Long Thanh- Revisit

Real quick, I can’t help myself. I love this place and its Vietnamese pancake ($7.25) and its rare lemon beef. Seriously, those two things are great. Just the right amount of food for hubby and I to split for lunch. The light pancake (think crepe really) stuffed with pork, bean sprouts and shrimp and served with the lightly spicy lightly tangy fish sauce. I like to eat it wrapped up in the lettuce leaves they serve with it. And I love the pure acidity of the rare lemon beef. The shredded lettuce, carrots and onion with a touch of jalapeno make a nice salad with thin slices of beef on top as well as a sprinkle of chopped peanuts. The dressing has that lemon kick and then when you add more of the same sauce served with this dish as well, it’s the perfect little flavor bomb. Oh, and they serve it with crispy little fried rice crackers that crackle when you top them with the salad giving it the perfect little texture variation. These are my two favorite items. (Price-wise, things are generally under $8).

However, on this day we also had my daughter with us for the first time (we usually don’t take the kids due to my son’s nut allergies), so we also got a few other items that she wanted to try. Ok, and yes, hubby and I are certainly always game to try something new, particularly when we still get to get our favorites.

We ordered some potstickers and the clay pot catfish as well. Hubby loved the potstickers and had the lion’s share of them. I enjoyed them, but potstickers are rarely my favorite thing. These were tender, but pretty dense. The clay pot catfish was tasty—it had an interesting almost sweet flavor from the caramelization of the onions and the fish. The fish was extremely tender—it basically fell apart on your fork when you ate it. I really enjoyed the onions in the dish, we ate all of them. Overall, it had a peppery flavor, some nice herbs mixed in and that sweet caramel sauce. I enjoyed it, but I can’t say it will sway me from my favorites.

Overall, this is one of my favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurants that just happens to be very close to my house. I know I have written about it several times already, but it just reflects how much we eat there. You should try it some time. Stick to the Vietnamese side of things though.

Long Thanh

5707 East 71^st Street

Indy  46220

317/842-6499

Long Thanh - Revisit

I have written about this place a couple of times before but I am kind of in the mood lately to re-post about some of my favorite places. This is another place that hubby and I eat regularly—probably half the time we grab a weekday lunch together, this is where we go.

Typically, our order consists of the Vietnamese pancake and the rare lemon salad (you can read about both in my last post). This time hubby was insistent that we mix it up a bit so we got one of our classics, the pancake ($7.25), and on the recommendation of our server (and pretty sure the “mom” of this mom and pop operation—he’s in the back cooking), we also tried #60 on the menu, the cubed beef rice dish ($8.25).

The pancake is delicious. It’s always good and just such a perfect dish. The pancake is made with rice flour and turmeric (giving it the color) and is very thin with nice crispy edges. The inside is stuffed with bean sprouts, onions, pork and shrimp. My favorite thing to do is to take some of the big lettuce leaves on the side, put some of the pancake into it, drizzle the seasoned fish sauce on top (which gives it a nice tangy flavor), add a little of the fresh cilantro, and roll it up and eat it. Seriously, it’s amazing. It’s big, and we always split it (the picture is just my half), but we always eat every bite.

The cubed beef dish was very good as well. It was described on the menu as “curried” beef with onions, lemongrass and crushed peanuts. I didn’t realize until after I ate it that the peanuts were missing. Regardless, the dish was very good. The beef was cut into slightly larger dices than what you see in a lot of Vietnamese dishes, and was sautéed very hot so that a caramelized edge formed on each piece. There were lots of super tender onions mixed in as well and when you added more of the seasoned fish sauce that came on the side here also, this dish was great. It needs the little extra tanginess from the sauce but once it has it, and you get the light flavor of the lemongrass and the fairly mild taste of the curry, it has a very good taste. The beef is certainly cooked through, but has a great taste due to the way it is prepared. The whole dish is served over nice, slightly sticky rice and again, isn’t bad wrapped up in the lettuce and with the fresh cilantro served with it. I’m not sure if I think it’s better than the rare lemon beef we normally order, but it’s definitely worth throwing into 

the rotation.

I have never had the Chinese side of their menu—I have been warned that it isn’t as good as the Vietnamese side—but I really like nearly everything I have had from there. If you like Vietnamese food, and don’t mind a bit of a dive, give this place a shot.

Long Thanh

5707 East 71^st Street

Indy  46220

317/842-6499

Long Thanh - Revisit

Hubby and I had a quick lunch the other day at Long Thanh. We needed it to be close to home and we wanted something not horribly filling because we had a big dinner ahead of us. 

We went in with the intention to order the Vietnamese pancake ($6.95) and the rare lemon beef ($7.95), which we did, but then as I scanned the menu, I noticed something called “butter wings” ($3.50).  Described as chicken wings fried in butter and garlic, how could I say no? (My prices might be slightly off, as my carry out menu is pretty old).

The pancake was good—as you might know, these are one of my favorite things in Vietnamese restaurants. This one falls squarely in the good category. I like that all the stuff inside the crepe (shrimp, pork, bean sprouts and onions) are all warm and have been lightly sautéed (even the sprouts). I like sprouts, bit in a warm dish, I like it when they have just a little of the raw edge off of them. I also liked that they gave you not only fresh lettuce to wrap with the pancake, but fresh cilantro as well, which I used all over my half. I like the fresh green flavor. It is a good crepe, just slightly crisp on the edges but hearty enough for al the fillings, which are generous at Long Thanh. I like the seasoned fish sauce-this one having just a bit more chili flavor than most.

I love the rare beef salad. I recently listed this in my favorite things post, and it still stands. It is really tangy with lemon (and lime I am guessing) and even with the freshly fried rice chips, you feel like it is pretty healthy. There is shredded lettuce and julienned carrots and onions, which are all marinated well in the citrus and some chopped peanuts on top for a bit of crunch and salt. There is basil and cilantro mixed in as well. And little pieces of the very thinly sliced rare beef—the beef is very tender. I love making a bite with all the parts of the dish and putting them on the rice crackers and listen to them pop from the juices. 

The chicken wings were new to us though, and even though they were killing the moderately “healthy” aspect of our planned lunch, they were quite delicious. It was two whole wings split into pieces so you got two drumstick looking part and two of the flatter parts of the wing.  Then they tempura batter and fry them and they are seriously delicious. On their own they’re good, but in the spicy soy based dipping sauce they are even better. I can’t really think they are cooked in butter, but they do taste buttery. Seriously, you should give them a go if you like fried chicken. And dang, are they big wings….the kind that makes you scared to see the chicken they might come from.

We’re pretty lucky to have this little place in our neighborhood. There is some very good Vietnamese food in Indy, and I think more people are coming to appreciate it—and Long Thanh, while in no way fancy at all, is up there with the very good ones. What do you guys think?

Long Thanh

5707 East 71^st Street

Indy  46220

317/842-6499

Long Thanh

Some friends of mine recently challenged me on twitter about my lack of pho love and suggested I try Long Thanh to get some that I might like.  I was kind of surprised that they liked this place so much because it is really super close to my house and I have never eaten there.  I will admit, I went in once shortly after we moved here, and picked up a menu, but just never went back.  Since then, they have classed the place up a bit with some décor (I remember it being just pretty much white all over and kind of divey) and some tablecloths.  Also, the lady who waited on me both times (one of the husband/wife owners I believe) was really nice and when I came the second time remembered me and asked me if I wanted the same drink.

So I met my friends for lunch shortly after their recommendation to see if they were right.  Although, on this first trip, I didn’t order the pho.  Just being difficult I guess, but I haven’t found pho in Indy that I really like yet, so I wanted to try something else first and get an idea if I liked the place before I moved on to something that I am obviously kind of picky about.  I had a Vietnamese spring roll (you know, the non-fried kind)($2.75 for 2) and the “grilled shrimp noodle”(#54)($6.95).  So, I have to admit, those non-fried spring rolls don’t usually really get me going unless they are wrapped really tight and are small and easy to eat. And it helps if there is a fair amount of meat in them (I like to be able to see several shrimp).  This one was more like a salad roll with mostly (fresh) greens—lettuce and herbs. There was a little meat in it, but not much.  And it was kind of fat and messy and not my favorite thing.  They were served with a thick, plum sauce with peanuts on top to dip in though which helped a bit.

I really liked the noodles and shrimp dish though—it was a bowl filled with lettuce and bean sprouts and topped with hot rice noodles, and sautéed shrimp and green onions.  There were some crushed peanuts on top as well as some shredded carrots.  I really like rice noodles in general—they are lighter and don’t feel so filling and the combo of the nicely cooked shrimp with some noodles and some crunchy veggies from the bottom of the bowl was good.  It was served with a light, slightly sweet sauce (with a bit of chili paste and garlic it) that I enjoyed dunking my noodles into.  So they were right, I was liking this place.

So the next challenge was to go back and get the pho and see how it went.  I met a friend again (different one this time) and we started with the Vietnamese pancake ($6.95).  I love these in general, and this one in particular.  It was truly like a crepe, they way I like them, light and really thin but perfectly crispy on the edges.  Folded inside were sprouts, sautéed onions, pork, shrimp, and with cilantro and romaine lettuce on the side and served with some of the same sauce I had above with my noodles.  My only complaint, if I had one, is that the inside stuff was just a little oily, but not so much that it stopped us from eating ALL of it. And it is pretty generous in size.  I would certainly get this again. I really really liked how crisp the outside was. Perfect.

So, I got the rare beef pho ($6.75). And guess what? I liked it.  This is the first pho I have had in Indy where I felt like the dish really had some flavor.  And the flavor comes from the broth—the noodles are the same rice noodles that I had had in the dish before and they are just a complement to the broth really. There are also some sautéed onions and green onions in the bowl as well as the very thin slices of beef.  So, of course, there is no way the beef really stays rare in that steaming broth, but these pieces of beef were thin and tender and very good.  I thought they were fairly plentiful as well as I kept making sure I got all of them.  You are also served a fresh plate with bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, jalapeno slices and a juicy lime wedge.  I did add some of all of this into the bowl, which more than anything added a wonderful aroma.  I did not have to add any sauces to it, which I have had to do in the past at other places just to get a little flavor. The broth stood on its own and I can officially say I found a pho that I liked.  Cheers to my friends who recommended it (and if you have a favorite pho location, please share!).

Long Thanh

5707 East 71^st Street

Indy  46220

317/842-6499