By Walter Ryce, Monterey County Weekly
At Tran’s Noodle House, the spring rolls are deliciously chewy and crunchy, while the soup contains enough great noodles for perfect slurping. Photo by Nic Coury
Choosing to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant is making a deliberate set of decisions: to not spend a lot of money, to eat instead of dine, to be full but not heavy, to enjoy and not regret. All of these choices are fulfilled by Monterey County’s Vietnamese restaurants, but the recent closures of Pho King in Seaside and Mon Chay in Carmel’s Barnyard suggest maybe our appetite for such is sated. Don’t count on it.
Last February, in the same upstairs spot Mon Chay occupied (with the same furniture, decor and massive golden Buddha statue), arose Tran’s Noodle House. It’s run by the husband/wife team of Loc Tran and Hong Thi Thu Ho, who cooks, their genial son Tyler serving customers out front and his younger sister on cash register and website. It’s not fancy or audacious or innovative, but it is something that can seem surprisingly rare: a restaurant that delivers on its promise.
Its interior is modern but warm, hanging lights giving a sumptuous glow to the dark wood tables and chairs, and hardwood-like stone floors. The floor plan wraps in a crescent around the axis of the bar, kitchen and restrooms, lined with big windows that command a view of… well, mostly the shopping center parking lot.
The menu consists of appetizers, entrees and treats that will be familiar to most who have even a passing acquaintance with Vietnamese eating. Bun, or vermicelli noodle dishes ($9/lunch; $10.50/dinner), come with grilled pork or beef, accompanied by shrimp or eggroll. Banh mi, hoagie sandwiches ($5 all day), start with a base of sliced carrots and daikon, cucumbers, cilantro, jalapeño peppers and mayo, atop which one can opt for grilled, steamed or barbecued pork or chicken. And of course, there’s the staple of pho ($8.50/lunch; $9.50/dinner), soups loaded here with medleys of noodles, onions, meatballs, chicken and round steak. Combination plates ($9.50/lunch; $10.50/dinner) come with jasmine rice (brown rice is coming), salad, egg roll and soup on request; vegetarian and a kids menu expand the inclusiveness; and desserts like basil seed, young coconut juice and crushed ice ($3.50) and vanilla ice cream tempura ($5.50) cap a meal nicely.
My wife and I ordered veggie spring rolls ($7.50) to start: noodles, jicama, tofu, carrots and flecks of cilantro bound in a sheen of rice wrap, served with a seasoned soy sauce and mint leaves. They were fresh, crisp and chewy. Then came wonton soup ($9.25) and grilled beef and shrimp bun noodles. The soup was a wonder of lightly cooked vegetables (six kinds of them) that retained their crunch while swimming in savory chicken/shrimp/pork broth. My wife spiced it up with Sriracha, one of the usual suspects of sauces like lemongrass chili oil, Thai chili flakes and hoisin. The chunks of beef in the bun were tender with bits of crunch around the edges, the shrimp juicy and clean.
Read the full article by Walter Ryce from Monterey County Weekly.
