By Ricky Ly of TastyChomps.com on Jul 06, 2016 09:18 am
Firstly, in full disclosure, the three young men who started Viet-Nomz are old friends of mine from college. But even if I did not know these three foolish friends who decided to take on the food industry, I would wholeheartedly feel the same about Viet-Nomz.
Phillip Nguyen, Chris Chen, and Mike Cho began this journey just a few years ago when they started to brainstorm about how to bring their collective love for Vietnamese food together. Phillip, who is of Vietnamese descent, traveled around the world and America, most notably in the Vietnamese enclaves of Southern California as well as the motherland in the streets of Saigon in south Vietnam, to taste and try dishes to bring back to their project in Orlando. With this inspiration, the three friends, each with their own years of experience in the restaurant industry, opened up Viet-Nomz in late June and has hit the ground running ever since.
The space is quite hip, with natural wood ambiance. Order at the counter and your dishes will be brought to you. I visited on multiple occasions and enjoyed everything I had, from the plump, fried pork egg rolls to the grilled beef banh mi sandwiches drizzled with spicy “nom nom” sauce, to the delicately nuanced and flavorful bowls of pho, the staple of Vietnamese restaurants every where. In some ways, this is the Vietnamese version of a ramen-shop, with piping hot bowls of pho beef noodle soup instead of ramen.
There are some updates to the Vietnamese menu here, brought on by the founder’s own upbringings. Chris Chen, who is of Taiwanese descent, brought some of the doughy, steamed white buns that make the famous gua baos in Taiwanese street foods, and married them with Vietnamese banh mi ingredients like pickled daikon and carrots and grilled pork. There are also banh mi tacos on the menu, something that was a favorite here.
Everything is made to order here, and you can watch as they assemble and grill the dishes for the rice bowls or noodle bowls, and pour soups from the huge vats of pho beef noodle soup that have been simmering for hours and hours that day. For vegetarians, do try their vegetarian pho, one of the most flavorful renditions I’ve ever tried, made through a special combination of mushrooms and vegetables that just speaks volumes of “umami”.
Instead of Vietnamese coffee made by the drip cannisters, the coffee here is made via an espresso machine with a unique house blend of coffee beans. Must try.
The only complaint is the heat from the grills and soup pots that emanates from the open kitchen area – it can get quite uncomfortable, but some say it does bring memories of the hot summers of Vietnam. I hear the heat issues will be remedied soon.
Located just outside of Full Sail on Goldenrod and University, they plan on opening late nights on the weekend in the future for the university crowd.
Overall, I do recommend nomming down on Viet-Nomz soon, and bring a friend.
Viet-Nomz Vietnamese Pho & Street Fare
7581 University Blvd, Winter Park, FL 32792
Corner of University Blvd & Goldenrod Rd
(Across from Winn-Dixie/Tijuana Flats)
Phone: +1 407-636-6069
http://vietnomzfl.com/
HOURS
Sunday – Thursday
11:00 AM — 10:00 PM
Friday & Saturday
11:00 AM — 3:00 AM
Grilled Pork BaoFried egg rollsGrilled beef rice bowl with fried eggHerbs and veggie stationBanh mi tacosBanh mi topped with egg
Chris Chen and Phillip NguyenPho beef noodle soupVietnamese iced coffee
On June 10th 2016, the Sofrito community celebrated their one year anniversary. Sofrito Latin Cafe is a Latin restaurant opened by Maria and Carlos. They offer a communal dining experience and serves dishes from all over Latin America.
Their goal is to make this restaurant a community space as they desire guests to come, relax and feel that they are at home. This is just what we did as everyone was very welcoming and joyful; our waiter was the best and Maria, herself, walked around to greet all of her guests to ensure we all had a wonderful time.
Along with tasty foods, Sofrito offers natural juices (orange, guava, passion fruit, mango, and sour-sop) and Latin canned sodas as well as water and milk. We tried the guava and passion fruit juices. Both were great; the passion fruit is a tart juice and guava is sweeter, but it is not overpoweringly sweet.
In the back, we have the fried corn-flour Colombian Empanada filled with beef, potatoes, and spices. In the front, there is a Cheese Mini Tequeño and two Venezuelan Empanadas. The Cheese Mini Tequeños are baked pastry dough surrounding cheese; they are chewy, savory, and delicious.
The Venezuelan Empanada are slightly fried and filled with shredded chicken or beef. Both the Colombian Empanada and Venezuelan Empanadas are nice to try, but we prefer the Venezuelan as the sweet corn-flour added a great touch to the empanada along with the moist, sweet, and tender meat.
The Cachapa is a traditional Venezuelan sweet corn pancake filled with Queso de Mano (Artisan Handmade white soft cheese) and topped with cream. (Add shredded beef or roasted pork for an extra $3). This is one of my favorites because of all the cheese. The cheese has a similar texture and taste to mozzarella.
The Patacon Venezuelan sandwich consists of shredded beef or pork, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and a homemade cilantro-garlic sauce kept together by two fried green plantains. The fried green plantains have a good texture and holds the content in well. The shredded beef has delicious flavors, but I wish it was more tender.
Cuban Sandwiches are known by many and can be found at a number of places in Florida. Sofrito makes their Cuban sandwiches with ham, house-made roasted pork, Swiss cheese, house-made pickles, and mustard in Cuban bread before being pressed. This specific one did not make my list of favorite Cuban sandwiches. The bread is a bit tough and dry for each bite. Also, the contents were a bit too salty for my preferences.
The Nutella Empanada is a fried pastry stuffed with Nutella and dusted with powdered sugar. It smells even better than it looks and it looks beautiful. I am sure it tastes just as great! Unfortunately, we did not try it due to allergies.
The Coconut Flan is an egg custard with subtle hints of coconut. This has to be my favorite item on the menu (out of the items we tried) because desserts are the best and this was just heavenly with the texture at the consistency I like my flan to be at. Would I go back for more of this Coconut Flan? Absolutely! I am drooling just thinking about it now.
Fun Facts about Sofrito Latin Cafe:
Maria’s and Carlos’ Favorite Entrees: Roasted Pork and Rotisserie Chicken
Most Popular Plates: Cuban sandwich, Tripleta Sandwich, and Cheese Tequeños
