[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?

[Amy's Kitchen, Part Two: Burrito]

On my way home from work/the ear doctor, I stopped over at MaMa Jean's. I'm a little turkeyed out right now, so I thought I'd pick up some "cheeze" and another Amy's meal to sample.

For tonight's dinner, I heated up the burrito and a little of the Daiya Mozzarella in case the burrito came out spicy. I confess, I have a very low spice tolerance, hence my need for cheese! As it turns out, the burrito was delightfully mild with the right type of flavor for a spice-lover to sprinkle with tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper.

Yes, I eat in bed sometimes. Don't judge.

Overall, I enjoyed the meal. It filled me up nicely, and the cheese melted like, well, cheese. Was it a spot-on comparison? No, not really, but it was close enough I wouldn't have withdrawals. :) And the first few bits of the burrito were, oh, fantabulous. No hard corners, like my El Monterrey chimichangas and burritos tend to get, and it had an excellent balance of authentic (or "authentic"? Hey, I live in Missouri...) Mexican tastes without being, well, Tex-Mex. It was big enough (about the size of one-and-a-half El Monterreys) for my appetite.

However, the meal did have a couple of minuses. Like many other gluten-free wheat alternatives, after a few bites and as it cooled down, the tortilla's texture was a bit... off--almost like it was made of potatoes (could be, actually... I didn't check the ingredients before chucking the package). For some people, that's great... they love potatoes; however, I have a strong gag reflex, especially since I've had soft palate surgery, so a potato texture had a tendency to trigger that reflex. The other was price. At over $3.50 per burrito (I get eight with El Monterrey for the same price at WalMart), it was hard for me to justify buying them on a regular basis for a quick lunch.

Now, you can buy direct from Amy's for a lower price ($2.84 unit price), and if your budget allows for you to, say, eat out on a regular basis or buy "gourmet" meals from the store ($3-5+ range), then it may work for you. I'd just suggest you sample one for yourself at a local store before buying in bulk from Amy's. Additionally, entrees are still over $5.00 apiece for the most part, so they're the sort of meals you want to get as an indulgence when you have a craving for, say, Indian food or lasagna and you don't want to pay the gastrointestinal price.

Still, it's nice to know we have edible and fairly comparable options.

I'm planning to sample one of the Indian foods soon. I haven't had much (okay, any...) Indian food other than a brief sample on a youth group trip to London in 2001 (plus, there's the spice factor for me), so it'll be a new experience in more ways than one. Still, judging by how both meals I've had so far have compared to their milk-induced counterparts, I think I'll be getting a pretty accurate taste for that particular dish. I'll be sure to fill you in on the details as they unfold.

If you'd like to contribute to my culinary adventures (or my art business for that matter--I'm in the market for a pen tablet so I can do some web art for the first time and open my options up... but they're still a little steep for me with fewer classes to teach next semester, even at under $100), feel free to use the Google checkout to the right on this page (or my Amazon Wishlist, also to the right, for art-related needs).

Until next time, readers! Don't forget to check out my other two blogs, in the meantime, if you'd like to read more of my writing or sample some of my artwork.

After-note: Amy's does have a standard non-dairy (but not non-gluten) burrito that I couldn't find today, so when I sample that one, I'll let you know my reaction. I have a feeling it will be more positive.

Company Spotlight of the Day: Amy's Kitchen

Amy's Kitchen

According to their website:

Amy’s is sensitive to the dietary needs and concerns of our consumers. At Amy’s Kitchen we understand that 1 in 25 people in the United States suffer from a food allergy.While some common food allergies include: dairy, soy and tree nuts, several other allergies once thought to be uncommon are on the rise, especially among young infants and children In addition, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is estimated that 65% of US adults are either overweight or obese, which can lead to other serious chronic illnesses 

Amy’s understands that many of our customers follow special diets, whether for an allergy related illness or just simply to live a healthier lifestyle and avoid chronic illnesses.

I've not had the opportunity to try many of their products, mostly because their frozen dinners retail at about $5 around this area if you buy from the store, and I'm on a $1-$3-per-meal budget these days, and I confess I like me some frozen dinners, but I have had the pleasure of sampling Amy's Vegetable Lasagna. Speaking as a lifelong pastaholic (I used to go to the Pasta House once a week growing up, and I'd still ask for spaghetti at home and usually get it), I was really impressed with the flavor. It tasted exactly like ricotta and spinach lasagna that I would make myself or even order in a restaurant (in smaller portions). As a bonus, it's not only dairy-free, it's great for those who are gluten-free and who are vegan! I'm rather fond of meat, myself, but I do enjoy some vegan options, and this one definitely tops my list. It's also low-fat, kosher, tree-nut-free, and only 300 calories for the entire meal. It filled me up nicely, so I felt no need to, say, make whole-wheat garlic bread to tide me over a bit more. Pretty nice for those of us who want to lose weight.

Additionally, when you're researching the products on their website, they have a very convenient checklist for special dietary needs. So if you're someone who's not just lactose intolerant, but also has a gluten allergy (I'm wondering if that's one of my other issues as well right now, but I haven't been diagnosed), is vegan, etc., you can easily narrow the product list down without having to read through all the ingredients one-by-one. By narrowing it down to lactose-intolerant and dairy free, the product list that appeared still had 160 products. Nice.

For my local readers, I've found Amy's meals at MaMa Jean's Market, Akin's Natural Foods, Dillon's, and HyVee. I haven't looked for it in WalMart yet, mostly because WalMart is not always on top of the special diet needs market, and I don't even bother to look generally. Amy's does have vendor directory, and if it's not available in your area, Amy's has a list of online vendors, including Amazon.com (bonus for those of us who are Prime members!), which sells the non-perishable varieties. Amazon's prices are pretty good--you can get, for example, the Lentil and Minestrone variety pack with Subscribe and Save for only $15.57, and you get eight soups. Price-wise, that's pretty much on-par with brand name soups like Progresso and Healthy Choice, and this way you know it's not going to set you off if you have sensitive levels of lactose intolerance.

Definitely recommended!

Which Amy's Kitchen products have you sampled? What did you think? Which ones do you recommend most?

Correction: I used the wrong product image for the meal I ate. The meal I actually sampled was the Tofu Dairy-free Lasagna: 

And it was fabulous. If I get a chance to sample the other and it's different than what I've claimed here, I'll let you know. For now, I have the same basic expectation of excellence.