(pho) vina asian restaurant

little did i know that spokane had any real ethnic foods. sure, they have a fantastic new ethiopian place, which certainly rivals any in seattle - but pho??

yes. they have great pho. not good, not average, but great. this review is going to focus on vina asian restaurant's pho. they have other things on the menu, a hodgepodge of chinese, vietnamese, and thai-ish fare. the rest of the food looked marginally better than average, and the fresh rolls were ok. just ok. they were missing flavor in the pork. they were on the small side, and had some nice fresh herbs but not many. to be really good, they need to grill off the pork or do something to make them stand out. the sauce they serve with it could also be improved, and more herbaceous. while the fresh rolls seem be be an ok deal, compared to other vietnamese places they're on the pricy side for the portion they offer. if you haven't had fresh rolls, these are a fair rendition and you won't be disappointed, but don't go out of your way for them.

but do go out of your way for the pho!

the broth flavor was very good. so good i tried to coax my waitress into telling me about it. she wouldn't. the green onions were a nice touch, in particular as it's not unusual to order some fresh onion for 50 cents to a buck at other places. they also had the fresh regular onions too, gratis. the bowl itself was very reminiscent of hanoi pho because the broth is incredibly light, but flavorful and herbaceous. at the same time, it was better than any of the pho I had in vietnam. the sawtooth cilantro (coriander) was a welcome surprise. this southeast asian delicacy (the sawtooth cilantro herb) seems to be too expensive to be a mainstay at american pho restaurants. the warmed bean sprouts were also an interesting touch. warming them turns them an unsettling brown, but the addition of a small amount of heat keeps them from cooling down your broth! maybe if they were grilled, to add a smokey flavor, that would be the best of all worlds. (i digress.)

in addition, while a trivial thing, I love love love the size of the bowl!! the soup fits in it, with room. see. no overflow issues! it's such a small thing, but makes the experience of eating it less -stressful maybe- than even normally.

my only real dings: the restaurant was sparing on the meat they included compared to most other places and there was no brisket option.  oh well.

(pho) vina asian restaurant
2303 n ash st, #a
spokane, wa 99205
(509) 328-2197
4.5 of 5 (pho only)

taverna - best restaurant in tricities?

well, so far i have to say that taverna from tagaris winery served the best food that i have eaten in the tricities, those being kennewick, richland, and pasco, washington.

best is, of course, subjective. this is best period thus far. nicest, tastiest meal.  i might argue, if you get me on a good day, that a taco joint in pasco is also the best. that would be the best for the money. $1 a taco, you can't beat that. especially when they're amazing.  but...

tagaris winery's unassuming little grotto called taverna is the best food going in richland.  it's not cheap, but it's also not terribly expensive (especially when considering counterparts in seattle). lunches range from $10-15, dinner from $15-30. the ingredients are fresh and the menu is seasonal. that, clever flavor combinations, along with reasonable prices, is why this is the best restaurant in the area.

the fare is mediterranean. flatbread pizzas, calzones, fresh pastas, meats and seafood. i can personally vouch for the patatas bravas app, roasted chicken calzone, lamb burger, and fresh pappardelle with basil and roasted chicken.  (i cannot provide any commentary on their wines.) the cheese plate, unfortunately, was a bit of a letdown. it was the one low light of the meal.  not because it was bad, but because it was average, and not worth the $14. service was what you'd expect for a very good restaurant - attentive but not invasive. (one ding on the waiter though, he came to the table before he knew the specials for the day. don't do that again buddy.)

maybe the tides will change, but as for now, go here on a special occasion and sit on the patio while the weather is agreeable to see if it's the best meal you have had in the tricities.

taverna
4.5 of 5
844 tulip lane
richland, wa

509-628-1619

(it's in the back, down the road that foreboding has a sign that reads "dead end")

the tricities burn my face off!!

have you notice that i am a fan of spicy food?  i may not have made that abundantly clear.  i am a serious fan of spicy food.  love it.  


rarely are foods spicy to me that bother other people.  at indian restaurants, the pickled/spicy peppers that is both extremely citrus-y and hot, isn't that spicy to me.  wasabi doesn't bother me much these days.  jalepeno is more nutty than spicy.  crushed red pepper paste in asian restaurants is downright sweet.  tabasco is laughable.  whenever i go to a thai or vietnamese or chinese or mexican or any other place where they say they have a scale, 1-5, 1-10, i say 5 or 10 or 6 or 11.  


most of the time, when i like the food somewhere and i go back, i have to tell them to make it more spicy.  i tell them to not focus on my whiteness and treat  me like they would family.  that normally does the trick.  sometimes it takes some convincing.  capsicum doesn't bother me much, lots of black pepper does (but i just find that lazy).  ok, is the stage set?


it's not often that i'm surprised.  and i was surprised twice, in eastern washington.  it's not exactly the middle of nowhere.  the tricities are the third major population center in washington state, but they're not even as densely populated as a new york city or boston commuter suburb, let alone big city.

(phuket)

my first surprise came from phuket thai cuisine in kennewick.  they have a sign, "we take our spicy level seriously."  ok.  sure.  i got the go ahead from my wife to order one dish at 5 stars (their top).  it was the beef and basil stir fry.  the waitress, a teenage girl, says " are you sure?"  "yes i'm sure, thanks for the warning" i reply.  she responds, "the cook/owner hates it when dishes go back because they're too spicy.  she won't accept them."  i considered myself duly warned.  my wife ordered a pad thai.  


when the 5 star dish landed at the table, visually you could see the red pepper paste on the top.  mashed, thai peppers and oil.  you also smelled it.  after one bite, my tongue was on fire.  fire.  it took quite a bit of rice to calm down the ol' taste buds.  i could have honestly ordered it at 4 stars and been very happy.  5 was too much.  it was more like the kind of thing you eat on a dare.  that said, it did have a nice flavor.  the spice wasn't lazy, it was layered.  my wife's pad thai (a 2 i think), was a nice break - but she wolfed it all down.  i suffered in silence...


in the end we had a nice black rice pudding, which was very tasty and a nice way to conclude the meal.  by that point my mouth had recovered.  the food was shockingly good.  good in general, very good for kennewick.


if that was not enough, then there was woo's teriyaki in richland.  

they have korean (bibimbap and bulgogi), and japanese (yakisoba and teriyaki).  i ordered the chicken yakisoba, hot.  "how hot?  we do low, medium, and high heat."  i replied "high."  the pile of noodles, with brownish-red sauce, and teriyaki chicken hits the table.  it didn't look quite as foreboding as phuket, but phuk it was hot!  i'm talking burn my face off hot.  worse than phuket.  i turned to the businessman i was trying to woo and said "this is hot."  he smiled and said "well, i'd heard a story about a guy being surprised by the spice, but i was waiting to see your reaction to figure out of it was true."


stinker!  not a month or two earlier, we'd had another meal together at a local mexican place.  it was pretty good, and i ordered their camarones a la diabla.  i also had their "hot" salsa.  i didn't break a sweat, it was nothing.  i commented that the flavor was there, but it lacked a little in the spice department.  well, not woo's.  it was there on taste, even better than phuket, and it was there in spice.  i had to order a tapioca ball smoothie and steal some of my compadre's rice to beat the heat.  he was a good sport.  i finished most of the plate, but the food did burn going down.  did i mention my mouth was on fire?    


after i finish the dish, manlily, the waitress says, "how was it."  "hot" we reply.  she smiles.  "how do you normally get it?" asks my new friend.  "very very hot, it's two levels above yours.  if i don't eat in a few days though, i can't even stand the normal hot.  you just have to get used to it."  get used to it!  my mouth recuperated about 20 minutes after lunch.  i can only imagine very very spicy.


phuket thai cuisine restaurant
ste d, 1407 north young st
kennewick, wa ‎
3.5 of 5 (4 for tricities)
(yes, if you saw the earlier thai ginger post, this place is better than thai ginger.)


woo's teriyaki
1379 george washington wy
richland, wa ‎
4 of 5 (5 for tricities)