Le Cheval

Comfort food, Southeast Asian-style, hits home in Walnut Creek.

The East Bay craze for Vietnamese food has brought a wave of successful new restaurants, from Huynh in Walnut Creek, to Bui and Vanessa’s Bistro in Berkeley, to Xyclo in Oakland. Couple that with the trend of established restaurants opening sister locations on the east side of the Caldecott Tunnel, and the question isn’t why Le Cheval, the eternally popular Vietnamese restaurant in Old Oakland, opened in Walnut Creek but what took
it so long.

“We had a lot of customers from this side of the tunnel,” says general manager Christine Tran of the new Walnut Creek Le Cheval. “For a long time, those people have been asking us to open out here. Some of them work in Oakland and live out here. I have customers who eat [at Le Cheval] in Oakland at lunch and bring their families here for dinner. Now, I can get them on either end of the tunnel."
Le Cheval is an Oakland institution whose hallmarks include service so fast it’s dizzying, delicious, reasonably priced Vietnamese food, and an eclectic, cosmopolitan clientele. Tran’s mother, Tuyet Bui, now retired at 78, opened the restaurant in 1985 with her oldest son, Son Tran.

Bui named the restaurant after the year of the horse, in which Son Tran was born. The name reflects the French influence on Vietnamese cuisine and has symbolic significance for the family as well.

“In our culture, the horse is hard working, like my brother,” says Christine Tran. “When we first came to the United States, he did everything for the restaurant, from dishwasher to plumber, and took charge of all of the siblings.”

Le Cheval largely spearheaded the upscale Vietnamese dining trend, introducing the cuisine to a wide audience. Today, the restaurant enjoys a solid, nearly cultlike devotion. Full disclosure: I am a member of the cult. My mother-in-law lives just a few steps from Le Cheval in Oakland, and we dine there so often that the phrase “le cheval” was among my son’s first words.

The Walnut Creek restaurant, about a block from the bustle of Broadway Plaza, is furnished plainly but pleasantly with a few Le Cheval trademarks, including blooming orchids in the window and a painting of running horses on the wall.

The menu is composed mostly of solid standbys. This is not ultrarefined cuisine. Platters come fast and furious from the kitchen, piled high and piping hot, to be dug into in any order. It’s what Christine Tran describes as “home-cooking style,” and by the looks of the diners wolfing down their food around me, I’m not the only one who thinks of it as soul-satisfying comfort food.

The dishes that made the Oakland restaurant famous are executed with equal skill and consistency here, including the soft, rice paper–wrapped shrimp or tofu rolls stuffed with rice noodles, lettuce, and mint, served with peanut sauce spiked with a dab of sriracha chili sauce, an appetizer so popular Christine Tran estimates they make 1,500 rolls a week.

The clay pot fish is another standout. Glistening, bronze-colored pieces of snapper fillet arrive at the table in a still-bubbling sauce that is aromatic with burnt sugar, shallots, and fish sauce. The fish is so moist it almost melts into the fluffy steamed rice.

The cube beef steak, bite-sized chunks of beef tenderloin marinated with garlic and soy sauce, and stir fried until tender with bright, crisp green beans, comes with a little ramekin of an eye-watering but delicious dipping sauce of salt, cracked black pepper, and lemon juice.

More austere but no less delicious, soy sauce sole is a delicate steamed fillet in a pool of clear, fragrant broth topped with a tangle of fresh cilantro and julienned strips of ginger and green onion.

The noodle dishes are somewhat less consistent. On one visit, Singapore noodles, which come with chicken, prawns, or tofu, were silky and lightly spiced with a mild yellow curry seasoning. But, on another visit, they were dry and oily, with what seemed like more than one dish’s fair share of celery and onion filler. On another visit, the Le Cheval soft bird’s nest had a nicely balanced sauce, but the ramen-style noodles were undercooked and chewy. If rice noodles are your idea of comfort food, however, you can’t go wrong with any of the bun (pronounced boong) salads: tender rice vermicelli tucked in a bowl with crisp vegetables and topped with grilled pork, chicken, prawns, or fried imperial rolls.

Son Tran and the chef from the Oakland restaurant trained locals to staff the Walnut Creek location. I encountered many members of the waitstaff on my visits, and all were exceedingly gracious as well as fast. When I spoke with Christine Tran, she praised the Walnut Creek staff members for their work ethic, which I couldn’t help thinking was high praise indeed from a member of the Le Cheval family. Seems like everyone’s hard work is paying off at Le Cheval’s newest incarnation.

AT A GLANCE

What makes it special: The consistently flavorful, home-style Vietnamese food and the fast, no-fuss serivce. "This is not like five-star dining where you have to sit three hours for a meal," says general manager Christine Tran.

The space: A simple but pleasant dining room with a few distinctive details, such as the giant bronz-colored horse statue at the entrance.

Don't miss: The cube beef steak with green beans or the tender clay pot fish.

When to go: Weekday business lunch, weekend lunch--for a quiet break from shopping--or evenings for dinner and cocktails.

What to order: Soft tofu or prawn rolls, clay pot dishes, soy sauce sole, bun salads, and refreshing Vietnamese beer to wash it all down.

Bonus: Better acoustics and a less rowdy crowd than the Oakland location, but still a good place for large groups.

Contact: Le Cheval, 1375 North Broadway, Walnut Creek, (925) 938-2288, www.lecheval.com.

Hours: Lunch and dinner Tues.–Sun.

Price: Appetizers $7–$14, entrées $10–$15

Alcohol: Full bar