Sad sad Saigon

So, Sunday morning we went to Saigon. It was kinda late, oh, say almost 10 am. We usually go to eat vietnamese around 9 on weekends. Anyway, we were the first ones in there. They should have been opened at 9, but it felt stale and stuffy like they just unlocked the doors and walked in. We were the first customers of the day.

The FP ordered the combination pho, and I ordered the vermicelli noodles (bun) with shrimp paste on sugarcane. I ordered the number - I think it was 73 - and said the name in english and pointed to it. He repeated the number, the name in english, then he said the name in vietnamese, and he pointed to it. It took him a while to write it down. I don't know how new he was, but he definitely wasn't a rockstar waiter like all the guys who used to work there. They usually guessed what we wanted anyway. Although I change it up sometimes. But they were fast, nononsense, effective.

Anyway, the food came after what seemed like a while. My guess, they were still setting up the kitchen for service. So my shrimp was not on sugarcane. That was disappointing. That's the best part of shrimp on sugarcane. You get to suck all the flavor from the sugarcane! That's what my good good friend told me, Dr. Authority on Everything. He's very smart. He's a doctor in New Yark Citee! And his wife is a lawyah! I think I gave him a different name previously. I'll have to go check it sometime.

Anyway, I guess the Food Pimp's pho was okay. He ate half of it - but it was the big bowl. We didn't really talk much about the food. We were discussing the show that we were going to play in 11 or 12 hours at Backstage at the Bitter End. We wrote the setlist, discussed which songs had sucked (half of them) and which ones blew (half of the other half) at our previous gig on Friday at San Diego Sports Club. Not to be negative, but we were just ill prepared musically and mental, and yeah, I'll throw it in there, physically too. So anyway, if you're wondering, the show that night on Sunday was great! The people there are really nice, the sound there was awesome, we were ready, there was a good crowd. It's nights like that that make me realize how fucking fun it is to be in a good band! You can see our myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/theperfectblue/

So my food was pretty good. I felt like there was more stuff in it then usual. You know, the lettuce, carrots peanuts...at one point, there was basically no garnish in the vermicelli bowls. I didn't know if it was because they happened to run out of all the stuff coincidentally every time I got it, or that they were cutting back on costs or that the cook just didn't know how to make it properly. Or maybe all of the above. Anyway, it was a passable meal. By the time we left, there were still maybe 5-6 more tables than when we first walked in. Back in the heyday, when they were on there would have been about 15 tables in the place at that time...

It's sad to see a place in decline.

Comments

Thistlemoon said…
Sorry the new one wasn't as good as the old - maybe it is going to take a while for them to get their game on again! Music and food - the best combo! :)

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