At Ba Bar, breakfast includes congee with pork belly & soft-boiled egg. Breakfast crew, from left: Tony Le, Sonny Baez, Dung Doan, pastry chef Karen Krol
Eric and Sophie Banh fled their native Vietnam while young teenagers; the family settled in Edmonton, Alberta, which explains the poutine on the menu at Ba Bar. Now in Seattle, the siblings have started two Monsoon restaurants, two Baguette Box sandwich shops, and, most recently, Ba Bar, which describes itself as "Street Food."
Thing is, in Saigon, there was a French colonial class that imported wheat flour to make bread and pastries, and there was the local fare, based on rice flour and rice noodles. So Ba Bar's new breakfast menu draws from both.
Karen Krol, shy but self-assured, has joined the Banhs as pastry chef, rolling out and baking up a steady stream of buns, quiches, brioches, jalousies and Danish pastries without rival. New Yorker Sonny Baez stepped up to the not-normally-glamorous job of breakfast chef, with longtime Banh chef Dung Doan moving over from Monsoon to assist, while recent culinary grad Tony Le watches the ginger and lemongrass beef broth for the pho.
"Morning remedies" also available: mimosas and bloody marys (with rum). Open daily for breakfast at 7 AM.
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