(Since the banner outside this in-the-works restaurant on Delridge originally promised a spring opening, now that it’s summer, some have asked us if we know what’s going on. So we found the owners and got the story.)
Story and photo by Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Though the only aroma currently coming from this storefront is that of paint and varnish, the owners of this new restaurant located next door to Olympia Pizza on Delridge Way promise that in a couple of weeks, the smells of spiced meat, banh mi sandwiches and pho will be enticing customers to visit.
Owners Melinda Nguyen and Scott Dang, who have owned other restaurants including Lemongrass near Seattle University (which they sold in 2002), moved to West Seattle recently and decided they needed to open another restaurant.
Melinda’s family has been in the restaurant business since 1988, and she missed it: “You meet new people every day.”
Scott adds that Melinda is known for remembering people’s names and their drinks and that, like their other restaurants, this one will be very customer-service-oriented: “You can spend $15 for two people, but have great atmosphere and four-star service.”
Melinda and Scott are both chefs and they plan to keep the menu traditional. Scott says: “Our clientele typically wants traditional Vietnamese food — not watered down or Americanized. We’ll keep ours authentic.”
Learning about their clientele’s tastes will be the focus of their first month, when they’ll offer a “soft menu” of dishes and adjust accordingly to customers’ tastes and requests. Another focus will be letting customers know the ingredients in the dishes in order to let people with food allergies make informed choices. Melinda says: “The egg rolls won’t come with peanut sauce. They’ll come with peanuts, but those can be left off.”
They add that running a restaurant “(is) our passion — we love to cook and serve.”
If construction goes according to plan, they’re hoping to open around July 22nd. To start, hours will be 9-9 every day, serving lunch and dinner.
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