The Vietnamese restaurant and bakery Ba Le (3515 South Kingshighway Boulevard) has closed. The space is now a restaurant called the Galaxy Bar & Grill. That's all I know at the moment. Thanks to a regular reader for the tip.Ba Le was far from the best Vietnamese joint in town, but they turned out a pretty good -- and appropriately cheap -- banh mi sandwich.- Ian Froeb
A reader tipped me off to this news: Four Seasons, the Vietnamese restaurant at 3348 South Grand Boulevard, has closed. The windows are covered with newspapers, and the phone has been disconnected.- Ian Froeb
This week I visit Midland Wok, a Vietnamese (mainly) restaurant in Overland. At the Vietnamese restaurant Midland Wok, the #26 soup -- banh canh gio heo -- is described in English as "big clear noodles and pork." This leaves out some crucial information, as I discovered when I ordered a bowl for lunch. A couple of minutes after the owner took my order, he returned with the menu to make sure that I wanted the #26. "Right," I said. "Noodles and pork."The owner frowned. "You eat pigs' feet?"Ch
View Larger MapAs I posted a few days ago, a new Vietnamese restaurant is opening at 3737 South Grand Boulevard, inside a former McDonald's. I'll admit that whenever I see a locally owned business taking over a chain restaurant's location, I smile. After the jump, in no particular order, five of my favorite examples of this phenomenon.
This week I visit Phuc Loi, a small Vietnamese restaurant at 3723 Gravois Avenue in Tower Grove South. (It's the tiny storefront with the blue awning and what looks like two men right outside the entrance in the photo above.) When the guy behind the counter at Phuc Loi asks if you're sure you want pork blood in your bun bo Hue -- and if, like me, you're a non-Vietnamese dude who has just spent several minutes studying the menu taped to the counter and the photo menu above the counter, he probabl
