The fortune cookie at Ballet summed it up: "One old friend is better than two new ones." With all the new places opening all over Capitol Hill, we thought we'd go back to some of the old haunts.
Dzung Nguyen, 32, has worked at Ballet for half his life now, and has lost none of his enthusiasm for the hospitality business. Ten years ago, his parents retired and his siblings moved away, so he took over the restaurant, which had existed since 1987. It's the antithesis of fancy Asian places like Momiji or Monsoon or Nue: 16 unadorned tables, plastic holders for the utensils, paper napkins, a fish tank, an elephant sculpture.
Yes, you can have pho here; it's a Vietnamese restaurant, after all. But Capitol Hill is crawling with pho parlors. Yes, you can have a vermicelli bowl or phad Thai, but there are a dozen noodle shops of all stripes within crawling distance. What I recommend is something that just doesn't exist elsewhere: the satay.
Rice noodles, check. Slivered cucumber, check. Crushed peanuts and bean sprouts, check. The combo ($9.95) adds a generous helping of prawns, chicken and beef. It's the coconut milk soup, fragrant, spicy with lemongrass and colored bright pink that's unique at Ballet. If you finish the bowl, you won't need to eat for at least a day.
Ballet, 914 E. Pike, Seattle, 206-328-7983
Leave a comment