Chronicle Critic Heaps Praise on Vietnamese Restaurant Le Bleu

Chronicle critic Jessi Cape reviewed Vietnamese restaurant Le Bleu, and was effusively complimentary. Cape noted that on both visits to the North Shoal Creek restaurant, the brick and mortar expansion of food truck Saigon Le Vendeur, “[e]very single dish I ordered... was not only tasty, but incredibly fresh.”

She called the bánh mì “some of the very best in town,” particularly calling out the “perfectly toasted” bread and the $8 price point. She also loved the bún bowl:

I went with the garlic butter prawn version, a pleasing combination of richness and delicacy. [...] The bún bowls’ sauce is relegated to the drippings from the proteins and the vibrant crudités (hoisin and sriracha are available, too), resulting in a meal that feels both decadent and incredibly healthy.

Cape praised the appetizer menu as well, calling the mango salad “a helluva starter,” the summer rolls stuffed with “plump shrimp,” and Brussels sprouts that are similar to Uchiko’s famed version. Her one critique was finding the passionfruit chicken wings “a bit gummy.”

In the review, Cape asserts that “when it comes to Americans eating Vietnamese food, there are two main dishes: the bánh mì and the vermicelli bowl.” Food writer (and former Eater Austin editor) Paula Forbes took issue with this, noting that “Americans” includes people of Vietnamese descent.

ON THE BLOGS: South Austin Foodie was unimpressed by Holy Roller, praising the baked goods (like biscuits) but calling everything else “mediocre.” ATX Bites loved both the savory (fried chicken biscuit) and the sweet (blackberry crepe) during brunch at Foreign and Domestic.

• Restaurant Review: Le Bleu Perfects the Vietnamese-Austin Mash-Up [Austin Chronicle]
• All coverage of Le Bleu [EATX]