BaoBao Offers Authentic Vietnamese Food
Large restaurant, long menu, many choices of tea and very good food.
Bao Bao Cuisine. Photo by Cari Taylor-Carlson.
Despite the traffic and the road construction, you can’t miss BaoBao Cuisine when you get close to it on S. 27th Street just south of Layton Ave. That is because BaoBao announces itself with a giant sign on the street side of the restaurant that reads Vietnamese Cuisine. This new restaurant serves authentic Vietnamese food, including a long list of pho choices.
I came twice, and both times one of my companions ordered pho: the seafood pho and the special pho. The special overflowed with beef, a variety that included tenderloin, meatballs, brisket and tendon. The broth had a deep, beefy flavor, and the tender meat had absorbed the nuances of the broth. The tendon, a traditional addition to beef pho, tasted like a beefy rubber band. For the seafood pho, the chef added shrimp, fish balls, fish cakes, squid and scallops. Both bowls came with basil, lime and sprouts. There were 15 varieties of pho on the menu, including oxtail, lobster, chicken, tofu and one in a hot stone.
The stir-fried mixed vegetables were a week’s worth of veggies for one person and included broccoli, carrots, celery, cabbage and sprouts. Each vegetable was crisp, and the steamed rice was just right and delicious on its own. There were a dozen steamed rice dishes, including lobster, Mongolian beef, sweet and sour chicken and Vietnamese curry.
A special for the day, shaken beef tenderloin or nui xao bo luc lac, was predominantly stir-fried beef plus some slices of red and green peppers and onions. A sweet glaze flavored the dish, which also had a serving of steamed rice and a small salad.
We found the same vegetables in the fried rice that we had enjoyed in the dish with the steamed rice. My companion added chicken to her fried rice and said the dish needed something to liven the flavors of the vegetables and the abundant shredded chicken. It was an easy fix when she added soy sauce and the very spicy chili oil that were already on the table.
If you are familiar with classic Vietnamese spring rolls, then you know they are healthy and filled with crunchy vegetables. The rolls at BaoBao lived up to those expectations. There were also large pieces of shrimp inside the paper-thin wrap, and an addictive peanut sauce came with the rolls for dipping.
Tea drinkers will appreciate the long list of tea varieties. I counted 13, and that list included green tea, red tea, tropical fruit tea and artichoke tea with chia seeds.
This is a large restaurant with many tables, and for ambiance a waterfall at the south end of the room added the soothing sound of water falling on rocks. Our servers were friendly and attentive. We could tell they wanted us to like their food, and we did.
When you are in the mood for a big, comforting bowl of pho or another Vietnamese dish, check out Bao Bao. It’s authentic and it’s good.
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