Sapa Bar and Grill

Apologies in advance for the bad camera-phone photos. I should have taken my real camera, and certainly will next time.

Last night my husband and I walked 2 blocks to a new Asian restaurant called Sapa Bar and Grill. The interior was quietly elegant, with Chihuly-esque light fixtures.

The outside courtyard has three ancient Vietnamese houses that were brought here and rebuilt piece by piece. They’re at least 100 years old, and possibly as old as 200. The original food-coloring finish has been replaced with a more weather-resistant finish for our climate. They’re not currently serving meals in the buildings, but they plan to do so next spring.

The carvings are lovely, especially in the main (center) building. Even the stone foundations for the stilts are hand carved.

And the food? Delicious! It was obvious that the ingredients were fresh and of good quality. The presentation was lovely. We started off with a crab and shrimp rolls as an appetizer. I had curry with shrimp, while my husband had a seafood dish that I think was called “Baked Dynamite”, in a sweet garlic sauce. Both were excellent. For dessert, we had a light raspberry mousse that went down easily, even though we were already stuffed. We didn’t have any sushi, but their sushi chef is from Los Angeles, and (the owner?) told us he was very good. The sushi bar did look inviting, so we’ll have to try that next time.

It’s obvious that a lot of money and effort went into opening this restaurant, so I hope they’ll be able to make a go of it. We’ll definitely be going back.