Elizabeth Keyser photo

Shrimp salad, summer rolls and a bowl of nuoc mam from Pho Vietnam in Danbury

Pho Vietnam
56 Padanaram Rd., Danbury, (203) 743-6049

Crunch. With an abundance of raw vegetables, Vietnamese food can seem like summer on a plate.

At two Fairfield County Vietnamese restaurants, food trumps atmosphere. These low-key, low-rent places serve light, herb- and vegetable-filled dishes with a kick of lime, fish sauce and sugar that awakens the senses.

Pho Vietnam (56 Padanaram Rd., Danbury) is worth driving out of your way for. You'll forget about the nondescript strip-mall setting the minute you open the door. The décor is bare-bones. The carpeting is worn but clean.

We ask for lemonade. Even better, they have limeade. It's served in short-stemmed parfait glasses, a wedge of lime resting on the rim. Pale, watery green, it is sweet and refreshing.

Summer rolls are fresh and delicate. Pink shrimp, green lettuce and herbs show through a gauzy rice-paper wrapper. The crunch here is delicate: lettuce, basil, mint, bean sprouts, rice noodles and thin slices of pork. We squirt sriracha hot sauce into the sweet peanut-hoisin dipping sauce.

Fried spring rolls are thin like golden brown cigars. The crisp wrapper shatters, giving way to a burst of flavor from ground peppery pork, crab meat, seaweed and cellophane noodles. We doctor up the nuoc mam, a light, sweet tangy dressing of fish sauce, water, sugar, lemon and hot pepper, with another squirt of sriracha.

Pho Vietnam offers vegetarian versions of the rolls and six vegetarian entrees.

From the salads, we choose grilled shrimp ($7.79 at lunch; $9.79 at dinner). The shrimp arrive butterflied and showered with chopped roasted peanuts, sitting on a mound of chopped cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts, onions, cucumber, cilantro and peanuts dressed in a light, vibrant sauce.

The namesake dish, the Pho ("Vietnam in a bowl," the menu says) can be ordered with tender beef slices, or you could add tendon, tripe, or tendon beef ball. We tried it with tender beef slices and flank.

From the accompanying plate, we tear leaves of basil and cilantro into the soup, squirt lime and add crunchy bean sprouts and sliced jalapeno. The broth is mild, with a hint of star anise. The rice noodles are tender. The paper-thin beef slices, added to the broth just before serving, cook before our eyes.

The rice vermicelli bowl has tender strips of grilled pork flavored with a sweet barbecue sauce. The smoky meat is almost a condiment to the mix of noodles, mint, cilantro, lettuce, bean sprouts, carrots, scallion, cucumber, pickled leeks, roasted peanuts and fried onions. One quibble: The noodles were a little tough.

But would I go back? Absolutely. This meal left me feeling light and craving more Vietnamese food.

Saigon Restaurant
80 Wood Ave., Bridgeport, (203) 334-8812

I've been restored by many bowls of chicken pho at Saigon Restaurant (80 Wood Ave., Bridgeport). The place is a little shabby, with plastic tablecloths, fake flowers mixed with real plants, and bubble gum machines. And it's noisy.

But the staff is friendly, greeting the many regular customers. Thermos pitchers of hot tea are on the table. Condiment trays hold bottles of sriracha, hoisin, fish sauce, shrimp paste, spoons and chopsticks. Prices range from $6.99 to $9.99, and portions are hearty.

The first sip of fresh lemonade is so sweet, I scan the table for fresh lime. But as the ice melts, the drink mellows and is a refreshing contrast to the zingy food.

The spring rolls look overly brown and blotchy, but they taste crisp and caramelized. They're served with a plate of lettuce and fresh basil to wrap them in before dipping into the nuoc mam. The lettuce makes the fried treats seem almost healthy.

The summer roll are so full of lettuce, mint and basil, it's like a wonderful salad roll, with the soft rice noodles giving body, and the pork and shrimp punching up the flavor.

I could live on chicken pho ($6.99). At Saigon Restaurant, the broth has hints of cinnamon. The noodles are tender and comforting. This is one dish that my 10-year-old niece-who-eats-nothing will eat.

Barbecued pork is served with "meat pie" over steamed rice. You get a thin, bone-in cut of tender, flavorful barbecued pork. The meat pie is a sort of pâte of eggs, noodles and ground pork.

They also offer bahn mi, the increasingly popular Vietnamese sandwich. The toasted roll is stuffed with ham, pork, cilantro, cucumber, carrots and dressed with mayonaisse. We add slices of fresh jalapeno to give the sandwich a fiery punch.

Both Pho Vietnam and Saigon Restaurant offer quick, economical and tasty meals. The crunch you hear now is my car wheels over gravel — I'm going back.