Post-Pho Vietnamese

The Monkey Bridge

1723 N.W. Market St.

297-6048

http://themonkeybridge.com

By Patricia Devine and Jim Anderson

Located in the spot formerly occupied by Stimac's Pharmacy, the Monkey Bridge brings "post-pho" Vietnamese food to Ballard. Modern dark wood furnishings, a corner fountain, bamboo accents and Vietnam-themed artwork add an Asian flavor to the space. Deep purple walls and rich red colored light fixtures attempt to coz-i-fy the former medication dispensary. This de-pharmacization is not an easy task, with the floor-to-ceiling plate glass windows fronting Market Street more suited for, well - a pharmacy.

On bright days, customers wear sunglasses inside, as there are no window shades in the west-facing structure. The eyeball-high sun almost audibly sears retinas through out the room, calling out for a therapeutic intervention of a simple sun shading apparatus.

The warm and outgoing staff moves efficiently, taking drink orders and delivering to our table a little plate of chips, Vietnamese style. These are shrimp chips: crispy and light, they're embraced by one of us while the other continues a life-long struggle to conceptually square the combination of fish flavor with salty and crunchy chippage.

The stylish menu provides background information about the new restaurant, noting the restaurant name's nod to the posture of people crossing small wooden footbridges in Vietnam. As we order, we're cheerfully directed to please use the menu item numbers when ordering. It feels slightly incongruous, as though we're in a food court.

Peppery chicken congee (chicken soup with wontons) comes with the entrees and helps stave off post-fish chip hunger. This version is dense, and looks pretty as a picture with the flecks of spice floating still upon the thick base. Shrimp Salad Rolls ($3.95) come next, and while we've never met a spring roll we didn't like, these rolls come close, with the extremely sweet accompanying plum sauce.

Grilled Shrimp Toasts ($6.50) surprise us, not looking like anything we could have imagined. Described on the menu as "Grilled baguette slices topped with shrimp and shredded sweet potato," this dish puzzles us as we attempt to deconstruct it to assess its blueprint. Rather than a baguette topped with a little shrimp and potato, it appears that long bottom piece of baguette, potato sticks and whole shrimp have been battered and deep-fried together. The resulting pile is uniformly bronzed, with the large baguette base serving as an oil-absorbing agent, leaving us with the sensation similar to attempting to eat a moist bowling trophy.

Garnishes on this dish (as on others) are bountiful and fresh, in the tradition of Vietnamese restaurants. We're unsure how to incorporate fresh cilantro and grated carrots into the shrimp/bread/potato unit, and finally just bounce a few of the flavorful, grated and vinegar-kissed carrot shards off the top of the unit and call it a day.

The Monkey Bridge House Special ($9.50) features delicate and fragrant rice noodles, boldly gingered to provide a muscular foundation for the combination of shrimp, onion, egg rolls and grilled pork. The rice, with its robust melange of cucumber, bean sprout, mint and previously touted carrots, towers over the meat, fish and lime sauce components.

A popular item in modern Vietnamese restaurants is the crepe, stuffed with vegetables, sprouts, and served with large pieces of lettuce for making tableside hand rolls. The Monkey Bridge version (Coconut Curry Crepe, $9.50) offers a generous portion - the slightly crunchy egg exterior glistening in the sun-blasts coming in the front window, coated liberally with the oil of the grill. Large sprigs of fresh basil create a montage of greenery, piled atop soft and sagging lettuce. The subtle curry and coconut flavor blends with bacon bits in the shell, moving our focus away from the sad and drooping lettuce leaves.

Traditional Vietnamese baguette sandwiches are popular, and look tempting from afar as we discretely eyeball our neighbors dinner items. The restaurant already has a following in the few months it's been open, with neighborhood regulars and children settling for sun-drenched dining. Solo diners are welcome. Quiet conversations can be had in this peaceful atmosphere, and the comfortable bar provides spatial balance to the tables in the front of the room.

Monkey Bridge spans the gap between the old Ballard symbolized by the departed Stimac's, and the towering new neighborhood surrounding the restaurant. Was it really 20 years ago that "The Recovery Room" sat across the street adjacent to Ballard Hospital, providing what must have been one of the only hospital-based smoke-and-drink cocktail lounges around? This new spot's prime location, value pricing, stylish digs, and friendly environment position it well to accommodate the new Ballard pioneers.

Tidbits: The grilled sandwiches and salads at the Dray, the new tavern in the 65th Street Gulch, are calling our names; and we're waiting to see what Harvey's Tavern on Leary way has been turned into. Meanwhile, be sure to try the pizza at the Ballard Farmer's Market on Sundays. Veraci's traveling wood-fired oven is back! Know anything we should know? Tell the Ballard Food Police at ballardfoodpolice@gmail.com.