PRESENT RESTAURANT (Imperial Vietnamese Cuisine), Falls Church, VA -- A Review

Present Restaurant – Imperial Vietnamese Cuisine

6678 Arlington Blvd.

Corner Annandale Rd.

Falls Church, VA 22042

Tel. 703-531-1881

Click here to see their website.

September 14, 2011

How would you like some "Silken Shawl Imperial Autumn Roll," or "Smokey Petal," or "Jewel Green Papaya," or "Treasure from the Sea?" And those are just for starters--wait till you read the rest of the menu of this excellent Vietnamese restaurant, one that boasts--and deservedly so--of a chef who cooks authentic Imperial Vietnamese dishes. They must have hired a poet to name their dishes; the names are fanciful and musical, and evocative of what you will discover in flavor, texture, and creativeness when the dish arrives at your table. This is not your run-of-the-mill Pho shop, which are a dime a dozen in the D.C./VA area--far from it--it's a top-rate restaurant that serves authentic Vietnamese cuisine fit for royalty. 

We live very close to Present, and we have visited it many times--a meal here is one of the first things we do when we come back from a trip--and we have yet to find a single dish that disappointed us (isn't that something!). It is in a nondescript strip mall on the corner of Arlington Blvd. and Annandale Road, and the front entrance is equally nondescript, but inside, the ambience is warm and welcoming, with tasteful wood touches, and even a waterfall! (The canned piped-in music could be updated, though.) The service staff, including the owner, Gene Nguyen, are always cheerful and welcoming, and your dishes always arrive promptly. The waiters are impressively knowledgeable about the food, and will enthusiastically answer questions. (The place used to be a drab Korean restaurant, and the Mr. Nguyen has done an excellent job with the make-over.)

The Head Chef is Tran Luong, a Saigon native, who is said to be one of the top-prized chefs back in Vietnam. The story goes that Mr. Nguyen had been wooing him to come to America and help him open another restaurant (Mr. Nguyen owns several), but he didn't want to move here. Apparently, an opportunity unexpectedly presented itself, and Chef Tran was flown in without delay, even before Mr. Nguyen had a restaurant ready for him. This is truly lucky for us, because I have never tasted Vietnamese food as good as the ones Chef Tran makes at Present. Chef Tran has a reputation for being super meticulous, exacting, and a perfectionist -- sure signs of a great chef! And it shows in all his dishes.


The photos below are from several visits to the restaurant -- I just wish I had thought of photographing the dishes that we have sampled from day one. Anyway, these are what I have right now, and will continue posting and critiquing other dishes on our future visits there, which will be many.

First, the steaming ginger tea, which is not only refreshing but also good for the digestion. We ordered the house's signature fried rice, called "Pilgrim on the Beach," with lumps of crab meat and tiger shrimp, and which I always order because I love it! Just look at the presentation, with that rose carved from radish (I think) and colored (I learned how to do that in culinary school). Most of the dishes come adorned with them.

Jewel Green Papaya Salad - shredded green papaya salad with beef liver jerky, freshly-roasted peanuts, and shrimp crackers, served with the Chef's special sauce. (Left photo, untossed; right photo, tossed with the dressing, which is fish sauce-based.) This is the best green papaya salad I've ever had.

"Gift from the Sea on a Fresh Haystack" is stacked with sauteed jumbo lumps of crab meat, tiger shrimp, calamari and assorted fresh vegetables, served over house-made egg noodles; there is a second version, served over crispy egg noodles. (This is very Asian; in fact, we have our own version of this noodle dish in the Philippines called Pancit Canton, and other "sub-versions" because of the availability of many different kinds of noodles.)

"Adventurous Bull" is a fun dish with a bit of an adventure thrown in, even for Asians like me who are "experts" in rolling egg rolls (so we claim).


The ingredients arrive deconstructed:  wonderfully fresh-looking thin slices of eye-round beef, a platter of lettuce, Thai basil, mint, slices of pineapple, cucumber, apples, young banana, bean sprouts, and cooked vermicelli noodles, all accompanied by 6 large rice paper wrappers and a bowl of water. But let's not forget the most important ingredient, the shrimp paste sauce--it's salty, sweet, sour, tangy, and tart all at the same time -- I loved it! You either dip the roll in it, or scoop it into the roll before taking a bite.

The waiter, gloves on, demonstrates what to do, and the first step is to lightly dip the rice paper in water, to moisten and soften it.


Note the dipping broth gently simmering on a portable burner -- it is a vinegar/onion-based soup stock, in which the beef slices are dipped and cooked to your liking before they are wrapped and rolled. The waiter said there's sugar in it plus the Chef's special spices and flavorings. I took a teaspoon and tasted it -- hmmm, yummily sweet and sour at the same time.

The moistened rice paper is spread out carefully on your plate, and you pile on first a lettuce leaf to serve as a bed, then top it with the other "fixins." You then take a slice or two of the beef, cook it in the soup broth, and place them on top of the pile. Cover the surface with the vermicelli noodle, then start wrapping by folding the bottom edge over the pile that's closer to you, then folding the two sides over it, and rolling the whole thing towards the other edge of the rice paper farthest from you.

The cooked beef slice (medium-rare, the way I like it) lies on top of the vegetables, and the vermicelli is on top.

The waiter shows how to roll the rice paper wrapper.

And, voila! You have this neat-looking package of healthy deliciousness waiting for you to take that first bite. Don't forget the sauce!!!




We had a lot of fun with this dish, and it was so delicious to boot. It would definitely be a lot more fun doing it with a bunch of friends -- well, next time!








In one of our recent visits, we told the waiter (we've become friends with some of them) that we wanted to try something that's off the menu, and asked him to bring us two dishes--one a meat dish and the other with lots of vegetables--and let him decide. These are what we had (they didn't have exotic- or fancy-sounding names, because they were not on the menu):


 

Tiger Shrimp with Baby Bok Choy 

The shrimp were just screaming with freshness, and the bok choy was sweet and crunchy and perfectly cooked and seasoned. The Chef truly has a gift for making fantastic sauces, and this one was no exception.







Sizzling Steak with the Chef's Special Brown Sauce

Boy, was that steak sizzlin!!! The beef was so tender (medium-rare, as we ordered), and the Chef's Special Brown Sauce was incredible.





[So, dear readers, until the next Present dish!]