01/16/17
Crispy Spring Rolls with shrimp, pork, and Asian mushrooms was part of my pre-game meal recently at Le Colonial in Chicago. It's part of a chain (other locations in SF and NY), which isn't my usual cup of tea, but I like this place nonetheless. It's not your typical hole in the wall Vietnamese joint where you go with your homies and slurp down some pho and get out of there with less than ten bucks. It's an elegant French Vietnamese place with great ambience more suited for a date night to take your significant other and has prices to match (compared to your typical Vietnamese restaurant). Not sure of the dress code, but of course, I went in there with my standard Jordan gear and they didn't bat an eye. The spring rolls were nice and crispy, the filling was tasty, and there was enough meat that you didn't feel like it was a vegetarian spring roll. The pho is not going to blow you away with memories of a trip to Saigon, but it has nice flavor and the ingredients are super fresh. The rest of the menu is really interesting with non-traditional Vietnamese dishes such as tuna tartare and monkfish.