up all the pleasure of a full-blown meal at the restaurants in which they’re served, but at a fraction of the price. The margherita pizza and a glass of rustic red at Osteria is one. The French onion soup and a grenache at Brasserie Perrier is another. This soup and a cold beer certainly deserves to keep that kind of lofty company.

Bun Dac Biet, on the other hand, is like a Vietnam Café greatest-hits dish. Piled atop a base of thin rice vermicelli were those fabulous meatballs; grilled pork and chicken; a slicedup spring roll; the beloved cha gio filled with perfumed pork; and bright fresh mint, onions and mushrooms. Ask for a bit of hot chile oil to be brought to your table alongside this. If taste buds are capable of dancing a jig, this is the dish that provides the tune.

Even dessert, which I usually drink in the form of coffee thickened with sweetened condensed milk at Vietnamese restaurants, was a standout here, most notably the sweet rice and taro-root pudding, a hearty, exuberantly starchy concoction given a subtle exotic edge by the addition of coconut milk.

The only problem is that Vietnam Café is tucked into a significantly smaller space than the expansive original, and once word gets around, don’t be surprised to have to wait for a table behind groups of college kids clamoring for a great meal that won’t necessitate the use of mom and dad’s credit cards. But that’s a small price to pay for a gem like this.

Vietnam Café is located at 814 S. 47th St. in Philadelphia, and can be reached by phone at (215) 729-0260.