Taste of Vietnam via San Francisco

One of the benefits of Sacramento’s increasing food profile is that Bay Area restauranteurs are opening outposts here, such as Skool on K in Midtown and La Venadita in Oak Park. They’re bringing inventive ideas and menu items with them.

On the flip side, some business owners can’t afford the Bay Area anymore. One recent transplant is Tây Giang in south Sacramento. After 16 years in the San Francisco’s Outer Sunset, the restaurant lost its lease. They packed up and moved here, opening last December.

While Vietnamese places abound in south Sacramento, Tây Giang ups the ante with its modern setting and more careful presentations. Contemporary music and a clever children’s menu recognize American dining comforts without compromising the classic food.

The menu lists an exhaustive collection of favorites as well as unusual items, but you get a complimentary dish of freshly roasted, sweet-and-salty peanuts to nibble on while you peruse. Servers thoughtfully inquire about allergies before they leave the nuts, an indicator of the attentive service to come.

An uncommon vegetarian section begins the menu, including rolls, soups and vermicelli dishes. The vegetable curry ($8.95) appears deep yellow from the turmeric-rich broth. Coconut milk and cinnamon make a fragrant base for fried tofu, toothsome taro root and a variety of colorful, fresh vegetables.

For appetizers, the deep-fried imperial rolls ($6.95) enclose pork, taro and carrots, and come with the ubiquitous sweet-tangy, all-purpose dipping sauce. They’re expertly fried and well-balanced in flavor, with crisp carrots and lettuce alongside.

Similarly, the fresh spring rolls exemplify Tây Giang’s contemporary outlook. They come prettily arranged on a mod white square plate, with a complex peanut sauce and slivered vegetables. Small, pink shrimp peek through the translucent rice paper.

Even better, perhaps, are the DIY wraps. It’s still rare to find this option in Sacramento, but it’s especially genius for choosy eaters and adventurers. You get a narrow container of hot water and dried rice paper rounds, then a platter of your chosen protein and a slew of additions.

Dip the paper briefly in the water, then lay it out to customize your wrap. We tried the tender five-spice chicken ($9.95) with rice noodle cakes and a mountain of mint, basil and shiso. Work quickly to roll it up, then dip your creation in fish sauce. Ask for more wrappers as needed.

Other options include prawns, pork meatballs and grilled catfish in three sizes, the small being 2.5 to 2.9 pounds ($40). The menu says this feeds one to two, but at that weight, it’s enough for a small group.

Grilled grape leaf beef ($13.95) makes another excellent choice. Like Greek dolmades, softened leaves hold in juicy nuggets of filling—in this case, minced beef with aromatic spices. A lemongrass sauce coats the top of the skewered rolls, and our server advised us to check back soon for jars of this elixir sold separately.

Bún noodle bowls always make for a good gauge of a restaurant’s skills. The grilled lemongrass pork version ($8.50) delivered decisively with its tender juicy meat. Unlike most bún, it didn’t come in a bowl with vegetables on the side. Tây Giang serves the pork beautifully arranged atop rice noodles, sprouts and herbs.

Tây Giang does offer pho, but with so many rice-based meat and seafood entrees, it’s not the focus here.

Actually, we barely scratched the surface of the numerous dishes Tây Giang offers, but those we tried were all high-quality and skillfully flavored. Well-trained servers and an attractive interior make it a restaurant worth visiting repeatedly.