Linh's Restaurant

Since moving to the Dayton area, Chris and I have been regularly visiting Linh's Restaurant for our Vietnamese food fix. Linh's is quite the gem for a not-so-culturally-diverse area. They serve a mix of Vietnamese and Chinese cuisine, but I'm certain most people order Vietnamese food here. We normally order Phở bò tái (rice noodle soup with beef slices) as our main dish, but this time I wanted to shake it up a bit....And I'm glad I did.

We each devoured an order of fresh spring rolls (Gỏi cuốn) as starters. These spring rolls are by far the best I have ever had, only because instead of perilla leaves, they put in cilantro. Each roll has a shrimp sliced in half layered inside the rice wrapping.

Then Chris had his usual Phở bò tái.

And I normally order the Phở, too, but this time I was curious about their Cơm Tay Cầm...

This dish is served in a piping hot clay pot and the rice at the bottom of the pot cooks to the point of a crunchy consistency. Along with the rice, you get marinated chicken, beef, shrimp, Vietnamese sausage, peas in pods, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green onions, and cilantro. This was so good I may never want to order Phở again so long as this dish is available!

Just as we were slipping into a food coma, we decided to consume a few hundred more calories by hitting up Rita's. I tried out their Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice with Vanilla custard "Misto" and while it was yummy, it could never hold a candle to their Mango ice and Vanilla custard combination.

What do you think about Vietnamese food? What's your favorite dish? What's your opinion about Rita's?