Sunflower Restaurant

Small Vietnamese restaurant in North Austin produces appealing dishes

Want to set your mouth on fire at lunch and leave the embers glowing for the 15-minute drive back to the office?

Then try the lemon grass beef, one of the regular lunch specials at Sunflower, a delightful Vietnamese restaurant in the strip mall near the Target at Research Boulevard an.... More

Small Vietnamese restaurant in North Austin produces appealing dishes

Want to set your mouth on fire at lunch and leave the embers glowing for the 15-minute drive back to the office?

Then try the lemon grass beef, one of the regular lunch specials at Sunflower, a delightful Vietnamese restaurant in the strip mall near the Target at Research Boulevard and Ohlen Road.

The beef — thin and tender in a dish that emphasized fresh green beans more than meat — was exceptionally spicy. So much so, in fact, that a sidekick who enjoys zesty fare emphasized for hours afterward how hot it had been. Having sampled a couple of forkfuls that day, and finding it spicy, but not over the top, I returned to see whether my experience matched hers.

It did. The lemon grass beef ($7.40 for the lunch special) is the type of dish in which the heat builds and builds to the point that it could be excessive for many diners. Nonetheless, it was a tasty dish and a hearty meal, too, served with a light and sweetly dressed cabbage salad, soup and a fried imperial roll (a spring roll is the other option).

For a lighter and nonzesty approach, the calamari salad ($3.70) was delicious. The uncoated squid, tossed with fresh mint leaves and cabbage salad, was wonderfully tender, with not a hint of rubbery bite.

An entrée, the combination flat noodle stir fry ($8.75) featured chicken, beef and shrimp — all moist and tender — with vegetables over wide noodles in a brown sauce.

The chicken pho ($5.50) brought an aromatic broth with noodles and a generous helping of sliced chicken breast. As with other bowls of pho, it came with the traditional sides of sprouts, sliced jalapeños and fresh basil that could be added to the bowl in small or large amounts. The vermicelli barbecue pork and shrimp ($6.75) combined slices of lightly charred pork, shrimp and sliced imperial rolls over noodles that also topped a layer of shredded lettuce, chopped mint and sprouts.

The vermicelli, pho, flat noodle and calamari dishes demonstrated that a culinary blaze isn't the only thing being served at this small, often-crowded restaurant. There are many other reasons to make a trip to this Vietnamese spot.

drice@statesman.com; 445-3859

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