Vietnamese

Crystal!

by Stephanie on August 31, 2012

in Asian, Dinner, Lunch, Vietnamese

Happy Friday! Who else is ready for the 3-day weekend? I am! I’m so excited I could do a backflip. Sadly, I’m no Gabby Douglas, so I’ll just stick to using an obscene amount of smiley faces. Smile

Anyway, let’s talk food, shall we?

I usually consider myself to be a pretty healthy person. Yes, I enjoy good food (especially when bacon is involved!), but I also enjoy running, biking, and being active in general. Thanks to that, I rarely get sick. I catch a cold only about once a year, and I don’t think I’ve ever had the flu (knock on wood!).

Allergies, on the other hand? Those get me every single year. I don’t know what it is in the air that I’m allergic to, but for the past week or two, I’ve been a watery-eyed, sniffling, sneezing mess. And breathing through my nose? Not even an option right now. Ick.

Many people turn to chicken noodle soup when they’re not feeling well. But me? Well…I’m more of a pho girl. Remember my review of Mai Lee? Pho rocks my world.

So a few days ago, when I was feeling pretty miserable, pho sounded good. Pho sounded really good.

I’ve passed by Crystal Vietnamese a few times, so I figured this would be the perfect time to try it.

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I didn’t get a good shot of the outside of the restaurant, but I snapped a quick photo of the interior! It’s nice and spacious.

On to the food! I ordered a hot steaming bowl of Pho Tai, or beef noodle soup.

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Oh man. This soup definitely hit the spot. The beef looks pretty rare, but after a few seconds in the hot broth, it cooked enough so that the pink went away; it was perfect.

The flavors of this soup were amazing. The flavor of the beef permeated the broth, and I could even taste the subtle hints of fish sauce. In other words, this soup was perfect.

My friend ordered shrimp fried rice:

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I tried a bite and it was really good!

Service at Crystal was friendly and fast. Even though they were preparing for a massive birthday party that was going to be held there, we still received plenty of attention. And the prices were cheap, too!

I highly recommend Crystal. I can’t wait to go back! I wish I could go now…my nose is so stuffy, and I know that some pho would certainly cure it. Smile

See you next week!

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Oh my, Mai Lee!

by Stephanie on March 13, 2010

in Asian, Dinner, Lunch, Vietnamese

So after my 5 mile run through the streets of St. Louis, I decided to reward myself with a huge steaming bowl of pho. I went to one of my favorite Vietnamese places, Mai Lee.

I started with the same thing I always start with: the egg roll appetizer. I’m a sucker for a good egg roll, and Mai Lee doesn’t disappoint. Since everyone knows what an egg roll looks like (hopefully!) I’ll just post a picture of the yummy goodness inside:

I’m going to be 100% honest and say I don’t know exactly what is inside of Mai Lee’s eggrolls. But I’m pretty sure love is in there somewhere. And happiness. Maybe pork.

Next, I had the Bun Bo Hue. Otherwise known as spicy beef pho. Otherwise known as YUMMYNESS IN MY MOUTH!

It had vermicelli noodles, spicy medium-rare beef, and a bunch of different herbs and spices (I definitely tasted cilantro, among other things). It was delicious, warm, slightly spicy, and the perfect way to reward myself for running five miles in the cold. Mmm. Perfect.

My boyfriend will probably disapprove of this blog post, because I wasn’t very descriptive about the food. I don’t really explain WHY I like it. Well…sometimes, that’s just how it is. You don’t know exactly WHY you like something, but you know that you do. That’s how Mai Lee is for me. And honestly? I’m okay with that. :)

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Mmm…Vietnamese

by Stephanie on February 28, 2010

in Asian, Dinner, Lunch, Vietnamese

One thing you will undoubtedly notice over time in this blog is my undying love of Vietnamese cuisine. I swear I could live off of pho and sushi for the rest of my life. Oh, I know sushi is Japanese. Let me reword my original statement: I love Asian cuisine. Yum. But this post? This post, my friends, is dedicated to Mekong.  Located on South Grand Avenue in St. Louis, it’s one of many ethnic restaurants lined along this busy street.

I went here on a blistering cold Saturday afternoon (actually, I don’t remember if it was cold or not — let’s just pretend that it was!). Like most places that I dash into, I had passed by Mekong dozens of times. This time, I decided to finally venture in.

It was around noon. Lunchtime, right? Right? RIGHT?!?! Hmm…so why was I the only person in the restaurant? And why did the restaurant SMELL FUNNY?!!? The average person would have walked out right then, but not me, my friends. I have a tummy of steel. I was craving Vietnamese. And I surely wasn’t going to let a funny smell separate me from some delicious food.

I’m not a huge fan of spring rolls (I like egg rolls much better), but after reading all of the glowing reviews of Mekong’s spring rolls, I decided to bite the bullet and try them. They came out quickly, with some sort of peanut sauce that was just heavenly. The rolls were pretty good. Spring rolls still aren’t my favorite thing, but these were probably the best I’ve had.


For my entree, I had the fried chicken in Mekong sauce (I think it was some sort of fish sauce). Oh my goodness. When I say that this was DELICIOUS, I really mean it. Just wonderful. Orgasmic. When my plate arrived at the table, I swear my heart skipped a few beats. I immediately fell in love. It just LOOKED good.

And boy, it tasted amaaaaazing. It must be the American blood coursing through my veins, but I couldn’t stop eating it, even after I was disgustingly full. It was THAT good. The portion was HUGE. Definitely enough for two nice meals. How I managed to stuff it all into my belly? The world may never know.

Service was fast and friendly. My waiter was quiet, but nice. He always kept my water full, he was very attentive, and when I ran out of fish sauce, he quickly brought me some more. Nice.

Food is really cheap here. All of my food came to less than 15 bucks, which isn’t bad for a huge lunch. Cheap food = happy girl!

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