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Anh-Dao (Formerly Vietnamese Corner, Formerly Pacific Cafe), Vietnamese with Pho on 11th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, SE Capitol Hill


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Pacific Cafe is the sort of restaurant you hope will survive, aren't sure how they survive, and wish the cooking was just a little better. The sort of place were you know a handful of reliable dishes and that's what you always order.

Located on a lonely stretch of Pennsylvania Ave, SE (at the corner of 12th Street), many Friday and Saturday evenings the dining room is mostly empty, though I have noticed an uptick in patrons. They do a pretty decent take out business, but frankly I have no idea how this place has managed to stay open...maybe they do a rip roaring lunch business.

It's a place I order out from at least once a week, the cooking is fresh, and while by no means the best Vietnamese around, the fried spring rolls are tasty, they do a passable pho and I love the grilled lemon chicken with vermicilli noddle.

However, I recently stummbled across two dishes that are now on my rotation. The Roast Duck Pho is a winner, comes with a whole roast duck leg, mushrooms, and baby bok choy. I also like the beef shank pho with thin slice of meat which is much tastier than their original beef pho.

Hillians, the next time you want a warm refreshing meal on the cheap, definitely check out the roast duck pho at Pacific Cafe.

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We love Pacific Cafe (just ordered out from there last night). It helps that we live two blocks away. :)

My wife, a creature of habit, virtually always gets the pork with vermicelli. I am less a creature of habit, but more a creature who enjoys fried and hot things. So I often get the calamari appetizer, which is served with little pepper slices (they look like jalapenos, though I'm not sure what they really are). Last night, I had a delicious curry shrimp too.

I've also wondered how they stay in business. At this point, however, it would be worth weathering losses for another year or so, since a huge customer base is about to install itself a block away at the new Jenkins Row development.

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Pacific Cafe is the sort of restaurant you hope will survive, aren't sure how they survive, and wish the cooking was just a little better.  The sort of place were you know a handful of reliable dishes and that's what you always order.

In other words, a typical Capitol Hill restaurant. tongue.gif Thanks for this post. I've always wondered about that place and the various metamorphoses it has gone through over the years. It always seems empty, and I ask myself how they can afford the rent.

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On vacation...they reopen after Labor Day...still not sure how they survive but I still love their grilled lemon chicken over noodles.

 

Ditto that thanks on the tip. I was terrified when I noticed they were closed. They absolutely have some of the best bun ga I've ever had. The only thing that bums me out is that it's literally twice as expensive as the last place I used to eat Vietnamese regularly (up in Cambridge), which was itself considered a rip-off because it wasn't one of the hole-in-the-wall places in Chinatown or JP.

Still, it's about a block and a half away and I will be back there for takeout as soon as they reopen.

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Still, it's about a block and a half away and I will be back there for takeout as soon as they reopen.

please note that my post of they are on vacation was from 2006. Someone had better check to see if they are indeed on vacation this year!

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please note that my post of they are on vacation was from 2006. Someone had better check to see if they are indeed on vacation this year!

OK, I'm an idiot. That said, the timing would be right and I'm used to some small restaurants always taking vacation the same each year...

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The owners* have re-opened on the same block (at 1123 Pennsylvania Ave., SE; they were at 1129).  The new name is Anh-Dao, and the space is apparently quite small.  The emphasis seems to be on pho.

It's flying a bit under the radar.  They opened as Anh-Dao last September.  This is the most recent thing I've seen about them.

The restaurant was also at some point called "Vietnamese Corner."

*It's the same family.  I don't know if the owners are literally the same.

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I stopped by Anh-Dao at 11:10 AM today, hoping to get something to eat, and they were not open.  The sign on the door giving the hours indicated that they should be open at 11.  There's a menu posted in the window and an awning with the restaurant name outside.  Maybe they just opened late today?  It looked completely dark and uninhabited inside, though, not as though they were going to fling the doors open momentarily.  So, I backtracked and went to Mangialardo instead.

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I stopped by Anh-Dao at 11:10 AM today, hoping to get something to eat, and they were not open.  The sign on the door giving the hours indicated that they should be open at 11.  There's a menu posted in the window and an awning with the restaurant name outside.  Maybe they just opened late today?  It looked completely dark and uninhabited inside, though, not as though they were going to fling the doors open momentarily.  So, I backtracked and went to Mangialardo instead.

Anh-Dao is indeed alive and well. They do have a carryout menu (202) 546-4641 if you ever want to call before committing.

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