Dalat

A legacy of excellence

by Margaret LeRoux

Dalat 425 Park Avenue Worcester (508) 753-6036 Hours Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. BYOB Cash only Handicap accessible

I owe a debt of culinary gratitude to my predecessor, Jim Johnson. Several years ago, after reading his review of Dalat, a Vietnamese restaurant new (at the time) to Worcester, a group of friends and I gave it a try. It was one of the best meals we had that year. The modest, storefront on Park Ave offered a veritable banquet of Southeast Asian dishes served by a pleasant and friendly young staff. That first night, our table of diners was videotaped by a young friend of the management. We've often wondered where the scene of us self-consciously eating lemon-grass chicken and slurping noodles ended up.

We've returned to Dalat many times since then, lured by the restaurant's fresh ingredients and its incredibly low prices. In the five years since our first visit, we've been consistently pleased with the quality of the food, and though the prices on the current menu reflect a more booming economy, Dalat is still a bargain. And its popularity has a staying power that many ethnic restaurants would envy.

We stopped in recently on a Sunday night to find the place full, with Southeast Asian diners occupying more than half the tables. A wait staff of three was busy, but not harried. The only clamor from the kitchen was the sound of the cook's cleaver busily chopping.

From the long list of appetizers, we chose two old favorites, goi cuon, steamed pork and shrimp rolls ($4.95), and goi sua tom, crunchy seafood salad ($6.45). The rolls are on the other end of the egg-roll scale, for those of you familiar with the fried Chinese variety. These rolls are softened rice-paper crammed with large shrimp, bite-size pieces of pork, shredded daikon, cucumber, and fresh mint leaves. The crunchiness of these rolls comes from the ingredients inside, not the fried outsides. They're served with a soy sauce, sweetened with hoisin, for dipping. If you must have Chinese-style egg rolls, Dalat accommodates with cha gio ($3.15), two tightly rolled deep-fried rolls of chopped pork and vegetables. There's also ga lan bot, fried chicken fingers ($4.95) if you want a non-Asian appetizer.

Crunchy seafood salad has more shrimp than the rolls do, plus lots of shredded cabbage, cucumber, vermicelli noodles, and chopped peanuts. It's served in a mound surrounded by shrimp chips, Vietnam's version of potato chips, made from dried shrimp paste. When they're deep fried, shrimp chips puff up to a delicate crispiness that melts in your mouth.

Soup fans have 18 choices, from the hu tieu my tho, noodle soup ($5.45), and hoanh thanh, won-ton soup ($4.45), to more exotic offerings such as dat biet xe lua, rice noodles with six cuts of beef ($5.45). One of my friends chose crabmeat and shrimp noodle soup ($4.95), a large bowl of delicately flavored broth containing a couple of large shrimp, a generous amount of imitation crabmeat, and thin rice noodles. Our waitress brought a plate of crunchy, snow-white bean sprouts separately and advised us to add them as we wished to the soup. Their chewiness gave an already fresh-tasting soup an extra dimension.

Over the years, my favorite dining companion and I have eaten our way through Dalat's menu and have yet to find anything we didn't like. Some items have become must-haves whenever we visit; lemon-grass chicken, ga xao, xa op ($6.45), is one. This is a very spicy dish, so be forewarned. Chili is the second ingredient listed in the description. It fairly shouts its fiery presence in the sauce, and gives the chicken-breast meat quite a kick. Red and green peppers make colorful accents.

We're also big fans of chow foon, pan-fried noodles, that come with seafood, beef, pork or chicken ($6.45 to $6.95). Vegetarians have lots of choices too; tofu appears in seven dishes, along with seasonings such as curry ($5.45) and fresh tomato, pineapple, and scallions ($5.95).

This visit, we tried a couple of dishes we'd never had before: banh hoi bo lui, teriyaki-sauced beef ($6.95), and tom ran man, Vietnamese style fried shrimp ($8.15). The beef dish is a do-it-yourself entrée. You're presented with skewers of grilled flank steak rolled around slices of onion; a mound of lettuce, mint, and basil leaves; steamed vermicelli; a stack of crisp rice pancakes; and a bowl of hot water. You dip the pancakes in the water to soften them, then build your own Vietnamese "wrap" with the meat, greens and vermicelli. It's a tasty combination, but impossible to eat without making a mess, so don't try this on a first date.

The fried shrimp were actually sautéed in their shell in a spicy sauce. A cold beer would be a good accompaniment, but you have to bring your own, or else order from Dalat's list of unusual non-alcoholic beverages: chanh muoi, salty lemonade ($2.15), nuoc dua xiem, coconut juice with ice ($2.20), and sinh to dau xanh, green-bean shake ($2.20). We tried the salty lemonade -- it's like a margarita without tequila -- and a tingly, fresh lemonade with soda ($2.20). A good choice for a dessert drink is soda sua hot ga, egg and condensed milk in club soda ($2.70). Soft drinks and bottled water are also available.

Three of us feasted for less than $50 before tip, but you could indulge yourself for a lot less.

Margaret LeRoux can be reached at feedmefeedback@hotmail.com.