Vietnamese - coming back, yeah!

Well, I have to admit it, I was scooped - twice. Last Tuesday, both Silver Spring Scene and Silver Spring Penguin "broke" the story about a restaurant making a comeback at the former location of My-Le (8077 Georgia Ave). I had seen that work was being done on the building, but was not aware that an Asian-Vietnamese restaurant would be in that spot.

In walking by, you definitely see some improvements being made to the main dining room - new tables, etc. In October of 2007 an unexplained fire shuttered the restaurant. Nothing happened for months and I have to say my partner and I were quite disappointed. My-Le was one of the very few places in SoCo with outdoor dining. We always felt that on a cool summer evening, their deck was fab!

Over the last few years, it appeared My-Le ownership had changed hands several times. So it was not terribly surprising that things remained dormant for a while. For those who had dined at My-Le (or Kim Than, its original name) will know it was not much for the eyes, but the food rarely disappointed. I feel confident over the last decade plus I ordered every single vegetarian and fish entree the restaurant served up. And 99% of the time, enjoyed it. One of the more frustrating things was service. When the place started cranking, the 1-2 servers could not keep up and if the deck was full - you knew you'd be waiting a while.

But all in all, My-Le was a terrific bargain. You could order an app, a couple entrees and 1-2 of those wonderful 20 oz Fischers and get out for about $40 (with tip)! According to SS Penguin, the new place, Lotus Cafe, will specialize in Vietnamese and other pan-Asian dishes. This is not far off from what My-Le had served. It certainly wasn't all Vietnamese on their menu.

Well I certainly wish the new folks at Lotus the best of luck and look forward to their doors being open and sitting on their deck with a cold beer and a plate of hot noodles. Maybe soon - let's hope.