The taste of spring: Saigon Cafe, Buffalo

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Charbroiled yet flavorful, the beef satay set the tone for a satisfying spring lunch.

I love Saigon in the springtime.

My apologies to Cole Porter and the French (well, maybe just Porter). But as far as I am concerned, the only place to be seen or eat this spring is Saigon Café, 1098 Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo.

This little joint up Elmwood is my favorite warm weather restaurant even though the patio is not quite yet open.

Saigon Café is also fairly reasonable. A recent trip brought Andrew and I in for lunch. I ordered my regular with one substitution - a glass of water instead of a cold bottle of Saigon beer, as I had to return to work. (Maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to knock the French - who else can justify kicking back a bottle of red first thing in the morning? Oui.)

Saigon Café makes the best wonton soup. The wontons are a light and flavorful combination of fresh ground pork in a clear broth with shreds of chicken breast garnished with cilantro and scallion ($3.50). Simply delicious, unlike a certain Chinese joint up on Main Street where the wontons could be considered a form of torture if served to detainees at Gitmo.

I followed the soup with two large succulent slabs of Thai herb marinated beef what Saigon Café calls beef satay, freshly charbroiled and accompanied by a homemade peanut sauce ($4.95). Lunch doesn’t get much better than this.

For once, the menu’s promise of “crispy” came true.

Andrew’s crispy calamari ($5.95) was a heaping pile of perfectly fried tempura-style squid rings and tentacles with another homemade sauce, this time a Thai tamarind. Andrew and I have had calamari all over the city and we agreed this is perhaps one of the best until someone proves us wrong – your treat!

Andrew completed his lunch with an actual item from the lunch menu: Pad Kapow with Shrimp ($7.95).

A piquant dish - and not bad iPhone photos either. All pictures by Matthew Pasquarella.

The Pad Kapow’s spicy hot chile-basil sauce with peppers had just the right amount of heat for a warming spring day. I will admit to sopping up a bit of the sauce on a chunk of beef satay. Who said beef satay’s just for peanut sauce?

So do yourself a favor, as soon as Saigon Café’s patio goes up, drop in for lunch. Better yet, cancel the rest of the day and knock back a few cold Saigons.

- Matthew John Pasquarella

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Filed under beef, pork, restaurants