New in the Hood: Changes in the Crofton Asian Food Landscape

So, Kwong's Hunan in Crofton Center unfortunately changed ownership and is now "Fusia." As you can probably guess from its name, Fusia is a pan-Asian restaurant. Generally, I'm not into pan-Asian restaurants because they lack authenticity. It's all about breadth instead of depth, and the food is usually ok, but nothing special. Sadly, Fusia is no different. Wasn't impressed and was depressed that my favorite Chinese restaurant has been taken over by the misguided fusion craze. Of note, there is a new Vietnamese restaurant in the Gambrills/Crofton area -- VN Noodle House, located at 2299 Johns Hopkins Road in Gambrills. Much better than Saigon Noodle House. We ordered spring rolls, fresh rolls, pho, and beef clay pot rice. The pho can actually compete with the pho from Viet-Thai Paradise in Annapolis, which has amazing broth; I still say that the spring rolls are better at Viet-Thai, though. My only beef with VN Noodle was the beef in the clay pot beef. It just tasted a little bit off -- like the beef wasn't high quality or something. It might have just been a little off that night, though. I'd definitely go back, and would love not having to go to Annapolis to get decent Vietnamese food. I'll keep you posted!

Present

Present is such a fitting name for the Vietnamese restaurant in Falls Church, Virginia, that we went to on Saturday evening. The food was a present to my mouth, and it paid for us to be present at the restaurant when we were. Let me explain. We were meeting up with friends who recently moved to Fairfax for dinner. We had tried to get reservations at several restaurants, but ended up not being able to, since we didn't try to settle on a place to eat until 6 on Saturday. Not a good idea. I had heard about Present through the Washingtonian's list of the areas top restaurants, and thought we should give it a try. Just so you know, you definitely need a reservation here. However, we arrived at about 6:45, and there were a few big tables in the back being held for an 8 pm reservation. We were told that we could be seated at one of the tables if we could be done by 8. By virtue of being present at the right time, we were seated without a wait on a Saturday night. This is perhaps one of the best Vietnamese restaurants I have tried. And yes, I have been to Four Sisters. The menu seemed a lot more varied and creative, and I was much more impressed with the food, even though Four Sisters was good. For appetizers, we ordered the Green Parasdise spring roll, a cold roll with shrimp and vermicelli and pork in rice paper, which is actually called a summer roll at other restaurants. I feel like these are generally all created more or less equal. We also ordered the Silken Shawl Imperial Autumn Roll. FYI - you can order half orders of these puppies. It was a fried roll wrapped in a lacy rice noodle paper, which comes with lettuce to wrap it in. I wonder if the lettuce or the lacy rice paper is the "shawl." I loved the idea of wrapping the roll in lettuce; it was something different than what's offered at other restaurants, and it was a nice contrast to the crispy roll. It may be one of the best fried rolls I've had at a Vietnamese restaurant. The main courses were excellent as well, and truly memorable. I ordered the No. 61, aka the Open Field in the Sunset, which the menu describes as a sweet and sour soup with pineapple and green vegetables. It can be ordered with either fish or shrimp. The server recommended the fish, so I went with that. The soup was awesome. I wish that I could do it justice with words, but I can't. It came with two decent size non-fishy white fish fillets and was chock full of veggies. The broth was sublime. The only other dish I tried was the spicy beef soup, which my husband ordered. It had a nice kick, and the noodles were thick and round; they looked like thick white spaghetti noodles; not the thinner vermicelli. I can't wait to go back. I am dying to try the whole fried fish, but need to go with someone who is into the whole fish thing. Just a few parting random parting thoughts. If you're looking for traditional pho, don't go here because they don't have it. They have a lot of other great soups, but no pho. Also, the prices are imminently reasonable; presentation is beautiful, and they're nice to kids there.

Viet-Thai Paradise: The Good and the Not So Good

My husband and I have been going to Viet-Thai Paradise on Riva Road in Annapolis ever since it opened. I've never gotten around to writing about it. For the Annapolis food scene, which is sorely lacking in good ethnic food, Viet-Thai is pretty good. It does some things really really well, and other things, not so well. Before delving into the good and the bad, I thought I should say that the restaurant is Vietnamese-owned. Thus, if the conventional wisdom is true, then the Vietnamese (rather than Thai) side of the menu is probably better. My experience with Viet-Thai's pad-thai did not disabuse me of that notion. The Good The pho is excellent. The broth is complex, and the different flavors and spices shine through. It comes in several different meat varieties along with fresh sprouts, basil, green onions, white onions, and a hearty amount of noodles. It's as good, if not better as any I've tasted anywhere else. Also try the springrolls. I don't know how to put it. They are supremely tasty, and again, as good, if not better as any I've tased anywhere else. The restaurant uses a wrapper more akin to a lumpia wrapper, rather than the bubbly, less delicate, and chewier eggroll skin. Service and atmosphere are also nice. The restaurant features modern decor, friendly and efficient service, and warm washcloths for the hands, and fresh post-meal orange slices. Other good things to try are lemongrass beef with noodles and the summer rolls. The Not So Good I like to try new things on menus, but most of my attempts to branch out from the pho have resulted in mediocre meals. As one of my Vietnamese friends said, Vietnames restaurants usually get a few dishes right; it is rare that they can hit all of the high notes. I think that this is probably the case with a lot of restaurants. I've had the bun (noodle salad), caramelized pork, and the Viet-Thai special fried rice. Not good and verging on the border of a little bad. There's just something a little off about the flavor of these dishes. However, I'll go back for pho and springrolls anytime!

So So Saigon Noodle House

Unsurprisingly, I enjoy cooking a lot. For some reason, I haven't felt inspired to cook lately. As a result, we've been going out to eat too much for our own good. It was one of those uninspired nights when we decided to venture out to Saigon Noodle House at 2171 Defense Highway in Crofton (in the shopping center behind Rita's). I always tell Eugene that we should go try it out instead of venturing down to Viet-Thai Paradise in Annapolis. He finally gave in, especially since I like to try new places so that I can write about them, and because we read some good reviews online. Would I go back? In a pinch maybe, but I would rather take the hike to Viet-Thai. Things started out well. We ordered the combination roll because of the reviews we read online. It was very tasty. It came wrapped like a summer roll, but was crunchy on the inside -- a cross between a spring and summer roll. Sadly, the entrees were disappointing. Eugene ordered pho, and the broth lacked the subtle flavors of the other pho that we've tried. I ordered a crepe, which turned out to be filled mostly with beansprouts and a few shrimp. The beansprouts had a weird flavor when combined with the crepe itself, and by virtue of being almost steamed when cooked in the crepe. The crepe itself had a weird flavor that I didn't care for. Maybe the other dishes are good.....

Other Seattle Notes

To conclude my culinary tour of Seattle and so as not to bore everyone to death, here are some quick thoughts on two more Seattle dining spots: Restaurant Zoe (http://www.restaurantzoe.com/index.html). Good, but but not as good as Palace Kitchen. Again, it had a casual vibe. Gourment food with jeans. Yay! Good coffee and cool non-alcoholic cocktails, like the very refreshing cranberry orange crush. Can't remember what type of salad I ordered, but I remember being underwhelmed. My entree, the Whole Hog, was creative, and consisted of pork mixed with various other things encased in a crust. Tasty and unique. I had the pumpkin pie sundae for dessert; excellent pumpkin ice cream with crust crumbles. Good coffee as well. Bambuza (http://www.bambuza.com/). The only truly disappointing dining experience I had while in Seattle. It may have been because we went too close to closing -- an hour close, not 5 minutes close. I ordered a shrimp and papaya salad. The shrimp was undercooked and bland to the point of yucky. The summer rolls were your standard Vitenamese summer rolls, and the recommended catfish hotpot, while somewhat tasty, was submerged in a half-inch of grease. Not appealing. The restaurant charged extra for rice, which I think is absurd for an Asian restaurant. I was told, however, that in Asia, rice doesn't necessarily come with dishes because it's viewed as poor man's dish, so maybe it's more authentic that way.... Pike's Place Market. I bought the best apples (honeycrisp) that I have ever eaten there. Definitely order a bun at the Chinese stand in the outer part of the market (can't remember the name), but stay away from the juice stand. I can't remember if it's the same stand as the Chinese stand, but I ordered fresh grapefruit juice and it tasted a bit rancid. I wish that I would have had more time because the food offerings were extensive and looked unique. I think that I need a good week to eat through the entire market....

Suprising Saigon Palace

So, sometimes it's hard to believe that there is good ethnic food outside of major metropolitan areas. Saigon Palace is one of those surprises. Not only is it not in a major metropolitan area, it's not even in Annapolis. It's actually out in Edgewater on Mayo Road. I've been there several times, and I'm always happy with it. Our last visit was this past Saturday. It appears that Saigon Palace rearranged its menu from the last time we were there. I can't swear to it, but I think that they did. The menu is extensive and provides good explanations of the dishes and their genres. I think that the prices may have increased slightly from the last time as well. I appreciate the menu because it is an all Vietnamese menu -- not a pan-Asian menu or one that offers dishes from other countries, and therefore seems more authentic (at least to me). We ordered beef pho (large) and a vermicelli noodle salad (#39), which had grilled chicken, beef, pork, and shrimp. It also came with a spring roll and fresh carrot, cucumber, and bean sprouts. It's absolutely delicious! The pho was ok, but not as flavorful as the pho at Viet Thai on Riva Road. The noodles were a bit clumpy. The service is good too. It includes a hot towel at the end of the meal, and some orange slices. I'd definitely go back!