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East Austin Vietnamese Truck Turns Into a New Restaurant

Saigon Le Vendeur’s East Seventh truck is closed and its new physical spot is now open

A banh mi sandwich with chicken,
Spicy chicken banh mi from Saigon Le Vendeur.
Saigon Le Vendeur
Nadia Chaudhury is the editor of Eater Austin covering food and pop culture, as well as a photographer, writer, and frequent panel moderator and podcast guest.

Austin Vietnamese food truck Saigon Le Vendeur is opening a new physical restaurant this month. The new restaurant is found at 2601 East Seventh Street, Unit 101 in the Holly neighborhood starting on Monday, November 20. This also means that the original food truck parked just up the street on 2601 East Seventh Street is now closed.

Saigon Le Vendeur’s menu remains mostly the same — Vietnamese dishes such as banh mi with fillings like cold cuts and pate, spicy chicken, grilled pork, tofu, or prawns; vermicelli bowls; skewers with grilled shrimp or octopus; egg rolls and spring rolls; and drinks like Vietnamese iced coffee. The newer space allows the restaurant to offer some new dishes and seasonal specials, such as the curry ramen and desserts like ube tiramisu;

Trish Nguyen of Saigon Le Vendeur writes to Eater that opening this new restaurant has “fulfill[ed] our dream of having a brick-and-mortar place near our original trailer” and that “it’s been a challenging two years for this project.”

Owner and chef Tebi Nguyen opened Saigon the food truck in July 2013. The team expanded with a new Vietnamese restaurant, Le Bleu, in North Shoal Creek in April 2018. There had been a downtown food truck, which opened in July 2018 and closed in September 2020 because of slow business during the pandemic.

Saigon Le Vendeur’s restaurant hours are from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. The restaurant operates with casual sit-down table service with an indoor dine-in room. Takeout orders can be placed online.

Saigon Le Vendeur [Restaurant]

2601 East Seventh Street, Unit 101, Austin, Texas 78702 Visit Website

Saigon Le Vendeur Food Truck [Closed]

2404 East 7th Street, , TX 78702 (512) 351-6916 Visit Website