[Restaurant Spotlight: Bambu Vietnamese Restaurant]

Springfield, Missouri, is fairly well known for its distinct style of "Chinese" food--specifically of the cashew chicken and sweet-and-sour chicken variety. As such, one doesn't really expect to find much in the way of authentic Asian foods--mostly Americanized versions that, while tasty, are loaded with MSG and fried fat. However, that's changed in recent years.

For one thing, sushi has really taken off as popular local cuisine, and several restaurants dot the landscape, including Sakura, Nakato, Kyoto, and Wayo. All I've eaten so far, have been quite tasty, but like sushi in general (particularly here in the U.S.), eating it out can get expensive very quickly. While those little rolls are surprisingly filling, on my budget, I can't justify spending seven-to-fifteen dollars for one roll except on very rare occasions.

It's sad, too, because I love the Jurassic roll at Sakura's. Oh, lordy...

There are a few others popping up, covering cuisines from Thailand, India, Korea, Vietnam, and more.

But, still, no true dim sum, and I love me some dim sum. I guess that's what I get for living in the Midwest....

  I have found a tasty little restaurant on Battlefield Road, however: Bambu Vietnamese restaurant. A quick look at the menu reveals a largely lactose-safe menu, and their website even shares a list of menu items that are also gluten-free. Score! Ratings online reveal that, while not completely on par with Vietnamese restaurants in some of the coastal cities, most patrons consider the food to be authentic, healthy, filling, and delicious.

I have no previous experience with Vietnamese cuisine, but I can vouch for the other three factors. First off, within a three day period, I ate from the restaurant twice--once with carryout, once eating in with my mother.  Both times, mostly because I craved the meal after eating it the first time, I ate the:

BUN TOM THIT NUONG

• Gluten Free
 
• Bun Vermicelli

$7.99

Charbroiled Shrimp & BBQ Pork on Vermicelli

Charbroiled Shrimp and sliced BBQ pork on the top of vermicelli, shredded lettuce, carrots, sliced cucumber, mints, bean sprouts, and roasted peanuts. Served with fish sauce on the side

Holy moly.

Crazy-fresh vegetables, filling vermicelli, and no sign of preservatives... so no funky feeling afterward.

Without even trying, I made three full meals out of the dish. The pork is succulently sweet and moist, and the shrimp, well... it's shrimp! And I'm a lifelong shrimp connoisseur. It was charbroiled without being spicy, and if spicy is your thing, have no fear--Bambu gives you plenty of spicy condiments to choose from at your table. I nearly died laughing as my mom made the same rookie mistake I did by trying one of the chili sauces...

"Oh, now that's not too bad." She figured she'd pour some on her meal when it came.

"Hang on, Mom, it takes about thirty seconds to--"

Suddenly, her eyes bulged. "Right on cue, Mom."

Good times.

I haven't tried any of the other meals yet, since I don't get paid next month and therefore have to make every penny stretch, but the Pho noodle soups come highly recommended from Yelp patrons, and most of the items on the menu seemed to be largely dairy-free and beneficial for those of us watching our weight.

Now, it may surprise you since you know I have a bit of a spice aversion, but I'm a pretty adventurous eater. I made a vow early on in life that I would try everything at least once (with only a few exceptions, and none due to a food's exotic or weird nature), and most things, if I didn't like them, I would try them again a year or two later. So it's not a challenge for me to try out new foods, and it doesn't intimidate me much. If you are a little nervous to try Vietnamese, let me reassure you--there are a lot of similarities to some of the fresher Chinese dishes. It has its own distinct flavor, but you can easily taste the fact that both nation's cuisines come from the same area of the world.

Springfield restaurant patrons, whether visitors or residents, have you eaten there? What did you think? What menu items do you recommend for the uninitiated?

And non-Springfieldians... can you recommend similar restaurants in your area?

[Cheesy Potato Soup Report]

The verdict:

It's spot on.

Any odd or off taste I noticed I was able to immediately attribute to the choice to use Thanksgiving turkey instead of ham. Nothing milk-substitute-related changed the flavor, except maybe to enhance the buttery, cheesy goodness.

One tip, though... don't make the rookie mistake Mom made and buy firm tofu. Buy soft tofu, so it melts in better. It's still great, but it will help thicken the soup up a bit to use the soft tofu.

My half-eaten bowl of soup. Yes, I had to dig in before taking a picture. Don't judge my artistic skills by my voracious appetite.

And now, for seconds.

If you try it out, tell us how YOU liked it!

[Stay Tuned for... Cheesy Potato Soup!]

Our family has a truly killer recipe for potato soup. Oh, yes, it's chock full of fat and cholesterol, but dear God in heaven is it ever fabulous. My college roommates and I (in the pre-lactose-free days) used to eat healthy all week so we could make ourselves sick on a full stock pot of that gloriousness. Oh, yes... *reminisces*

Ahem. Anyway, obviously the exact recipe is not going to work so well these days. It breaks my heart, yes, buuuuuuut... Mom's visiting this week while their friend is working on my house, so she's attempting to adjust the recipe for my stomach to handle, and substituting turkey meat for ham to get rid of the rest of our turkey.  I'll definitely post the adjusted recipe this evening with the verdict.

For my still-able-to-consume-dairy reading folks, here's the original recipe (it goes back at least two generations):

4 medium-sized russet potatoes chopped
3 large carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 onion, chopped (I usually don't use the onion, but it works either way)
2 cans of cream of ______ soup (choose whichever you like)
1 stick of butter
1 can of evaporated milk
Garlic, salt to taste
Chopped pre-cooked/baked ham, roughly a large handful or two
1 large package of shredded cheese, usually cheddar, amount to taste, or half of a block of cheddar

Boil the potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion in water until tender. Drain. Return veggies to stock pot and add liquid ingredients with butter until it just starts to boil. Decrease heat to low or medium-low so it doesn't boil over, then add cheese and seasonings gradually until the cheese melts and the milky broth is a soft yellow color--not vivid yellow, but more yellow than off-white.  You may wish to add more milk to thin the recipe or more cheese to make it taste sharper. Most of the ingredients here are of the "add a pinch or a handful of...." variety, so adjust to suit your tastes.

Our adjusted recipe, made mostly the same way, will include not draining the veggies, using Lactaid milk (if you have a full dairy allergy, using non-sweetened soy, rice, or almond milk should be fine--but do NOT use a sweetened variety... I made that mistake when I wrote the recipe down wrong the first time and used condensed instead of evaporated milk. It was horrible!). Instead of canned cream-of-____ soup, we're using a non-dairy recipe from Food.com (http://www.food.com/recipe/non-dairy-cream-of-mushroom-soup-substitute-107359), and we're going to use standard salted butter--it usually doesn't bother me. If it does bother you, use a non-dairy margarine or shortening like the linked cream of mushroom soup calls for. We're also using the Almond cheddar "cheese" from yesterday's photo instead of standard cheddar, and we're thickening the recipe by adding tofu (about half a package) with the milk, so it behaves more like evaporated milk.

Pictures and review coming tonight!