By Karen Brooks
Two highlights in a summer of good eating: the fantastic Vietnamese noodle soups and iced coffee at HA & VL, an unsung treasure in 82nd Avenue's Wing Ming Square, and the wood-fire promise of Tastebud, the restaurant offspring of the outstanding farmers market booth. Herewith, a taste of both.
Noodle soup heaven at HA & VL
The find of the summer. Period. Don't be fooled by the generic-looking exterior: Inside is a charming Vietnamese deli with an Asian modern-pop sensibility that runs from the bright lime and orange walls to the green vines playfully draped over industrial pipes. Sandwiches are available, but come for the daily soup special, highly prized by Vietnamese diners for breakfast and usually sold out by noon during the week.
Owners Ha Luu and William Voung H. (the HA and VL of the restaurant's name) are clearly not in this for the money. They are artisans, making labor-intensive regional soups in small batches -- not nearly enough supply for the demand, but to them, quality is all. Their soups are built around vibrant, slow-simmered broths from whole chickens or baby pork ribs. Noodles are soaked an hour before their brief trip to the boiling pot -- a method that assures an extra bounce of chewy goodness.
Even the Vietnamese iced coffee is a head-snapper: deeply roasty, with a subtle spike of salt, just enough custard-thick condensed milk and blessedly not too sweet ($2.75). Luu knows how to make it just right, but for an extra dollar you can have the joy of making your own, with a drip-pot set over a glass and add-your-own sugar and condensed milk, plus a thermos of hot water to keep the 15-minute process perking.
Each day brings a different soup ($7). Regulars know the drill. Monday is for Bun Rieu, a pink-hued soup pumped with fried shrimp paste; Tuesday brings Bun Moc, a pork ball wonder from central Vietnam; and so on. Soupers with true religion come on Friday for Hu Tieu Nam Vang, a fragrant bowl with its own porkocracy: intestines, belly and meatballs, a dish that gains its own delirium when spiked with HA & VL's blend of vinegar and red chiles supplied on the side. "We call it TNT in vinegar," says Voung H. with a wicked grin. Believe him.
The hottest ticket is Sunday, when the kitchen showcases two soups: Pho Ga, a deep swoon of chicken noodle soup, and Bun Thang topped with exquisite blades of air-dried scrambled eggs and shredded poultry from free-range chickens flown in from Sacramento. Both soups often sell out by 10 a.m.
There must be a Vietnamese term for snooze, you lose. You've been warned.
2738 S.E. 82nd Ave., 503-772-0103, 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
The joys of wood-fire at Tastebud
For four years now, I've been a fan and chronicler of Mark Doxtader's smoky delights pulled from his hand-built wood oven at the Portland Farmers Market. I followed him to the Sunday Hillsdale market in 2006, when he unleashed the best bagels in town, hand-formed, boiled in honeyed water and wood-fired to a rustic glory. And I'm among the thrilled that Doxtader finally opened a little restaurant this summer, to expand his wood-oven inspirations, with a full-on Italian-imported Mugnaini oven hidden in the kitchen.
It's too early for a full-on assessment, as the ever-shifting menu is just cranking up while Doxtader works a heavy market schedule. So far, the list includes a couple of salads: one speaking beautifully of the season (Doxtader, once a farmer, knows his produce); another, a Caesar with little bite and surprisingly too much crunch in the "bagel croutons."
A handful of whole pizzas with unusual seasonally inspired toppings are available ($19-$22), plus some fine make-your-own pie options from a $12 base, with $3-$4 extras such as anchovies, lamb sausage and salami piccante. If you're looking for a purists pie from Italy or New York, this is not it, though Tastebud's pie has integrity. It's puffy-rimmed, beautifully charred and focaccia-like -- bread-maker's pizza. Like all pies, the best options are the lightest weight, and the one that lingers in memory is June's deliciously rugged landscape dotted simply with roasted morels and garlic scapes, with softly pungent toma de lait brusch cheese shaved on top just before serving.
But the real finds may be from the hearth-roasted section: fantastic lamb kafta ($8) -- fat, juicy meatballs full of teeny-crunchy onions -- and irresistible wood-roasted clams ($10) knee-deep in white wine, herbs and a thousand specks of garlic, topped off with big, hot slivers of toasted focaccia bread.
These dishes fuel anticipation for Doxtader's plan to crack open the menu with wood-roasted meats and fish, and possibly brunch.
The space is small and mostly communal tables, and Doxtader is not in touch with his inner Bruce Carey. But there's much to love here, including Tastebud's scrumptious homemade ice cream. Stay tuned.
3220 S.E. Milwaukie Ave., 503-234-0330, 5 to 10 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday (no reservations).
Karen Brooks: 503-221-8230, kbrooks@news.oregonian.com