Flavors from the other side of the globe
The rich murals and ornate sculptures that adorn the walls of Chez Thuy can make the customer feel as though they’re entering an ancient, faraway land.
I stared in awe at the array of intricate details until a server lead my friend Alice Shallcross and I to a booth. We sunk into the dark leather and realized we were about to be in for a treat at the 15-year-old restaurant.
“I have been going to Chez Thuy for years and the quality is always amazing,” said Brian Wilkins, a junior chemical bio-engineering major.
According to the restaurant’s Web site, numerous official awards have been given to the restaurant as well.
The menu looks like some sort of instruction manual; it is a three ring binder with pages and pages of numbered dishes meant for sharing. Glazed meats, spicy sauces, grilled tofu and slippery noodles are among the items listed on the page. For someone willing to eat anything, the options are wonderfully overwhelming.
“The menu has 150 items on it. The first 25 are very traditional Vietnamese and the other 125 are new creations,” said Thuy Le, owner of Chez Thuy.
The menus are long but the servers are knowledgeable, so it’s best to let them order. Our server noticed our questioning faces and instantly offered her expertise.
She shouted out three numbers – “70, 98, 99!” – in response to our request for recommendations. Relieved that our choices had been narrowed down, we closed our menus and leaned back, satisfied with the decisions we settled with.
Our appetizer arrived later than expected, but were worth the wait. The Chicken Lettuce Wraps ($9.50) involved a steaming chicken salad that we spooned inside sheets of iceberg lettuce that we topped with a spicy sauce. The final product was a mouthwatering assembly of flavors.
Already feeling full, we pushed the appetizer to the side and prayed for faster digestion. The entrées also took their time to arrive, which conveniently allowed us to prepare our stomachs for more food.
While we waited for our main dishes, servers bustled around us and kept our water glasses full. The service at Chez Thuy is professional yet distant as well as confident yet reserved. They took care of us without being overbearing, which is a refreshing change from many restaurants that try too hard to impress.
Finally, our entrées came striding out of the kitchen offering the same confidence as the service. We tried Honey Chicken with Grilled Shrimp ($16.95), a light, tropical dish involving a medley of chicken and juicy shrimp glazed with a honey sauce and served with Vietnamese coleslaw and pineapple.
The Stir-Fried Curry ($11.50 with beef or chicken, more for seafood) is a garden of vegetables mixed with tender meat, all draped in a light, coconut-flavored curry sauce. Be sure to order such a dish with white rice, and be sure to soak the rice in the sauce provided. My only complaint is there is not quite enough sauce for the rice provided.
While the food was delicious, we were not able to finish it all. In a joyful, postprandial contentment, we packed up our leftovers and shook with delight at the thought of the food waiting in the refrigerator tomorrow.
We decided to relax in the restaurant for awhile as our food settled, and they served us hot tea and fortune cookies while we sat. It was a perfect ending to a perfect meal.
Excellent food and dazzling décor are just two of the many reasons to try Chez Thuy. Take a trip to 28th and Valmont and enjoy a veritable journey of new flavors and cuisine.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Lauren Duncan at lauren.duncan@colorado.edu.
