I was sitting street-side in Ho Chi Minh City, on a red plastic stool with motorbikes flying past mere inches from the curb, when I fell in love with Vietnamese food and culture. The unique flavors and culinary experiences sank their hooks into me fast. I was seated at a Bia hơi joint, famous for serving local draft beer that was made daily, while I picked at the bones of a fried sparrow-like bird and shoveled heaps of rice and chicken into my mouth. It was an experience that altered my perspective on food and travel.
Tampa is a long way from HCMC, formerly Saigon. But one Vietnamese American chef has masterfully crafted a Vietnamese and French menu for food-loving Floridians. Vietnamese cuisine has a long history, one that was altered and infused with French classical cooking and ingredients during the days of France’s colonization of Indochina. Items so ubiquitous in Vietnamese restaurants in the United States, like bahn mi, feature France’s culinary influence prominently, through its incorporation of pâté and a baguette.
Chef BT Nguyen is the owner of Restaurant BT, Bistro BT, and BT To Go. At Restaurant BT, Chef Nguyen features her classical training in dishes like coq au vin—a free-range Amish chicken breast in red Burgundy sauce with bacon, shiitake mushrooms, Vidalia onion, and plum tomato. It’s a far departure from the street food I came to love as a backpacker hustling through the streets of District 1 in HCMC, but it’s a delicious education in more high-end cooking, and it’s one I’m eager to learn. I have fond memories of late nights, sitting street-side with friends and rounds of Saigon beers, picking snails from their shells with tiny toothpicks. Restaurant BT’s escargots and pâte feuilletée starter takes that popular Vietnamese street food snack and elevates it to dreamlike quality with garlic, thyme, sherry, and a puff pastry dome.
BT Nguyen immigrated to the United States as a refugee following the fall of Saigon. After a career in the fashion industry, she transitioned to cooking, and she had the opportunity to work, consult, and learn in San Francisco, New York, and Spain. Her training, work, and travels around the world are a clear influence on her menu items. Restaurant BT’s chipirones rellenos are a Vietnamese spin on a Mexican classic: tree ear mushrooms, glass noodles, shrimp, and pork are packed inside baby squid and served with eggplant and coconut-infused black rice.
Though the menu incorporates ingredients and dishes from a global palate, Chef Nguyen makes it a purpose to support local, independent farmers, fishermen, and food producers from Florida. Key West King Prawns feature in the Thai classic tom yum soup and in the bouillabaisse at Restaurant BT. Chef Nguyen follows the motto “Eat Global, Think Local,” and the proof is in the pudding.
If you seek a similar baptism by fire in your introduction to Vietnamese cooking, it doesn’t require 20 hours of flights to Southeast Asia. Chef Nguyen will take you on a culinary journey from the close comfort of your own neighborhood.
Visit Restaurant BT at 2507 S. MacDill Ave., Tampa
