Hai Yen in Lincoln Park

This was my first Vietnamese meal this year. It was a good one.

My parents and I went to a restaurant called Hai Yen on 2723 N Clark in the Lincoln Park area. There is also another one in the Vietnamese town on Argyle street. The Clark location of Hai Yen is in the midst of a great eatery and shopping area of Clark and is filled with shoppers and hungry people. The hustle and bustle of a busy street filled with cars and people always make me a little excited.

It was about 80 degrees outside and the sun behind some clouds as we got to the restaurant. Its front was wide open so we had to think to enter through the front where there used to be a wall or the door that was still there. We entered through the door to be safe.

An initial look at the restaurant: bar to the left, tables that seat 4 in 3 rows, dark wood, dark lighting, but with natural light beaming from outside. It was comfortable to the eyes and comfortably contemporary.

The menu featured a wide range of Vietnamese foods, all in their proper Vietnamese names. We had the honor of having the only Vietnamese speaking waitress that night. She easily stumped us on the names of the dishes, so only the numbers were read.

An appetizer of Vietnamese sausage wrapped in some kind of Hawaiian leaf (Bo La Lot - $6, pictured above) and fresh, unfried spring rolls (Goi Cuon - $4.50) were ordered. The sausage had an abundant flavor but wasn't too overwhelming. It seemed deep fried so it may not be one for the light eaters, but great for the meat lovers. We ordered spring rolls with not shrimp, but grilled beef because of my mom's allergies. She was definitely delighted to see that she IS able to get spring rolls without worrying about her allergies. It was a different pace for the spring rolls but nothing unfortunate. The grilled beef went very well with the Vietnamese vermicelli noodles and the fresh vegetables inside.

For our main dishes, we got a dish with Chilean sea bass (Ca Hap Xi Dau - $16) , chicken curry (Cari Ga - $10), and pork chops (Com Suon - $10), all done Vietnamese. Surprisingly, the Chilean sea bass was very Japanese, with soy sauce as the main flavoring and very good use of fish broth for the sauce. The sea bass was as fresh as can be in the Midwest and had a perfect amount of fat. My dad enjoyed this dish very much as he does not have a taste for much else than Japanese food. The chicken curry that my mom got was also satisfying. Similar to Thai curry, coconut milk was used to blend the flavors together. There were big cuts of chicken, taro potatoes, normal potatoes, and very sweet carrots that were cooked very well. The curry itself was not very hot, but had good flavorings with different spices which I can't even imagine what that consists of. The pork chops were a perfect order for me, as it came with a good amount of meat and great flavor. The pork chop had a great barbecue flavor to it, but thinking back, I remember there being some breading on the chop. I can't tell you how they did it, but it was delicious.

My mom is one of those people who decides her main meal after looking at the dessert menu. She always needs to end with a dessert. So she picked the Chocolate Pyramid ($6) which is a hazelnut mousse and chocolate ganache filled chocolate...in the shape of a pyramid. I'm not a dessert enthusiast, but I do have my fair share of sweets that really open my eyes, but this was not one of them. It felt premade and came out of a box. The overly sweet everything of the dessert was not a good compliment to the great dinner we just had. I had two bites and I was done.

Overall, this is a great place for a relaxed, casual dinner. The prices are good for what you get, but I think you can find better prices down Argyle street. But for the atmosphere, the location, and the satisfaction, I will have to recommend Hai Yen to others. Just look out for parking if you are out of town, as finding street parking is as probable as lightning striking down on you and public parking starts at $10. Be sure to spend that parking fee wisely and shop around this wonderful area!