It is widely known that the best Vietnamese food may be found in Orange County. Over 189,000 Vietnamese Americans reside there making this the largest concentration of Vietnamese in the US. Westminster became known as Little Saigon and the area quickly spread into Garden Grove.
In order to succeed, restaurant owners must tailor their food to the tastes of the people that immediately surround them. If authentic Vietnamese dishes aren’t appealing to people in the local community, chefs must create a version of it that will be to their liking. Viet Noodle Bar is one such restaurant that has succeeded in this endeavor.
The owners of Viet Noodle Bar opened their first restaurant in Atwater. Because Silverlake / Atwater is known for having a high concentration of vegetarian and vegan restaurants, their menu reflects this. While their menu isn’t exclusively vegetarian, they have a number of creative vegetarian and vegan offerings.
I recently visited their second location in Santa Monica. It is located on Pico Bl across from Trader Joes just west of Centinela Ave. It looked like the restaurant recently opened with a plastic banner acting as their outdoor sign. The interior was clean and modern with cool music playing in the background.
After arriving at home, I found my order to be nicely packaged and labeled. I was most impressed with the Jackfruit Salad. It is a vegan mixture of jackfruit, fried tofu, chopped shiitake mushrooms, crispy shallots, sesame, and rice crackers. The fried shallots and tofu nicely elevated the flavor profile of this dish.
Turmeric Fish Noodle is Viet Noodle Bar’s most popular dish. An ample amount of lightly fried whitefish with mild turmeric seasoning nicely complemented the cilantro, crispy fried shallots, and dill. It was placed on a bed of wide Vietnamese rice noodles.
Tenderized marinated beef sprinkled with sesame seeds was served over rice noodles. It also included a side salad and a delicious peanut sauce for the meat. While I didn’t prepare it this way, I think it would have been better if I mixed the noodles and beef together with the sauce. The beef was of good quality with almost no fat.
In addition to what I tried, they also feature pho and banh mi sandwiches. I purchased their organic chicken banh mi for my mom and she called me to say that she thoroughly enjoyed it.
If you like Vietnamese cuisine and eat healthy food, Viet Noodle Bar provides a winning combination. They understand how to combine flavors effectively which reduces the need to introduce fat to elevate the taste.
Viet Noodle Bar, 3221 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405; 424.299.6360