Chic Viet Eats
SAIGONNAIS
[from March 2001 issue]

So many Vietnamese restaurants have popped up in the area that sometimes old-timers may get lost in the shuffle. But with places like Saigonnais in Adams Morgan, that would be a real mistake. It's very stylish, very small, and, as Vietnamese restaurants go, very up-scale. And if you doubt its enduring appeal, check out the celeb photos on the wall from its very colorful past.

As small as a ballet slipper and simply, yet elegantly, decorated, this uptown eatery has the sophistication of a French restaurant; but it serves Vietnamese food instead. Hence, expect that your Vietnamese entrées may pair well with French (and other) fine wines. It goes without saying, of course, that since the French at one point ruled Vietnam, a certain mutual familiarity exists.

As with most Vietnamese food, hot and assertive flavors are absent: Chilies are rarely tossed into sauces, salads, or main dishes. And it may be said that the restaurant's chef has downplayed some flavors and omitted some dishes, all to suit Westerners' tastes. But you will find that the rendering of even the beloved spring rolls and soft summer rolls are pretty true to tradition.

On a recent evening, a friend and I ordered and ordered, causing the headman to wonder about our appetites. We started off with the famous crunchy spring rolls, the pork-filled crêpe rolls, and the soft (here called garden) rolls. The last did need work, more mechanical than culinary, requiring a firmer wrapping of rice paper around the rice vermicelli-greens-shrimp-ground pork filling. Unless the paper is firmly tucked, it unwraps as you eat the roll, and the filling spills onto the plate. And certainly, the chef could have been more generous with the portion of shrimp, sliced so thinly it all but vanished. The best of the appetizer lot was definitely the crêpe rolls, with their delicate noodle-soft wrapping and well-seasoned crumbled pork filling.

I wanted to order the whole fried fish--elsewhere, the fish is served perched upright in a swimming position on the platter--but we opted for pork and chicken entrées instead. The lemongrass chicken is really a "caramel" chicken, which means the meat cubes are cooked in a mixture of fish sauce and sugar (plus seasonings, like lemongrass), giving the meat a sweet-salty finish. Served over rice, this dish is always a champion, and here, just delicious.

For a change of pace, vary flavors and textures in your meals, and the Vietnamese are great ones for offering a diversity. Here, consider a grilled entrée, for grilling is a specialty of the Vietnamese kitchen. Very good is the restaurant's grilled minced pork on skewers. This dish has extra interest: It arrives with a platter of softened rice paper wrappers, and you do the rest. Place a chopstickful of noodles on a wrapper, add some greens and the skewer of minced pork, then fold it all together tightly and dunk in the accompanying sweetened fish sauce. Voila!

Management has limited its menu to dishes that have ready Western appeal, and sadly, that extends to desserts. Overheard that evening, the headman told a patron that he'd removed all the Vietnamese desserts from the menu because Westerners never experimented with them and the staff ended up consuming them. So instead, the most exotic sweet you'll find is the choice of ginger, lychee, or jackfruit ice cream. Otherwise, the desserts sound more French than Vietnamese, starting with profiteroles. We didn't bother.

It's so small that seating is close and intimate. And because of its diminutive size, the restaurant really requires reservations, at least on busy weekends.

Saigonnais Vietnamese Restaurant, 2307-18th St.; 232-5300. Open for lunch and dinner daily. Entrée prices: $8.75-$14.50. Major credit cards accepted.