Quang (Minneapolis, MN)

Quang
2719 Nicollet Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55408
(612) 870-4739

While we were in Minneapolis, our friends took us out to dinner. We planned to go the Global Market, which is an ethnic food court of sorts in their old Sears Tower building.



Cool, huh? The Sears Tower is mostly occupied by some sort of medical facility, but the Global Market is pretty happening supposedly.



We didn't get to find out firsthand because we arrived just after it closed for the day. It was 6pm on a Sunday. But, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise since our friends' second choice was Quang, a Vietnamese restaurant on Eat Street. (It's not really named Eat Street, just called that due to the plethora of yummy restaurants there.) I could have spent an entire week on Eat Street!



Regular readers of this blog know that we are serious Vietnamese food fans, so we were psyched to try Quang. In addition to Team Oster (with monkeys Satchel, 10, and Jiro, 8), we had Mark, Suzanne, and their two monkeys (Noah, 7, and Amelie, 5).

Quang was bustling, and was way bigger than the Vietnamese places in Memphis. They had many long tables and we were seated at an 8 top right away. We studied the menu, everyone but Jiro, that is. He typically eats chicken wings and bubble tea (if they have it) at Vietnamese restaurants and wastes no time looking for something else. Satchel, however, likes to try new things and very carefully started reading through the soups.

I zoned in on the bhan mi sandwiches. Typically there isn't such a selection.



Suzanne went ahead and got a few appetizers for everyone to share and we ordered drinks while everyone tried to decide. We eventually got our order in and the food came out in spurts, I guess whenever something was ready. Mark said it wasn't typically like that, but he also said he didn't typically have such a large group.

One of the first things to arrive was the yam and shrimp fritters. They were super tasty. I've never seen them on a Memphis menu.



The spring rolls were pretty standard, but delicious.



Mark and Suzanne's kids ate spring rolls and meatballs for their dinner. It was super cute watching their different methods for eating the meatballs, which came on a skewer. Amelie sort of ate around each ball while it was still skewered, and Noah took the balls off one by one, pierced them with a chopstick, and ate each one lollipop style. Since the kids were young and barely knew me, I opted not to get in their faces with my camera while they ate.

Jiro was very pleased with his chicken wings. They were almost double fried or something. They were very big and juicy with just enough crunch. They were served with the sweet and spicy chili sauce, but Jiro didn't do any dipping.



It was funny, when I ordered the chicken wings, the waiter stopped mid order to run to the kitchen and tell them to cook them since they take 15 minutes. I thought that was cute. He was a very good waiter, but we did have to ask for Jiro's bubble tea halfway through the meal.

Satchel ended up with a great bowl of soup. He ordered it without any "green things" so it was just broth, meat and noodles. He was thrilled.



(If you look closely, you can see Amelie with a mouth full of noodles! She and Noah got their food first and were pretty much done when the rest of us started eating.)

Warren got his usual pork noodle bowl. The pork was grilled, and he loved it.



Sadly, when I tried to order a bhan mi, I was informed that they were out of bhan mi. So, I went with a noodle bowl with sugarcane shrimp. It was delicious.



(The shrimp are buried under the veggies somewhere.)

I never actually looked at the prices on the menu, nor did I see the check since Mark graciously treated us, but I think the restaurant is moderately priced and the food is certainly worth every penny.

On the way out, I visited the ladies room, which did have a changing table, and I noticed this newspaper clipping on the wall:



We all left very full and happy. If you are a fan of Vietnamese food, Quang is a must should you ever make your way to Minneapolis.



(Thanks to Satchel for taking our picture. I broke my promise to Photoshop him in.)