Bodega Bistro Review

Bodega Bistro gave us decent Vietnamese food -no wows, nothing too exciting, but nothing bad either- presented with great service. A soup and the shaking beef received the best reception.

The particular dishes we ordered (listed by English names) were:

• Papaya salad. Okay salad of papaya and noodles with lots of liquid dressing. We had four different opinions: one said too spicy; one said too tart; one said too unexciting (not enough flavor); and one person liked it.

• Squab. A whole squab cut into chunks. It smelled really good when it arrived, and the smell didn't disappoint in regards to the taste of the skin. The skin was crispy and tasty and not too fatty => great! What little meat there was was okay and gamey. And when I say the squab was "whole," I mean it. The claws and head wasn't that disturbing until we noticed the beak and pair of beady eyes. The dish came with a unnecessary lemon-salt-pepper dipping sauce.

• A pho: chicken rice noodle soup. A good quality clear-brothed soup with slices of chicken and (rice) noodles. Served with an assortment of items to add to the soup: mung bean sprouts, slices of chili peppers, thai basil (with its purple stalk), and slices of lemon. The quality of the chicken wasn't the best. One attendee declared "it's great" and we all declared general happiness. I don't normally appreciate soups but even I would say this soup was quite respectable.

• Egg pancakes of shrimp and pork (banh xeo). The strategy: take a piece of lettuce, place in it a portion of the omelet containing shrimp and pork, add some herbs they provided (tarragon, mint, and a purple-leafed herb), pour in a little dipping sauce, wrap the whole thing up, and eat! It tends to fall apart and leak so it's a bit messy. Like the papaya salad, this got mixed reactions. One person had a rubbery egg. Another didn't have much meat. I was only one that really liked this dish, probably because my piece has lots of meat and many of us agreed the shrimp and pork were well flavored. Because I liked it so, I got the last slice of the omelet that didn't have much meat at all and actually was then severely disappointed with its taste.

• Shaking beef. A stir-fry dish of meat and vegetables. While it's no Slanted Door, the beef was decent quality. And the vegetables (tomatoes, onion, celery, ...) were crisp and bathed in a nice sauce and were even better than the beef. Everyone enjoyed this dish to some degree. The lemon-salt-pepper dipping sauce reappeared here, but we decided dipping actually detracted from the dish.

After dinner, they presented us with an complimentary dessert: flan. It was fine. One person described it as the fairly typical cheap, custardy, inoffensive flan many places serve, a fact one attendee appreciated because he likes that kind of flan.

The waiter impressed us with the countless little courtesies he did for us that we didn't expect of him. It wasn't just the nice touch with the dessert; rather it was that the waiter mixed the papaya salad at the table and served it for us in little bowls. Similarly, he divided the pho we ordered into bowls. He also explained how to construct and eat the egg pancakes. And the frequent replacement of the flatware was a nice touch. And the water-woman was on the ball too, more so than at the majority of places we dine.

Incidentally, the restaurant serves a number of inexpensive wines by glass. We ordered three and found out they cost little precisely because they were cheap wine. Either that, or they had remained in an opened bottle for too long. In either case, I don't think any of us finished any of our glasses.

Over dinner we talked about things like hog farms, the movie Thank You for Smoking, having someone's mother set them up on dates, traveling to Yosemite, and even the restaurant's extra squishy chairs, all interspersed with discussions on life's little and big dramas.

Total was about $17/person, including tax and a generous tip but not including drinks.

Original Announcement

Following our quite successful Vietnamese outing to the Slanted Door last week, this week we'll try a less expensive place some chowhounds seems to think is as good or better. The place is Bodega Bistro, and it's in the tenderloin. (Some of you may recall the last time we tried to go there we were turned away -- they claimed they were out of food! I'll find a substitute restaurant in the area in the rare chance we get turned away again.)

Please tell me if you're coming!

Comments from Other Attendees

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