Ana Mandara

Here's a first...dressing up for a fancy dinner on a sunday evening "just because". We went to Ana Mandara, which has "modern vietnamese cuisine". I actually saw a special about this place on the food network--apparently it was (or is) owned by Cheech and Don Johnson. Of course, I was skeptical what with the mention of "modern VN" and "Don Johnson" in the same sentence, but hell, I am an open-minded person. I had also heard from a friend who went recently that it is also just a beautiful restaurant and boy, they weren't kidding. I felt like I was in a VN palace-hut (if there is such a thing). It was gorgeous inside, but a little dark, and the upstairs was just a huge space with couches--pretty much set up to be a lounge area for parties.

We were seated at a booth downstairs and immediately ordered a bottle of wine (yum). For appetizers, I believe J5 had the "VN crispy rolls", which are basically eggrolls, and I got the "sonoma duck sausage with foie gras, pinenuts and spicy ginger sauce". As it turns out, this is just a fancy way of describing a classic VN snack known as "nem nuong." I wasn't disappointed though, that stuff was GOOD. For the main course, J5 got the special which was a salmon with some sort of tomato base, mango puree (or something like that), with a balsamic reduction. It was good but I don't remember the dish that well, however, i remember MINE! "Miso-honey glazed blue nose bass with crispy brown rice risotto" The fish was surprisingly hearty and flavorful, went well w/ the sauce--DELICIOUS! The garlic noodles side dish was also pretty tasty. Unfortunately, we did not have enough room for dessert but I'm sure that would have been good too.

It wasn't that pricey for a restaurant of this scale, no different than going to piperade or zuni. Very interesting and tasty cuisine--it's vietnamese so it's pretty light but rich in flavor. And of course, the setting is beautiful. I'd leave the kids at home.

I'm gonna give this one a "try it some time!"