Sunset Pho Caffe: Vietnam meets Croatia

LTH,

The ever interesting Mike Sula revealed another culinary mashup in the Bleader a few weeks ago, SunSet Pho Caffee, Vietnam/Croatia.

I was there mildly late at night and the focus was not on food, though I enjoyed my banh mi cevapcici and am looking forward to a return visit.

banh mi cevapcici


Sunset Pho Caffe
5726 N. Western
Chicago, IL
773-275-2327

G Wiv wrote:LTH,

The ever interesting Mike Sula revealed another culinary mashup in the Bleader a few weeks ago, SunSet Pho Caffee, Vietnam/Croatia.

I was there mildly late at night and the focus was not on food, though I enjoyed my banh mi cevapcici and am looking forward to a return visit.

banh mi cevapcici


Sunset Pho Caffe
5726 N. Western
Chicago, IL
773-275-2327

holy crap...

top of my list

thanks gwiv.

Interesting stuff. I joined some fellas for a quick bite here a few months ago. I gotta say though, nothing really worked that well for me.

We started with another east meets far-east mashup from the menu: cevap and smoked salmon spring rolls.



The smoked salmon worked decently, smooth and salty a logical pairing with fresh and crunchy. The muscular profile of cevap obliterated any nuance inherent in this light Viet dish, though.

The cevap banh mi fared worse, unfortunately. I believe that cevap makes a perfectly acceptable filling in a banh mi– I love assertively seasoned meatballs in these sandwiches and as Sula alludes to, the grilled beefiness of cevap is pretty analogous to one of my favorites of the Vietnamese canon, the betel leaf-wrapped bo la lot, which has been known to make appearances in sandwich form. The sinker for me, was the less-than-fresh tasting, overly toasted roll. It had the character of that stuff that grocery stores sell as French bread from a bin that likely comes in frozen logs from Sysco. Better bread and maybe I'll believe.

Our options for Viet-Balkan chow are quite limited in this town so we're lucky Sunset Pho Caffe, on Western across from the cemetery, is as good as it is. The dim, barlike atmosphere inside, and pleasant sidewalk seating, give it a completely different feeling than the Argyle restaurants.



Last month I sampled a couple of the fusion oddities as well as one of the standard Vietnamese offerings. Cevapcici goi cuon were fun to try, but not particularly compelling. It makes you appreciate why a more delicate filling, such as the usual shrimp, is usually preferable.



I preferred the cevapcici in a sandwich. More than a mere curiousity, it makes a good banh mi filling.





I wasn't bothered by the non-standard bread quite as much as Jefe, but agree the sandwich would be much improved with a better roll (at the very least, less heavily toasted). I feel slightly vindicated by a somewhat surprising recent post from Andrea Nguyen—who literally wrote the book on banh mi—explaining that bread is not key for banh mi (I doubt she'd endorse Sunset's heavy loaf, however). I actually liked the innards of the sandwich quite a bit.

Sunset's tomatoey pho isn't one of my favorite versions, but it's distinctive enough that I'm interested in exploring more of the menu.



Except for a handful of tough-to-resist novelty items, the menu is mostly straight Vietnamese cooking.

Sunset Pho Caffe
5726 N Western Av
Chicago
773-275-2327
https://www.facebook.com/sunsetphocaffe

Rene G wrote:I wasn't bothered by the non-standard bread quite as much as Jefe, but agree the sandwich would be much improved with a better roll (at the very least, less heavily toasted). I feel slightly vindicated by a somewhat surprising recent post from Andrea Nguyen—who literally wrote the book on banh mi—explaining that bread is not key for banh mi (I doubt she'd endorse Sunset's heavy loaf, however). I actually liked the innards of the sandwich quite a bit.

That's a great link. I've always been suspect of the common belief that banh mi are built on a rice flour- based roll. I also feel validated for constructing my own banh mi recipe on D'Amatos loaves. But again, that toasted palate- scraper at Sunset was a deal breaker for me.

I popped in here back way back in March and also again a couple of more times including the time with Jefe. The bread has always been food service stuff (I asked on my first trip), but it is not always cooked as poorly as when I had it with Jefe. On the first visit, I actually loved the sandwich, not just for the novelty. I would guess consistency may be an issue due to lack of business in general. The place is always empty at what we'd consider a typical lunch or dinner time. As it has more of a bar vibe, I wonder what it looks like at 10pm on a weekend.

Rene G wrote: It makes you appreciate why a more delicate filling, such as the usual shrimp, is usually preferable.

I don't doubt that this roll is not successful but it seems to me it's more of an execution issue rather than conceptual. A well made Nem Nuong spring roll is the best.

A quick update to the Sunset Pho thread in appreciation of the quintessential LTH experience that was yesterday’s lunch: an unusual and very enjoyable meal, in a place you wouldn’t walk into if you had not seen a posting on LTH, made and presented by interesting and engaging people with a backstory that makes you want to linger over a couple of beers – or, in this case, more slivovitz.

Mike Sula’s article (linked above) tells the Sunset Pho story and heaps heavy praise on the banh mi cevapcici, but don’t overlook the rest of the Vietnamese menu. The Chicken-Ginger salad was fresh and vibrant with a variety of flavors, all enhanced with a tangy dressing that rivals the Argyle-Street experience. Same for the Grilled Cevapcici & Egg Roll Noodle dish.

And, somehow, the Vietnamese items seem even more SE Asian when they are served alongside the Grilled Cevapcici Plate, replete with the requisite onions, kajmak and ajvar. As for the toasted-roll controversy discussed above, we thoroughly enjoyed its temperature, aroma, crispy crust with soft interior and its taste. It may not be Nhu Lan, but it sure made for a satisfying sandwich.

For LTH grazers and fressers, Sunset Pho is a fitting member of the Peterson Park Pigout Package, which also includes A Bite of Szechuan, San Soo Gab San, Mekato’s and Bryanna’s.

We will be back.

A group of us recently dined at Sunset Pho. Additional discussion is on the event thread. I managed to get photos of everything but the frog legs and pho. I enjoyed most everything we ordered. The seafood platter was the weakest in my mind as it was overcooked. I really enjoyed the salad, salmon in clay pot and the cevapcici. The company was outstanding.

Chicken ginger salad


Banh Xeo


Cevapcici platter


Salmon in clay pot


Seafood platter in yummy sauce


Crawfish in yummy sauce

Drove past today and saw that Sunset Pho's windows are papered over. There are printed signs in the windows too, but I was driving too fast to see what they said. Has anyone been by at walking speed recently? It's a swiftly moving stretch of Western, but next time I'm southbound I'm going to have to pull over and look if no one else has!

LPython wrote:Drove past today and saw that Sunset Pho's windows are papered over.

Good news is it's not an OOB, but they're moving. Surprising this didn't get picked up by Eater, or somewhere else.

Per Sunset Pho's Facebook page, in a response to a question asking about photos they had posted (horrifically indirect in the way they were posting pictures):

We will be closing this sunday march 31, and opening in two weeks or so at new location 2856 N. Clark Street

Vietnamese spot Sunset Pho Caffe has relocated and opened its new spot early this week

https://chicago.eater.com/2019/3/22/182 ... pring-2019