At El Meson, one of my neighborhood favorites, what the paella marinera lacked in subtlety it made up for in quantity. There was none of the crabmeat or claws promised by the menu, but very generous quantities of shrimp, squid, big chunks of fish, a few scallops, and green lip mussels from New Zealand—plus peas, pimentos and green olives. It’s billed as serving two to four people, but if the price—$60—is a concern, you might skip the paella and share an appetizer and an order of the arroz con mariscos ($15.95), a simpler dish of aromatic saffron rice and seafood, albeit in smaller quantities; alternatively, go for the casarola de mariscos ($21.95), a saffron-flavored seafood stew. You can also save on beverages by going Sunday through Thursdays, when all wines by the bottle are half-price.
Admittedly, it might have been a mistake to try the paella at Conga on a Monday night. At 8 p.m. we were the only customers in the dining room and were served, very intermittently, by the bartender. Our paella marinera ($50 for two) contained abundant quantities of seafood: a split lobster tail, clams, mussels, crab legs, scallops, shrimp, squid and fish in a pungent bed of saffron rice. This version got a few bonus points for its slightly crisped bottom (known as socarrat in Valencian dialect) which offset the points deducted for the frozen carrots and peas. Overall, the paella stacked up pretty well against the competition, the dining experience less so—but I would gladly return on a weekend, or on a Thursday when Michael Hauser and his flamenco group perform. (And as with El Meson, the upside of early-in-the-week dining is half-price wines: Mondays through Wednesdays on alternating weeks.)
I haven’t tried La Bodega’s do-it-yourself paella for two or more, but I like the concept: you start with seasoned rice ($8 per person), then add the ingredients of your choice: $4 for shrimp, $3 for clams, $2 for eggplant or artichokes, etc. The smaller portion of paella on their tapas menu is pretty basic, but tastes like the genuine article—and tapas, like dim sum, are easy to share. And there’s the wine deal: selected bottles of wine for half-price on Mondays and Tuesdays, and a complimentary bottle of wine with two dinner orders of $15 or more on Sundays and Thursdays.
Vietnamese cuisine is a treasure trove of showpiece dishes made for sharing, but several deserve special mention. Bò 7 Món, the seven-course beef dinner, is traditionally prepared for weddings and other special occasions, but at Hoa Bien and Mai Village, both on University Avenue in St. Paul, you can order it any day of the week—Hoa Bien will even serve it for one ($16.95 per person), but the presentation is more elaborate for a group order.
First up is a salad of slivered beef, radish and carrot marinated in a pungent fermented fish sauce. The next three courses arrive together: savory steamed meatballs of chopped beef, mushrooms, and spices accompanied by crunchy shrimp crackers; grilled fingers of seasoned ground beef sprinkled with chopped peanuts; and similar morsels of chopped beef wrapped in a peppery la-lot leaf.
The next course consists of a platter piled high with lettuce, marinated vegetables, rice noodles and assorted Asian herbs; a stack of round rice paper sheets; and a bowl of warm water. The fun and the challenge of eating bò 7 món is assembling this unwieldy group of ingredients into something resembling a spring roll. First you dip the rice paper in water very quickly (wait too long and it falls apart), then assemble lettuce, herbs, noodles, meat and veggies, roll them up into a tight bundle, and dip it into a small bowl of fish sauce. On your first few tries the rice paper is likely to tear and the contents fall all over your plate; but with practice, your results will improve. You’ll get that additional practice with the next two courses: bo nhung dam, thin slices of raw beef you cook yourself at the table in a vinegar broth; and bo nuong vi, slices of beef cooked on a griddle. The final course is chao bo, a simple rice soup with minced beef. All in all, the amount of beef in these dishes is a lot less than you might consume in a steak dinner, but combined with everything else, it’s a very substantial meal.
Que Nha, one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants, doesn’t offer bò 7 món, but it does serve many of the individual courses, including the bo nhung dam and bo nuong vi as stand-alone dishes ($15.95 for two; $29.95 for four, all with rice paper, and a similar platter of fresh herbs and marinated vegetables). For more variety, I would recommend the ta pin lu nuong vi or ta pin lu nhung dam ($15.95/$29.95). Both dishes start with a platter of raw shrimp, squid, fish, and thinly sliced beef that you cook yourself, either in butter on an iron griddle (nuong vi) or in a boiling vinegar broth (nhung dam) in a tabletop hotpot before rolling and dipping. One other dish on the menu, also frequently found at other Vietnamese restaurants: lau thap cam, a large hotpot of broth, served with egg noodles, raw shrimp, fish, mussels and thinly sliced beef that you cook yourself ($29.95; serves four or more).
Yummy, 3450 Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612-870-8000
Babalu, 800 Washington Ave. N., Minneapolis, 612-746-3158, www.babalu.us
El Meson, 3450 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612-822-8062, http://elmesonbistro.com/
Conga Latin Bistro, 501 E. Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, 612-331-3360, www.congabistro.com
La Bodega, 3005 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612-823-2661
Hoa Bien Vietnamese Restaurant, 1105 University Ave. W., St. Paul, 651-647-1011
Mai Village, 394 University Ave. W., St. Paul, 651-290-2585
Que Nha Restaurant, 849 University Ave. W., St. Paul, 651-290-8552