Adventures in Culinaria

Friday night, Baker's team had a 6:30 game which actually started at 7:00 and didn't finish until after 8:30. Instead of resorting to regular Chinese take-out for a late supper, I had arranged for us to tackle what's known as the city's second Chinatown, a stretch of Argyle St. only a few blocks from our apartment.

What's makes this area different from the real Chinatown, which is down on the south side, is that the restaurants at least seem to be predominantly Vietnamese. I'm intrigued by Vietnamese food for one, because I have no experience with it, and for another, because it is heavily influenced by French cuisine. (Makes sense, since France occupied much of southeast Asia for over 100 years.)

So I combed the Internet to find the best restaurant at which to begin my foray into the world of Vietnamese food. I picked Hai Yen, a restaurant with middle-of-the-road pricing, good reviews, and a full menu printed on its website.

"And... how was the food?" you ask. Well, pretty good. "Better than plain old Chinese?" Slightly, yes. Overall, I think Vietnamese cuisine offers a greater selection of lighter, less MSG-laden dishes than one would find on a Chinese take-out menu. And the prices were comparable.

So here's what we had:



Ban Xeo, or aVietnamese-style crepe

This was good but kind of bland. And I'm still not sure what made it so orange. But, for some reason I still haven't really figured out, it did come with...



Vegetables, including plentiful supplies of cilantro and Thai basil



Seafood egg rolls



Goi Cuon, or Spring rolls (which were my favorite, largely because of the peanut sauce that came avec)



Baker's dinner of orange chicken (the presentation in this photo was all him)



And finally, my plate

All in all, a worthwhile experiment.

Stay tuned for "Adventures in Culinaria II: Baked Macaroni and Cheese." This time, it's home-made...