From The New Orleans Menu Daily By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published October 18, 2007 Dong Phuong 1$ New Orleans East: 14207 Chef Menteur Hwy. 254-0214. 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Wed.-Mon. (Closed Tues.) AE, DC, DS, MC, V. Vietnamese. Near the top of the list of impressive recoveries after the storm was the story of the Vietnamese community in New Orleans East. No part of the city was more vulnerable to the storm surge, which didn't have to break any levees to flood the area; it just went right over them. Nevertheless, 2005 wasn't out before I heard (with disbelief) that some of the restaurants there had managed to rebuild and reopen. Dong Phuong was not among the first to return, but it did so soon enough, and quickly reassumed its position as leading Vietnamese restaurant in the East, and one of the best in the entire city. Dong Phuong is a comfortable restaurant, tucked into the heart of the Vietnamese community in New Orleans East. The center of the operation is a major on-premises bakery, whose masterpiece is, of all things, its French bread. The French were in charge of Vietnam for long enough to establish French cooking and baking. Many of the best French cooks and bakers in New Orleans are Vietnamese. The bread is good on its own, but the sandwiches made with it are what make Dong Phuong famous. The Vietnamese name for them is banh mi, but to the New Orleans eye they're poor boys. Filled with meats and vegetables you won't likely see in the standard New Orleans poor boy shop, but poor boys nevertheless. A banh mi may start in a familiar way, with sliced beef or pork or ham, but in lieu of the lettuce, tomatoes, and mayonnaise, you'll find a collection of lightly-pickled, crunchy vegetables, carrots, cilantro, basil, and onions. Some of the sandwiches are filled with the likes of fish cakes and sausages the likes of which you never had before. So it's a different taste, but one that's very easy to get used to. Everybody talks about the sandwiches. But the almost absurdly long menu is a catalog of Vietnamese cooking, beginning with the soupy breakfasts (not a lot different from lunch, really) that Vietnamese restaurants traditionally serve. This is not just a pho-and-bun shop, and for a reason: before those places became popular, this was the kind of menu you found in the local Vietnamese restaurants. They are in the minority now. One hardly knows where to start, but the spring rolls sound good. So do the little fried pies stuffed with pork and crunchy vegetables, reminding one of Louisiana meat pies in a way. (Vietnam and Louisiana both have French Creole cuisines, if very different ones.) If you want to get adventuresome, try one of the several meatball-like dishes made of pulverized (almost pate consistency) meat, fish, or shrimp. The best dish I ever had here (and I hope they still have it; I don't recall seeing it on the menu last time) is called the happy pancake. It looks like an omelette, but there's no egg in it. The pancake part is primarily tofu and mushrooms held together by a light rice-flour batter. Inside it are sprouts and vegetables. Light and good. Long sections of pork, beef, fish, chicken, and vegetable dishes go on, with the pork being the best (odd, because Vietnamese cooking leans more heavily on beef in the meat department). The grilled meat atop cool noodles are too tasty for something so simple. And they have the usual variations on pho--the beef-broth noodle soup that dominates the New Orleans Vietnamese cuisine at the moment. The place is very busy at lunch, when the sandwiches really take over the place. Later in the afternoon, you feel better about asking your way around the menu. But don't go too late: the Vietnamese community starts very early in the morning, and everything is closed by eight. This was a restaurant in the 2007 Top Sixty Ethnic Restaurant Countdown. To view the entire list, click here. Click here for an index of all restaurant reviews. © 2007 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com.