This is a Chinatown newcomer that bills itself as a Viet-Thai restaurant. Much of the menu is traditionally Vietnamese, however, with some Thai touches.
There is a separate Thai dinner menu featuring several appetizers, a couple of soups and nine entrees, plus some daily specials. The luncheon specials also usually include a Thai dish.
But let's start with the pho, which is a main focus here. This dish can be prepared with the speed of a Metroliner, and it comes in three sizes: small ($3.95), large ($4.50) and extra large ($5.50).
Looking at the huge bowls that contain these steaming soup meals, the sizes more accurately should be large, larger and largest. This is some serious soup slurping.
Beef broth is light yet full-flavored and nicely defatted. To make it easier to eat, the rice noodles are snipped into manageable lengths. There are also other noodle soups - in similarly large portions - that include a duck leg version ($4.95) with soft noodles and the leg cut into quarter-inch lengths. Most of the soups get a coating of fresh, bright scallion mincings.
Spring rolls ($4.50 for 3) were crisp and plump, and covered with ground peanuts. Shredded papaya salad ($4.85) came with a blend of vegetables and thinly sliced beef and a refreshing vinaigrette.
An interesting flavor combination resulted from a dish that mixed shrimp on sugar cane with barbecued pork slices and grilled Ping-Pong-size balls of ground pork atop vermicelli ($5.50).
Thin slices of juicy lamb ($9.95) came with mixed vegetables - including bamboo shoots, an item we decided gave the dish its intrusively dominant flavor. Veal can be substituted for lamb in this dish.
From the standard menu there is Thai-style green curry shrimp on rice ($4.95), as well as green curry chicken on rice ($4.50). Chicken coconut sour soup ($6, $7.50 and $10.95) also is available.
