Eric Banh and his Passion Behind Ba Bar

 

Ba Bar is Eric Banh’s latest expansion to his Vietnamese empire. The 50-seat high ceiling space feels much like a gastropub that happens to serve quality Vietnamese street food. The noodle bar hopes to fill in the gaping hole of Seattle’s restaurant landscape by providing late night food until 2 am, and 4 am on the weekends. The menu includes a variety of vermicelli noodle dishes, claypot rice and chicken, duck leg confit, and of course bowls rich and steamy Pho. Nightly specials are also available.

A few days after having dinner at Ba Bar, I just so happened to be their first ever lunch customer. After taking a seat, I soon realized that Eric Banh was running around his new restaurant and I jumped at the opportunity to speak with him.

Eric Banh has three very successful restaurants, one of which I can easily call one of my favorites. Monsoon serves contemporary Vietnamese cuisine with a Northwest flare and it’s where I had my 30^th birthday dinner celebration. Monsoon Eastis the same restaurant in Bellevue while Baguette Box is a Vietnamese inspired gourmet sandwich shop. 

I watched him work as he directed his staff around the restaurant. It became apparent that he’s a man that pays attention to detail, down to how a server should seat and treat customers, to how a table should be properly setup. “It may look simple, but you must take it very seriously,” he lectured a staff member over foam on an espresso drink.

I was a bit nervous at first not knowing what to say or ask. I took a deep breath, fixed my helmet head and scooter blown hair and walked up to him. I told him how big of a fan I am of his restaurants and I introduced myself as a food blogger. He asked me not to be too critical as he was obviously self-conscious of the growing pains of a brand new restaurant. “I was fifteen in Edmonton and barely knew English when I got my first restaurant job. That’s why I hired young kids to work here, to give people a chance at their first restaurant job.”

We talked about quality and the need for late night food in Seattle. He was a bit disappointed that the youth of the Vietnamese community give him the most grief over the price of a bowl of his Pho.

“Our broth is made over fourteen hours; at Monsoon over twenty-four hours. And the bone to water ratio is so high and the broth so rich. All this and I’m only charging two dollars more than everybody else,” explained Banh. 

“You have the three buck chuck and you have a sixty dollar Washington Cabernet; both will get you drunk,” Banh metaphorically preached about the quality of his food, “but it’s all about the journey.”

I then sat down as my combo vermicelli was served. I cheated and picked off a piece of the imperial roll as Banh walked by. “Mix it all up, pour some sauce and eat it like a salad!” Banh explained as he ran around his restaurant.

“People like me and you, we live to eat, not eat to live,” said Banh as he took another pass by my table.

“You should try some dumplings.” Five minutes later I had two dumplings stuffed with mung bean, caramelized shallot, and a spicy soy vinaigrette at my table. “These two ladies make them by hand. Very authentic, I plan on having a dumpling station here,” he pointed to an empty space near the entrance of the restaurant.

The dumplings were pleasant, but it was the sauce that blew me away. Even after I finished the dumplings, I kept spooning up the sauce into my mouth or vermicelli bowl. 

My experience with the two times I’ve been to Ba Bar has been excellent. The food is passionately prepared in the vision of Eric Banh and is on par with the excellence of Monsoon. I’ve had no trouble with service despite other people having bad experiences that other people such as Kate Opatz from Pat My Butterwrote about.  I’m confident that veteran restaurateur and passion of Eric Banh and his staff will pull it all together. I hope the late night Seattle community will come to Ba Bar for something that all of Seattle has needed for a long time: a bowl of late night happiness. 

 

Comments

[Anonymous]

I'm sold! My mouth is watering. Your descriptions and pictures of the food made me want to jump in the car and speed to Ba Bar. Not tonite but soon. Your blog gets better and better! Andy V.

[Sonia]

I am excited to try Ba Bar and I am so glad to hear it is living up to its reputation. The food sounds wonderful.

[FrancisFoodie]

Andy V and Sonia,

I hope you both enjoy Ba Bar. Let me know what you guys think, and if you take great photos, feel free to send them to me and I'll try to put them up on my Friday Food Photos.

-Francis

[Art]

I'm glad you stressed the quality of Eric's food. He may be as responsible for starting the move to local, organic, free-range, etc. ingredients in Seattle restaurants as he is for introducing us to first-rate, "upscale" Vietnamese cuisine. If anyone has a problem with the service, be patient and don't worry--you can be sure that it will be corrected!

[FrancisFoodie]

Check out Salty on the Table's Restaurant Review on Ba Bar!

http://saltonthetable.blogspot.com/2011/08/ba-bar.html