The price is right at Miss Saigon

SARASOTA — Miss Saigon proves that you don’t have to bust your piggy bank to have a decent, family meal.

For years, the humble Vietnamese establishment has been serving comforting noodle soup bowls, refreshing vermicelli dishes and hearty rice platters for less than $10.

The menu is extensive, the portions sizeable and the service friendly. The restaurant also features a fair sampling of a simple, yet satisfying, southeast Asian cuisine known for noodles in beef broth or a thick beef stew.

Though Tony and I frequent the place at least once a week, we admit that we always get the same few dishes most of the time. There are more than 75 items on the menu.

For this review, however, we vowed to move out of our comfort zone and brought two friends along to ensure a good sampling.

First, we started off with a Vietnamese pan-fried cake with shrimp ($6.50).

The tasty bright-yellow pancake was crispy on the outside and stuffed with shrimps, bean sprouts and green onions in the middle. It came with a side portion of freshly sliced cucumbers and shredded carrots and a sweet-savory dipping sauce. It was a tantalizing mixture that whetted our appetites for the other goodies to come.

The portion was large enough to be divided between the four of us, allowing us more than just a couple of bites. We polished the pancake off quickly. Wanting more, we were ready to move on.

I ordered a traditional bowl of Vietnamese pho, or noodles served in a plain beef broth. It came with thinly sliced rare steak, flank, tendon and tripe ($7.50). It comes with a plate of fresh bean sprouts, Thai basil, slices of jalapenos and wedges of lime.

The mark of a good Vietnamese restaurant, for me, usually hinges on its treatment of such a simple dish.

At Miss Saigon, the broth was flavorful, with hints of warm spices such as star anise and white pepper.

The pieces of steak were delicate, cooking slowly in the steaming bowl. It was a well-balanced and aesthetically-pleasing bowl, a comfort dish that was not too filling, but deeply satisfying.

Tony asked for a seafood stir-fry combination served in a crown of golden, deep-fried noodles ($8.50).

The dish looks quite distinctive, as the noodles are fried crisp and formed in the shape of a bowl into which the stir fry is served. The colorful array of shrimp, onions, peppers and sprouts contract quite nicely in both flavor and texture, complemented nicely with a mild brown sauce.

Our friend, Nicole, was pleased that there were at least some vegetarian offerings, and opted for a tofu stir-fry with mixed vegetables ($7.95) accompanied by steamed white rice.

The onions, carrots, peppers and broccoli were cooked just right, covered in a thick reddish sauce. The tofu was pan-seared before it was tossed with the other vegetables to give it that nice crunch. It was a large portion, delightfully seasoned and tasty.

But her companion James got one of the best dishes on the menu — a rich, spicy beef stew with rice vermicelli and beef tendon and flank ($7.95).

The soup was invigorating, a little tingly on the palate, but not overly spicy or tart. It was flavorful and warm, and the noodles and bits of meat made the dish even heartier.

Other items on the menu worth trying are the signature spring rolls — vermicelli, shrimp, pork and fresh cilantro, green onions and sprouts wrapped in the almost translucent rice paper, accompanied by a thick peanut dipping sauce. Patrons can either order two rolls for $3.75 or four rolls for $7.25.

The 28 soup/noodle dishes on the menu are also highly recommended. They are soothing concoctions of meat, seafood and vegetables in clear or thick broths, the perfect antidotes for cold windy evenings. Best of all, prices for these bowls range between $6.96 and $7.95.