Before I-10 made a trip to Florida a three-hour affair, the road east began on Chef Menteur Highway. You can still take the road to the East, but now instead of sand and surf, the pleasures of Vietnam await you at Dong Phuong Restaurant & Bakery.
By Caitlyn Ridenour
Operating out of an old motel, Dong Phuong is actually three entities rolled into one. The bakery supplies freshly baked, Vietnamese-style French bread rolls to most purveyors of banh mi (and a few non-Vietnamese restaurants) in town. The bread’s crackly crust and soft interior create an absolutely addictive sustenance, a fact which manifests with a frenzy of customers every time a new batch is carted into the bakery retail shop.
The restaurant dishes up delectable, deep bowls of pho studded with brisket, tendon, meatballs, and other beefy delights in a sit-down setting. For bun, cold vermicelli noodles and crisp veggies serve as the canvas for impeccable chargrilled pork and (if you are an expert orderer) egg rolls filled with ground pork. Banh xeo, a crepe essentially, will test your dexterity. Folded inside the crisp shell of egg and rice flour are slices of pork, whole shrimp, and bean sprouts. Break off a chunk of crepe, wrap it in romaine lettuce, add on some cucumbers, and nuoc mam (fish sauce), and try to not to spill all yourself. We fail at this last step.
Thankfully, no assembly is required to eat banh mi from the bakery shop next door. The open-view preparation will remind you of Subway, but the sandwiches are cheaper and much tastier than a $5 footlong. Chargrilled chicken, Chinese meatballs, and pork pate are stuffed inside those freshly baked rolls smeared with mayonnaise along with cilantro, cucumber and hot peppers (if you so desire). Steamed buns and meat-filled pastries wait to be plucked from their display cases and boxed into Styrofoam to-go containers.
Do not pass up a slice of cake. One positive influence of French colonial rule is that the Vietnamese are master patisseries who marry French technique to their palates. One dark chocolate cake with creamy coffee-flavored icing made traveling any further east unnecessary.
14207 Chef Menteur Hwy, 254- 0214. 9a-4p, Closed Tuesdays.
