Oh, lordy, where to begin... Are Vietnamese restos, especially, pho joints, the newest gimmick like the revolting poke bullshit days of yesteryear? They are popping up all over the fucking place in this one horse town with the lure of delivering ethnic cuisine to the middling gringos who never venture more than 500 feet from their garage door. Pho and Korean BBQ are invading the intown landscape trying to capture that market share of people who don't want to drive to Buford Highway or just never had the cuisines. I don't mind seeing one or two pho joints intown because the grub is usually pretty watered down for the demographics with a higher price tag but it's getting annoying to see more and more pop up with similar setups.
So, the owners of Khanh Vietnamese Pho and Sandwich at the H Mart strip mall in Duluth opened up a sister location in the old Our Way Cafe in Avondale... Whatchu talkin'bout, Willis?! Avondale??? There's no slopes in Avondale, you may be able to find a few pseudo ones in Clarkston but Avondale? C'mon, motherfuckers, stop playing, yo! I had Khanh's many moons ago and it was alright but alright in Duluth is just not good enough with so many other options within a stone's throw away. But if you open an ethnic resto in an up and coming gentrifying area, the pedestrians in the community will eat that shit up, hook, line and sinker... It's a ballsy move but if you don't take risks there's no reward. Even if the food sucks ass here, I still give them credit for doing it in this area even if it's for 6 months.
I wanted to wait a bit to write this up... I needed to visit this joint at least a couple times just to make sure it was consistent. Let's take a look at a few classic dishes and see if they can deliver the goods or just dumb down garbage with a Vietnamese name on the menu...
Canh Ga Chien Nuoc Mam, $6.95. Menu says "Crispy wings with sweet garlic fish sauce"... 1. Wings were soggy, 2. Not a hint of fish sauce, 3. The flesh was stiff, 4. Fucking stiffed me the 6th wing, 5. Skip this shit. Seven bucks for 5 wings... It was supposed to be 6... Yeah, I want my 2 dollars back, ese. These wings were glazed with something but it ain't fish sauce. These were just plain bad... Tasted like they poached them first and flash fried it and splashed it with some watered down concoction. Nothing Vietnamese about these at all, they actually sucked hard. If you're gonna steal Nam Phuong's fish sauce glazed wings at least do it some justice. Fuck me, the more I think about it, the more upset I get... Pouch is getting UPSET! Not a good start at all...
Banh Beo Chen, $6.95. Hue style rice cakes with dried shrimp, scallion oil, fried onions and croutons. I do like how they give you 8 little plates to share with the table but in my case it was just me and the Pouch. Let's take a closer look...
It's a fun little dish but once is more than enough to last a life time. It's just not that interesting or flavor packed. It's a dish for little kids. If they paired it with a shot of whiskey for each little plate, then maybe it's worth it.
Banh Xeo, $11.95. I have been craving this Vietnamese crepe... Made with shrimp, pork, bean sprouts, mung beans and yellow onions with garnishes on the side. The house made fish sauce aka nuoc mam was so weak and watered down that I had to ask them for some unadulterated full strength fish sauce (luckily, I saw a few bottles of 3 crabs on the shelves). The banh xeo was a robust portion, no complaints about that. But it wasn't as crispy or thin as it could be... They also just threw in the fillers afterwards, it's supposed to be cooked with the batter, so it becomes part of the crepe. It's not a bad attempt but kinda hard to call it a true exhibit of a banh xeo at this stage of the game. Hopefully, they will improve with time.
Bun Bo Hue, $11.95. BBH is one of my favorite Viet noodle soups... And if it's done correctly, it totally surpasses any pho on any day. I love BBH because it encompasses the delicate balance of spicy, salty and umami flavors all in one bowl. It is an incredible dish on a cold rainy/snowy day... But I can eat it even on a hot swamp ass summer day in GA as well, I don't fucking discriminate. This specimen was a nice showing at first glance... It had many of the elements required in a BBH bowl. They got the big blood cube, the giant beef shank, slices of assorted meats, thick round rice noodles, and a hint of lemongrass because the pile of raw onions on top overpowered the core aroma of the broth. Took a sip... Eh, it's not spicy at all, even the color was pale in comparison to other BBH found in this town. Like with pho, the broth is the main star in any noodle soup... It brings all the elements together in harmony and this specimen was more style than substance. The real non-compliance for me was the weak unspicy broth which totally killed it for me... But I still ate it after doctoring it up with the supply of sriracha, sambal oelek and shrimp paste on hand. It is what it is... Especially, in this part of town. I asked the server if anyone has order this at all, she said, you and one other person so far... I guess those fucking Yelpers are more interested in complaining about the soap in the bathroom than the food.
On another visit...
Papaya Salad, $8.95. Vietnamese papaya salad is nothing like Thai papaya salad at all... It is more delicate and way less spicy than their Thai counterparts. I fucking love Thai hot papaya salad, it gets my blood flow going in my nether regions that no fat chick can. This Viet version was fine, the most noticeable element was the texture, it didn't have that crunch and fresh herb aroma that a well made Viet papaya salad delivers. I guess that's why they give you prawn chips, for that crunch factor that's missing in the papaya salad. It's not a bad dish, it's just kinda boring. Freshness is the key to this dish.
Com Tam Bo Luc Lac, $12.95. The infamous shaking beef turned out more like sleeping beef... It almost put me to sleep while chewing it. It was delivered to the table barely warm through and had no sizzle. The flavor was good, the accompaniments were acceptable, but the broken rice had some dried out crunchy bits which seemed like they mixed in day old rice with rice they made that day. Not a deal breaker but the Pouch makes observations with precision that my one reader demands. The beef cubes were tender and seasoned well, it would have been a better dish if it was served hot right away and not sitting at the pass waiting for the server to pick it up. It's like made to order chicharrones, they have to be served right after it comes outta the fryer for that crackling goodness. Food is a show and without the music, the experience is half complete. But this should be an easy fix.
Banh Mi Dac Biet, $5.50. Someone is in desperate need of a manscaping... Anyone got some hot wax or a machete? Look at that bush, woof. How do we even know what's in that shrubbery. I pulled all the Ho Chin Minh foliage away to inspect the innards and it didn't look half bad (I forgot to take a pic). It had a decent helping of pate, ham, roast pork and shredded pork. Put everything back together and took a bite... Hmmm, it was delicious. The bread was flaky on the outside, soft and pillowy on the inside. The entire flavor package was spot on... And the mark up was worth it. But Quoc Huong still has some of the best (if not the most consistent) banh mi's in town.
Banh Xeo, $11.95. I had to get it again just to see if it improved... And it has but not by much. The execution was cleaner and the crepe was sealed nicely like a giant empanada or calzone. The edges were crispier which was a great improvement, it was more crepe like than omelette like. It's kinda growing on me but not enough to order it again for myself... I will wait for some poor schmuck to order it and I will sample it just to make sure it's edible.
Pho, $9.95. Build your own- Tendon, tripe and meatball x2. Alright, alright, alright... Here is the main event, the much hyped home made signature beef broth and fresh rice noodles. I like how you can customize your pho bowl. I doubled up on the meatballs because most places are always so fucking chintzy with their balls. The beef broth looked kinda weak and watered down... Took a sip and my initial assessment was correct. It had a beefy flavor to it but it was not complex or rich, it was like from a bouillon cube added to some bones in a pot with water. You can taste it almost immediately that this wasn't simmered for hours as hoped for. Maybe if we dress it up with all the accoutrements and sauces we can disguise it...
Pre-hot saucing the beast... After you mixed in all the goodies, it starts to develop a more complex flavor that resembles more like a rich bowl of pho. The tendons, tripe and meatballs were all acceptable, the fresh made rice noodles were toothy and springy as promised. If only the beef broth was better this would have been a very respectable pho... But for the area, this was totally acceptable. Hopefully, with time, they can improve the "signature" beef broth, but for now, it's more of an e-signature beef broth.
They took a chance in opening an ethnic resto in Avondale and so far it looks like it is paying off because the pedestrians are packing the place... It's a good beginner's guide to Viet grub, a Pho for Dummies of sorts. The great thing I like about them is that they are opened till midnight every single day, so you can come after the rush of families and their demon spawns screaming like banshees... Which may sound just like you're in Vietnam. But don't get your hopes up just yet of slurping pho till midnight because they may have changed their hours till 11 PM now according to those mooks at Yelp... Boooooo! But it won't stop me from trying out a few more dishes before heading back to Buford Hwy for the real deal.
2831 E. College Ave
Avondale Estates, GA 30002
https://vietvana.com/
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