One of Mount Vernon’s newest businesses, Cà Phê Sông, is a hidden gem. The Vietnamese café was created by Jenny Nguyen and her husband, Ed, just a few months ago as a way for Jenny to recapture her mother’s home cooking.
The restaurant is located on Pine Square in downtown Mount Vernon, in a tiny, hole-in-the-wall location that previously housed Blue Taco and The Upcountry. The space is mostly kitchen, with a wraparound counter so diners can watch the staff at work. A couple of small tables are available inside as well, and in nice weather, tables and benches are set up out in the square — but don’t expect seating for a large party. The café is only open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., so if you want dinner, be sure to order early.
When they first opened their doors, the menu was limited to bubble tea, bánh mì and spring rolls. Since then, they have added bún (vermicelli salad), meat platters, skewers and cocktails, with phở available once a week on Fridays.
All the food is made in-house, with local ingredients whenever possible: They use vegetables from local farms, spirits from Edison’s Terramar Brewstillery, and beer from Farmstrong Brewing Co. Because everything is made to order, be prepared to wait a little while, but you can always get yourself some boba and enjoy the smells from the kitchen.
The bánh mì ($11.50–$13.50) is a must-try. These sandwiches are massive, and arrive swathed in paper held together with a rubber band to try to contain them. With your choice of meat, these include a plethora of pickled vegetables along with Asian mayo and herbs. They’re made with bread specially baked for the café by the excellent Water Tank Bakery.
While not as light and “squishable” as traditional bánh mì bread, it’s still soft enough to mold around the fillings, and holds up well if you end up keeping half a sandwich for lunch the next day (note: this will also make your fridge smell amazing). The only downside to the specialty bread is that once it’s gone for the day, they can’t just run to the store for more. One sandwich is enough to feed most hearty appetites; for me, it easily makes two meals.
All of the protein options are marinated to give them intense flavor, then seared. Lemongrass pork and ginger tofu are both very good, but my personal favorite is probably the Thai chicken, which has a wonderful savory complexity while being very tender and juicy. The BBQ pork is a close second.
I didn’t realize until I’d ordered it the first time that it’s actually a Vietnamese pork sausage called “nem nướng,” cut into strips and seared until crispy. I loved the rich, tender texture and sweet-salty flavor mixed with char from the griddle, especially combined with pickled vegetables for contrast.
Bún is one of my favorite dishes, so I was thrilled to see it arrive on the menu ($10.50–$12.55). Arriving in an enormous bowl, the base is fresh lettuce and a generous pile of vermicelli noodles, topped by copious amounts of pickled carrot, daikon, jalapeño, fresh herbs, and a hefty serving of meat or tofu.
If you eat fish sauce, be sure to get several containers of their homemade fish sauce dressing to pour all over the bowl (if not, there are several other sauces to choose from). I love the way the sauce and other flavors work their way down to the noodles in the bottom of the bowl, making the last few bites especially delicious.
Spring rolls ($7.25–$9) are a nice lighter option, since they’re rather like a bowl of bún wrapped up in rice paper. You can get them with any of the meats or with shrimp, and they’re served with a mild peanut sauce unless you request something different. I wish they were a little heavier on the fresh herbs, and on at least one occasion, our rolls arrived split, which made them very awkward to eat, but they were still good.
I haven’t yet been able to try their phở, which is only available on Fridays. The meat version has an oxtail broth served with sliced beef, but they also offer a vegetarian version with mushrooms and tofu ($14.25).
There are no desserts per se, but the extensive drink menu offers a variety of bubble tea flavors as well as Vietnamese coffee and some fun cocktails. I’m very partial to tiger milk, with its brown sugar syrup lining, as well as taro, which is pleasantly sweet and a fun shade of purple. I’m not personally a huge fan of classic tapioca boba, but I love the popping pearls and jelly options for the drinks.
They may still be getting their business off the ground, but it’s already wonderful to have a busy new place on Pine Square, where Cà Phê Sông is doing its part to bring flavor to downtown Mount Vernon.
Dine in or order takeout at Cà Phê Sông from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at 303 Pine St. in downtown Mount Vernon. Info: caphesong.com.
