I was on assignment last visit to Phnom Penh Noodle House, so I didn’t get to try the legendary bone soup. The server smiled when I placed my order, as if welcoming me to the club of insiders.

My soup appeared in mere moments. In front of me was a small bowl of broth with giant pork neck bone pieces protruding from it. The meat simply slides off the bone, and is tender and flavorful. And don’t overlook the broth. Spiked with a little green onion and cilantro, it’s a clear soup that is refreshingly meaty and oh-so-comforting.

A second server suggested a bowl of rice to go with it, as that’s an order she gets from customers who find it enough for a meal. Not a bad idea, though not a very good bowl of rice. But if you ask nice, you just might be able to get another bowl of broth.

More on my many Portland meals in an upcoming post. For now, I can simply report that I enjoyed my bun bo hue at HA & VL (pictured above). I’m a big fan of beef noodle soup, and the Vietnamese version is one of my favorites in the realm that country’s cuisine. One of the workers told me “our soups are home-style, not restaurant-style.” The bun bo hue was clean-tasting and fresh, with the advertised tenderloin beef and pork balls, but I was missing the pork blood cubes and beef or pig knuckle that I’m accustomed to seeing in the soup.  The lemongrass level was good, and I was able to spice up the soup with the accompanying pepper sauce and paste, both of which I used generously. The “salad” of mints, Thai basil, shredded cabbage, bean sprouts and lime also help doctor up the soup.

What I find most remarkable about HA & VL is that they offer up different soups each day of the week – and two on each weekend day. (Hence my disappointment in not returning on the recent trip, as Akiko and I were slated to go on a Sunday, with a chance to try two different soups.) I was told that the restaurant is especially popular with Portland-area chefs, so there are many familiar faces there, especially on Sunday mornings. I can see why. The workers are friendly and take pride in what they serve. (In addition to soup, you can find Vietnamese sandwiches, smoothies, coffee and bubble tea.)

While some might find the fake flowers and brightly colored chairs and walls a bit over-the-top, HA & VL is full of positive spirit – and soups worth waking up for if you have the stomach space. I will allocate such space next time, for sure.

Ivar’s is a Seattle institution. No doubt about that. And that institution was in the news this year, with stories about its underwater billboards. For me, the story is whether its food warrants a stop or not. This past year, I had chances to try the fish and chips, clam chowder, clam strips, and the like. It is what it is. Fairly fast food that’s fun for those who like their fish fried. For me, nothing special, though the chowder isn’t bad on a cold, wintery day.

If you’re on 15th in Ballard, as I was one trip to Ivar’s, I recommend driving a little further north and turning right on 70th, where you’ll find Honore Artisan Bakery. That’s a sweet plate of sweets, eh? I stared at the showcase, and couldn’t decide what would be best for my coffee break, so I decided to try three goodies: (clockwise from the top) a canelé, a coconut/salted caramel macaron, and a kouign amman. All were delicious, especially with that coffee. And note the caramel theme in the confectionery trio. I liked the macaron best, which means that next time, the challenge will be choosing from the ten or so flavors that Honoré offers.

Speaking of sweets, I find it sweet that 2009 was the year that food carts/trucks took off in Seattle. Perhaps sweetest of them all is Parfait, where Adria Shimada dishes out ice cream made with the finest, most local and organic ingredients – with no corn syrup, no added stabilizers, and no preservatives. Look for Parfait’s return in the spring, and while it’s hard to choose from the many tempting flavors (that are always subject to change), I’d highly recommend the fresh mint stracciatella made from mint leaves that give it a natural, refreshing taste.

Hallava Falafel is another food truck, but one that’s parked in a permanent position down in Georgetown. You’ve basically got two choices: the falafel sandwich, and the shawarma. (Hallava spells it “shwarma.”) Both are healthy-sized sandwiches, and both are adorned with beets and other goodies. Both are worth trying, though I think the shawarma edges out the falafel, which was just a little dry. Good deals at $6.50 each!

But the best food truck now roaming the streets of Seattle (and about the only mobile truck operating through the winter) is Marination Mobile. Take the wonderful forms of Mexican food, and amp up the flavor with Korean and Hawaiian influences, and it’s a whole new ball game. Tacos are just two dollars, and they’re available in four varieties–trust me when I say kalbi beef is the best.

What impresses me most, though, was the Kalua kimchi quesadilla. Oh, I enjoy the fermented veggies in the kimchi fried rice bowl ($5), with a fried egg adding its usual magic. But in the quesadilla, kimchi elevates what I usually see as a throwaway dish to something spectacular. The kimchi has more zing than in the fried rice, playing nicely with the Kalua pork, and a smattering of slaw and jalapeno slices on top finished the dish in fine fashion.

And in case you’re wondering, the spam sliders are surprisingly delicious.

Marination Mobile is proof that curb cuisine is catching kimchi-like fire in Seattle. How hot are the Marination mavens? They recently won Good Morning America Weekend’s national Best Food Cart Challenge. Great job, Marination! And here’s hoping 2010 brings us even more great street food…

But part of what we love is its proximity to Vancouver, as we’ve discussed before. And to that we must add its proximity to Portland.

Dishin’ disappeared for a week because we were on a feeding frenzy down south. In just a few days, we hit Ping, Bluehour, Biwa, Ken’s Artisan Bakery, Ten 01, Departure, Andina, Broder, Nostrana, Sahagun, Pix, Pok Pok, the amazing Saturday Farmers Market (Pine Street Biscuits, Two Tarts, Tastebud, and more), Tanuki, Beast, Voodoo Doughnut, and Kenny & Zuke’s. Oh—and a few other snacky places.

All this to say that we’re ready for some Seattle comfort food, which might mean a bowl of wontons and/or sui kau at Canton Noodle House. Last time we were there, we were taking a look at a townhouse nearby and talking with the owners about the neighborhood. There have been the predictable drug-related issues, but the nice couple perseveres and tries to stay positive.

For a few bucks at Canton Noodle House, you get a nice bowl of soup. Decent broth, slurpable noodles, and tasty wontons. The soup’s on par with the other places in the International District.

By the way, we passed on the townhouse. And while Portland tempts us, we take comfort that we still love Seattle more—at least for now. And that we have comfort food from Canton to help us digest our dégustation of the fine fare of both of our fair cities.

Cross-posted on Seattlest, where “we” = me. Stay tuned for reports on all those Portland restaurants as time allows.

It was all part of an extended birthday celebration, an excuse to have friends over, and then a guest visiting for New Zealand. I need more such excuses.

In addition to a root beer cake and orange-Szechuan peppercorn ice cream (a David Lebovitz recipe), I made four soups:

• mushroom (an Anthony Bourdain recipe) with truffle oil
• chocolate chili
• carrot vichyssoise with balsamic reduction
• creamy pea with homemade croutons

I finally had a quiet enough moment to taste them all in one sitting, and, surprisingly, the carrot vichyssoise was my favorite. The carrots from Nash’s Farm were nice and sweet, and I’m sure the Full Circle Farm potatoes helped. Perhaps most important was homemade vegetable stock. A very clean-tasting soup!

Next up in the home-cooking binge was a Thai green curry that was pretty spicy, though not as much heat as the cucumber salad and stir-fried long beans that went along with it!

The simple-named Vietnam Restaurant is, in many ways, typical of other pho joints in town: cheap bowls of pho, cream puffs, bright lights, indifferent service, and nasty bathrooms. But just as recently reviewed Pho Thy Thy fell short of my Than Brothers standard, Vietnam Restaurant exceeded it. Most striking was the quality of the broth. This one was meaty and deep with nice anise notes; I almost always put chili oil in the broth, but I liked this broth so much, I wanted to enjoy it just as it was.

Enjoy I did. And I’m looking forward to more trips up 15th in Ballard to make sure this wasn’t a fluke. Given the recommendations I received about Vietnam Restaurant in the past, I believe this is, indeed, the fantastic pho of my future.

Sometimes these pho places are a little silly in their similarity. I know I can scroll down the menu and find my favorite combination, the one with all the meats, down at number 14 or 15. The pricing’s similar, and there are those ubiquitous cream puffs as well.

But this is where the similarity ended. Thy Thy’s interior is nicer that Than’s, but the broth is weaker and the amount of meat is smaller. Too bad. Having similar restaurants in close proximity isn’t such a bad thing, as the competition should keep them caring about quality. In this pho battle, Than Brothers is my winner. But stay tuned, as I recently discovered a new favorite, and will report on that shortly.

But things are changing there before our eyes. We headed down recently for some bahn beo chen at Huong Giang – only to find the restaurant out of business. (We hope to report on these little lovelies sometime in the future.) No fear. We crossed the street, walked to Hoang Lan (7119 MLK Way South), and were instantly transported into another world. In numerous visits, we’ve yet to see another Caucasian, or even a non-Vietnamese person. With the ubiquitous television in the corner showing Vietnamese music and fashion shows, this noodle-shop epitomizes the whole hole-in-the-wall feel we adore.

But this is not your ubiquitous pho joint. Instead, you’ll find a variety of interesting soups, including some seafood selections. Going against our server’s recommendation, we’ve sampled a “special noodle” soup (first picture) that he said non-Vietnamese simply don’t like (we did). And we especially enjoy the bun bo hue (second picture), featuring rice noodles (spaghetti-like) in beef broth with braised beef, pork blood cake (texture and taste alert!), pork liver and a pork hock (our ability to eat these pork parts astonished our server). To this you add the accompanying bean sprouts, shredded cabbage, sliced banana blossoms, cilantro, jalapeno and lime. Wonderfully warm for a winter’s day!

Will the launch of light rail mean boom or bust for restaurants like Hoang Lan, which have barely survived the construction phase? We don’t want to wait to see. There are vermicelli dishes, broken rice dishes, and more on Hoang Lan’s menu, which we hope to explore as much as possible – and as soon as possible.

Originally posted at Seattlest (where “we” = me) on December 17, 2007.

Too many diners overlook salad and especially soup in order to focus on entrees and desserts. But soup is, like they say, good food. It’s comforting, a great way to ease into a meal, and an excellent test of the kitchen. Underwhelm us, and it’s a sad start. Wow us, and our minds and taste buds perk up, anxiously awaiting what’s next.

It was the latter when we let Beàto choose our dishes, starting us off with “la zuppa stagionale.” Our server presented big bowls, each with a gorgeous centerpiece of pea flan topped with a few fresh peas and Trampetti olive oil. She then poured organic carrot soup around the flan. Bravo, bravo—a serenade of soup—worthy of applause. It was absolutely luscious, with the creamy flan a perfect complement to the surprisingly sweet soup. A far cry from the throwaway peas and carrots from childhood days (the untouched section of our TV dinners), this soup was good to the last drop.

Taking note of our delight, then delivering other delicious dishes (see the photo gallery), was Chef Matt Williams; after four years of baking bagels in Boulder, this Soup-erman soared recently from Hunt Club to Tilth, before rising up to executive chef at Beàto. Offering him the opportunity was affable owner Brandon Gillespie, who left Wall Street for the wine trade and now proudly offers pours to match the restaurant’s fine food. In fact, tomorrow’s Hot Picks event will honor Brandon as one of Seattle’s top young wine experts. Maybe he’ll have a soup pairing on hand?

Originally posted at Seattlest (where “we” = “me”) on June 23, 2008. I am dismayed to report that Beàto will be closing this Friday, November 14—another victim of the economic times.

In Worcester (MA), a stop at Dalat Restaurant and a bowl of hu tieu nam vang, per the server’s recommendation. The menu promises a variety of seafood, along with “sliced porks, fish’s cakes,…lever, heart” and more. Promising, but while I liked the clear noodles, it lacked punch. Should have had the pho instead.

In Antigonish (Nova Scotia), perhaps the last place in the world to try Chinese food, lack of time led me to a place called Moonlight Restaurant. French fries on the menu should have sent me running, but I rolled the dice on some sort of beef and broccoli, along with a strange-shaped egg roll.

And in Albany, stuck by the airport, I ventured to Nothing But Noodles–a chain restaurant. They’ve got Asian noodles, American noodles, Italian noodles, and more–including cotton candy. Fearful of the Asian offerings, I went for the BBQ chicken salad (no noodles). Blah. This is definitely a place to pass on.

One last item worth mentioning regarding this trio of restaurants: a strange sign just outside the door of the Chinese restaurant: