There are some restaurants that, when you sit down and order, they’re exactly what you expect them to be. Then there’s Ngon Vietnamese Bistro, a Frogtown restaurant that was founded on the need for creativity by Hai Truong and his wife, Jessica Ainsworth-Truong.
Hai Truong grew up in the restaurant industry, bussing tables at the Ngon Bistro location back when it was his father’s Caravelle Vietnamese restaurant. But in college he took the route of majoring in economics, minoring in art, and took a job in finance after graduation. “I just couldn’t take the cubicle life,” he says. Truong was young, with no prospective jobs lined up, but decided “it’s the right time in my life where I don’t have a whole lot of liabilities as far as children counting on me.” So he put in his notice on April Fool’s Day—yes, his boss asked if he was kidding—and jumped into exploring different hobbies.
“I got a job in a restaurant, did photography, did carpentry work,” anything that allowed him to work with his hands and be creative, says Truong. Then his aunt, who had bought the Caravelle restaurant from Truong’s dad, decided to retire and offered him the restaurant. Truong said yes.
“I [demolished] the whole place and built this. Literally built it,” he says. “Everything from the floors to putting the windows in, the bar, the tables.” Everything was designed and built by Truong and his wife, along with the help of friends, and the restaurant opened its doors in 2007.
Immediately, Truong knew what he wanted for Ngon Bistro. Ngon, meaning ”delicious” in Vietnamese, was going to exemplify the way Truong ate and cooked, which meant good food, locally sourced.
Today, he has long-standing relationships with local vendors including Thousand Hills Cattle Co., Wild Acres and local co-ops. “It’s just how I like to do business,” Truong says. “It’s very hands-on, let’s talk.” With co-ops, rather than simply placing orders for produce, he’ll ask, “What do you have a lot of that you need to get rid of?” He’ll ask for a small sample of the produce to see what he can make with it, and says, “If I can do something with it, I’ll buy as much as possible and I’ll run a special.”
As for what Truong does with the produce and meat he orders, that’s what makes people talk. A classic popular dish is pho, he says, but it’s more than traditional Vietnamese food. “It’s the combination of French-Vietnamese, but also a love of food and having fun. I do things where [customers] are like, ‘Well, that’s not really French-Vietnamese,’ and I’m like, ‘You know what? I love hot dogs. I’m making a hot dog.’”
The pho dog is one of the specials that is offered occasionally at Ngon, featuring pork from Red Table Meat Co. and duck from Wild Acres, made into a hot dog and cooked in pho broth instead of water. He tops it with traditional pho toppings such as sprouts and jalapeños, and it’s a hit.
Other creative items found on the Ngon menu are a Reuben made out of pork belly and “phostrami”—pastrami made with pho broth. Truong says they make everything they can in-house, and for items like bread, they order from local bakeries such as the New French Bakery or Franklin Street Bakery.
It’s about having fun with flavors, Truong says. Vietnamese food already has a heavy French influence, so it’s about “how do we do this in a Midwest environment and have fun with it.”
He sticks to Midwestern beer and spirits, too. Back when the restaurant opened, Ngon Bistro was the first to feature an all-Minnesota beer list. “Back then there wasn’t this craft Minnesota beer movement,” he says. “It was me calling around places and asking, ‘Hey, can we carry your stuff?’ ” Ngon was also the first to get Brau Brothers Brewing in the Twin Cities, Truong says, and when he met the brewers later, he discovered they found his call “interesting.”
“They [said], ‘Hey, there’s this Vietnamese place in Frogtown that wants to carry our beer.’ ” He admits this is how quite a few of the calls went in the beginning. In terms of distilleries, he tries to keep those local—and small. They won’t have Jameson on hand, but the bartenders can tell you what they have that’s similar. “We educate our staff,” Truong says. “The bartenders have a lot of fun; we give them the same amount of creativity [as we give our chefs].”
Creativity is the goal from start to finish at Ngon, which is what pushes the food scene in the city. “What’s awesome is the local food scene is growing so much,” Truong says. He wants it to get to the point where we’re “not thinking of it as a scene, but just what it is.”
So Truong will keep pushing limits, regardless of the expense. “Sometimes things may cost a little more,” he says, “but man, if I had lots of fun doing it, I’ll eat that.”
On the Menu
Shrimp and grits: Jumbo prawns, anise bacon, wilted frisée and freshly stone ground bone marrow corn grits.
Duck pho: Wild Acres duck pho broth with sliced duck breast, sprouts, Thai basil and jalapeño.
Pho dog: House made natural casing hot dog made with Red Table pork and including sprouts, jalapeños and a side of red cabbage slaw.
