What's PHO lunch today? As autumn quietly slinks in, there's nothing like a truly authentic PHO to ease us into the chill that awaits. Head on over to Q's Restaurant at 172 Main Street in Norwalk (the old Valencia Luncheria spot) for the real McCoy. Recently opened (about 3 months and counting) and charmingly tiny, Q's is the love child of husband and wife duo Charles Eaton and XiaoNing Liu. Eaton, a Vietnam Vet, met Liu (a native of Old Nanking Province in China) while he was serving a tour of duty in Asia. Together, they have brought a small menu featuring Pho as well as other Vietnamese and Chinese cuisine to their wee, little kitchen.
Post opening tweaks are commonplace during the first few months after a restaurant's opening. With Mecha’s minor changes completed, it now firmly fills the belly rumbling void of Southeast Asian Noodles and street food, popularizing Ramen, Pho and South East Asian comfort food.
Owner Tony Pham, who also owns Pho Vietnam in Danbury, saw an opportunity in Fairfield, to capture the hearts and hungry stomachs of the Fairfield U student bodies by opening a Ramen noodle bar. This small, but cozy, space is an architecturally clean, eye pleasing mix of Modern Asian décor...with a long community table in the center and block style tables around its perimeter. There is some additional seating circling the "bar" with colorful Asian ceramic stools adding some pop and a touch of elegance to this casual space. Pham is committed to keeping his two restaurants a "family affair," and you may be seated, served, or cooked for, by one of his family members!
When I first visited with Tony in September, Ramen noodles were the main attraction on his menu. Several months later, Mecha’s menu is now representative of Japan’s different regional nuances with the current soup bases including Shoyu, Miso and Chicken.
Ramen noodles are having "their moment," and restaurateur Tony Pham, owner of Pho Vietnam in Danbury has just opened a new venture in Fairfield that will have fans of Asian food slurping without pause. Welcome to MECHA.
Pham, a Vietnamese American who opened Pho Vietnam at the tender age of 21, again uses his raw talent drawing from his years of experience traveling around the world and working in numerous kitchens. His newest baby, Mecha, located on Post Road in Fairfield is a hip, cozy joint that serves up Ramenas well as Asian street food. Consulting with a master Ramen chef,Tony Pham is placing all bets on this age old Japanese noodle..and we hear Pho is on the way. For a new restaurant aiming directly at the college crowd around Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, it's a perfect match.
Read our interview with Tony Pham below to find out more about Tony's family, the history of Ramen, the meaning of "MECHA," and what inspires Tony Pham.
“You know how to eat that?” asked the kindly woman as she set a steaming bowl of soup before me at Pho Mai. Did I know how to eat pho? To handle the chopsticks and spoon? To lift the long noodles from the big bowl of broth without slapping myself in the face with a wet noodle? I’ve learned over the years. But Vietnamese food can be perplexing to the uninitiated. It’s hands-on.
Pho Mai makes the best Vietnamese food I’ve found in Fairfield County. It’s been open for about a year, and it’s worth a jaunt to Wood Avenue in Bridgeport (across from the Wood’s End Deli) to enjoy the fresh, herb-filled, sweet, sour, and fermented flavors of Vietnamese food.
Pho Mai’s red awnings strike a cheerful air on a bleak corner. Inside, the place is spic and span clean, with freshly painted yellow walls. Big orange fish swim back and forth in an aquarium that bubbles soothingly. The restaurant has been near empty every time I’ve been, and that’s a shame because the food here is seriously good, and it’s a great place for a weekend lunch with a group of friends.
Asher is an 8th grader at Fairfield Country Day School. He has a true passion for food and started his blog, AsherZeats, in September of 2012. Asher reviews everything from Michelin starred restaurants to great dives. This review originally ran on AsherZeats.
“Anyone who tells a lie has not a pure heart, and cannot make a good soup. “-- Ludwig Van Beethoven.
This Saturday we traveled to Vietnam Palace (a new restaurant, opened this past June) located at- 955 Ferry Boulevard, Stratford, CT in a very busy shopping center.
When we entered, we noticed two very cool statues of lions and a statue of a Buddha. The ceilings were filled with many upside down umbrellas and the restaurant was extremely clean. We also saw that it was a family run business (the best kind of business) with a very small number of people working there. When we were seated, we were greeted by an EXTREMELY friendly Husband/Wife pair who could not be any nicer.
Occasionally, we like to get a few opinions on a restaurant. Here are two shorts from Cathy Siroka and James Gribbon on Shanghai Bistro.
If you’re in South Norwalk and want a simple, easy place to go before a movie or out with the kids – try Shanghai Asian Bistro. They recently opened a second location at 124 Washington St., with their first one in Westport at 1715 Post Rd East. Owner, John Jiang, had been carefully looking for a second location for years, and has seen such a huge change in the traffic and excitement in downtown Norwalk, and finally felt that “now was the right time.”
While the menu has the Chinese classics like shrimp with duck sauce and General Tsao’s chicken, the restaurant also offers an array of other Asian inspired dishes and many ways to customize your order according to your tastes and dietary preferences. Jiang explains his menu as “all-Asian, not just Chinese, a sampling of the flavors of China, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan.”
With a stellar location in Westport on the Saugatuck, and a Taiwanese chef, trained in Japanese cuisine with more than 20 years in the restaurant business, Westporters have something to be hopeful about in a new local take out and delivery place.
Bistro 88, a family run restaurant, is dishing up food from several Asian destinations including China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and even Indonesia, in the form of traditional Sambal. Lucky for us that points of political contention hasn’t gotten in the way of allowing us to choose freely from this flowing menu of Asian delights. Looming largely as a take out and delivery business, this tiny joint also has limited seating with service for those who prefer to eat there. Plus, the menu is so extensive (reading like a Bible for Asian food), there is surely something for everyone.
Lovers of Bánh mì, the Vietnamese sandwich, were crestfallen when Pacific Foods(1561 Black Rock Turnpike, Fairfield (203) 220-9450) closed just a few months after opening. I’m thrilled to report it’s back, under the same management. Good news is that this hole-in-the-wall storefront now has three tables for eating in.
As CT Bites previously reported, the menu offers summer rolls, pho and bubble tea, and there’s a small grocery section. But here’s what you have to order: the bánh mì. It could be described as a Vietnamese sub. Like a sub, the classic version combines cold cuts and crisp vegetables. But this light, well-proportioned sandwich is not an over-stuffed meat- feast, and each component reveals the way that the French colonization of Vietnam melded the flavors and cooking techniques of the two cultures.
Every once in a while something new comes to town that we just have to explore! This time, it’s Pacific Food on the Black Rock Turnpike that adds a little bit of Asian flavor to the shopping options in Fairfield. We visited Pacific Food recently to see what kind of eclectic goodies we could fill our shopping carts with. After all, it’s about time we started using our wok pans for something worth wok-ing!
Pacific Food is a unique Asian market open almost three months in a small shopping center just as Blackrock Turnpike splits into Tunxis Hill. The small footprint of the grocer packs a punch – offeringcounter-style favorites such as Vietnamese sandwiches, Japanese-style smoothiesin a rainbow of flavors and a decided-upon favorite, traditional Chinese Bubble Tea.
Ready for a little PIK me up? Head over to PHO GARDEN at 1620 Post Road in Westport for some authentic Vietnamese delights! This brand new Asian dining offering, (formerly Zole'), has simple decor and an unimpressive neon sign outside the door, but don't let this turn you off. PHO GARDEN'S authentic menu is a welcome addition to the Westport restaurant scene. Plus, with Pho Mekong closing its doors across the street, PHO GARDEN is definitely worth checking out!
In Fairfield County, Vietnamese cuisine is not as plentiful as other asian cuisines, so you really have to dig deep, and go where the Pho is...wherever it is. I recently received a tip from a CT Bites reader that good Pho was to be had in Bridgeport at a small mom & pop restaurant called Pho Saigon. We rallied our enthusiastic tasters and headed out to Iranistan Street in Bridgeport, an area that is definitely "off the beaten path", but you do what you've gotta do for good food. You won't find this place in Zagats.
We entered what seemed to be the living room of a small corner house, furnished with gum-ball machines, plastic floral table cloths, and big pots of luke warm tea on the tables. Clearly, dining here was about the food, not the decor. We were greeted warmly, although not in English (which is generally a good sign that the food will be authentic), and escorted to a clean table piled high with squeeze bottles of fiery sauces and jars of fish paste. Lucky for us, the menu had translations, so we ordered half of the 21 item menu (as most dishes were under $7) and waited for the food to arrive.
UPDATE: Pho Mekong has closed. Shake Shack coming soon!
There are certain meals you just can't cook at home...especially as a white woman. We have tried in our local gourmet club to master the art of Asian cooking, but after a full day's search for the 30 obscure ingredients required for a basic dish like Pad Thai, we decided our next craving for coconut and curry would be better satisfied with take-out. We had heard rumors of a local favorite, Pho Mekong, on the Westport/Southport border. Needing a quick pre-movie bite last week, we headed over to find out if the food held up to the buzz....
