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You can leave your chap 6 at home as we visit La Colonial a Vietnamese styled restaurant on Rush Street in Chicago my favorite Remembrance in grammar school is people raising their hands say who’s a good listener and all I can remember is them all laughing at
Me I said today I was coming into tape at lack colonal and people said you must be joking well here we are with Joe King the sin You tab man remember the commercial come on give me give it to me give me that relief oh you want the you
Want the pain or the relief I want give me start with the pain now the relief see ran for three and A2 years I had my 15 minutes of Andy Warhol claim to fame and let me tell you as you can see now it’s over well we’re here on
Rush Street right off Oak at truly one of the great restaurants in Chicago um it’s Vietnamese food uh Vietnam was colonized by the French they adopted probably some of the better things the French left there including their style of food let’s talk about the beef dish
Here which is great it’s just walked a little bit that’s a uh that’s a bolook luck it’s a uh seared uh marinated fet Monon tenderloin which cut into cubes served over bed of Water Crest with tomato cucumber and uh it’s a very light summer salad it’s uh quite delicious uh
I mean it kind of speaks for itself a lot of greens tomatoes vegetables actually your chef quack um Works basically with the same recipes as your Chef in New York mhm yeah vetron is the executive chef in in New York and uh and he trained qua and uh pretty much
The menu with with with very few exceptions is very similar let’s take a look at these two dishes here this Chao which is a uh Vietnamese spring roll with the shrimp pork and mushrooms inside it’s um it’s surrounded by fresh lettuce mint cilantro should we make one
Let’s make one we do that the idea with this is it is okay to use your hands I’ll watch you meant to be served uh family style as we have it here on the table and uh what you do is simply take a he says double dipping is acceptable
Double dipping is way acceptable great for first date you can use your spring rolls or your fingers so you’ve got the the roll you put it roll in the lettuce take a little bit of the uh pickled carrot and this white here is pickled daon and you take a little sprig it’s
Much easier to rip just go ahead we’re we’re friends here take a little sprig of cilantro a little fresh mints and you roll now you use the sweeter sauce here the honey this is a Nook mum sauce right here it’s a uh it’s a fish fish sauce with water carrot a
Little bit of sugar um it’s a it’s a wonderful sauce and it compliments the Chao wonderfully dip and enjoy that’s the way it goes so see that’s why I go let’s talk about this it’s the shrimp on the uh shrimp on the sugar cane and I
Want to let you play with this one okay I guess same concept you take a a lettuce leap uh this is a shrimp paste on sugar cane you pull the um the shrimp first take a piece of lettuce and actually I’ve done it like this before that’s how
You do it that’s right pull the shrimp up pull the sugar can out of in yes uh take a little bit of the this is vermicelli which is a rice noodle um we also have uh the carrot pickle carrot pickle dcon cilantro and mint a sprig of mint a
Sprig of mint too if you’re a mint lover mhm I smoke a lot of cigars you know two would be good for you then and dip in the dipping sauce this is peanut peanut dipping sauce which compliments the dish right and then we have uh when you’re done with your first bite with
The sugar cane you can take the sugar cane don’t eat it because you won’t be able to that you chew the sugar cane and suck the sweetness out it’s really uh wonderful we’re back and uh for the Entre and this is the Bose this is the
Bose s it’s a uh it’s Fon it’s uh tubed and it’s served in a again it’s served in a walk with a little bit of oil this also has yams it’s string beans and it’s h prepared with a sauté spice which is a little bit like uh Curry little curry in
Sauté it’s it’s a wonderful wonderful flavor tell me about what the this dish is a it’s called kahab kah means fish in Vietnamese it’s a uh Chilean sea bass it’s served over a cellophane noodles with some uh shitake mushrooms oyster mushrooms and tomato now let’s talk about how ass sociably accessible method
Is to play with the fish well the the only uh the only socially acceptable method which is which is strictly Vietnamese as far as eating the food as a whole is to do it family style we serve the food uh all the food goes in the middle of the table we encourage
That people order different items different foods because the flavor and the sauces and the dipping sauces are all incredibly different the uh the intensity of the flavors it should be uh we discourage anyone from having three chicken dishes or three Bates because it’s really meant to be you know this is
Called the Katan Saigon it’s a whole red snapper It’s a Wonderful dish Del this is the signature dis of the restaurant weed for you so you don’t have to work with the bones but uh the sauce is a wonderful it’s a sweet sour sauce made with fish sauce and shallots and uh bit
Everything else Jo before we go and I’m going to ask you to give me a tour upstairs because it looks just like something out of a movie set upstairs want you look at the camera tell the name of the restaurant your phone number and when you’re open L Colonial we’re open uh
7even nights a week we’re open uh from 5: until 10:00 p.m. on Sundays 5: to 11:00 on Monday through Friday and 5:00 to midnight on Saturday uh we have a lounge upstairs that opens at4 to 5 daily and it’s for appetizers uh drinks we make a great martini and we’re
Written up as the uh by the Chicago socialist having the best martini list and the best uh Lounge in Chicago so that’s about it okay let’s do it thank you very much