Federal Experiment: Nguyen Hue

Pho-gettaboutit, there is plenty more on this menu than just noodles

By Allyson Reedy

Special to Metromix

Welcome to the Federal Experiment, where I drive down Federal – the Mecca, Tenochtitlan and Hanoi for various ethnic cuisines – in hopes of finding the best foreign food I’ve ever eaten at small, undiscovered restaurants. The more rundown the restaurant, the better my chances of eating an unforgettable meal, I figure. I’ll be looking for bars on the windows, a distinct lack of English and a paint job older than my mom. Oh and preferably Telemundo or soccer on the telly. Too picky? Not on Federal.   

I’m already sick of Mexican food. With burrito chains on every corner, Cinco de Mayo just a week behind me and warm weather calling for Margarita happy hours, I’ve had my fill. Plus, with all the devastation hitting Asia lately, I figured it was time to show the Far East some love. So I headed to the logical spot – the Far East Center on Federal, just south of Alameda.

What I found was a Vietnamese restaurant so good anyone would appreciate it.

Now there are two types of Vietnamese restaurants in the world– those where you order pho, and those where you don’t. Pho 79 is a perfect example of the former, and my recent discovery– Nguyen Hue –exemplifies the latter. I’m not saying Nguyen Hue doesn’t serve fabulous pho, but the rest of the menu is so exquisite that you should really tackle their 100+ entrees before hitting up the soups.   

Normally I’d be the first to tell you that a restaurant with more than 100 menu items is sketchier than a childless 40-year old man at a Hannah Montana concert, but Nguyen Hue is different. After randomly picking things off the menu and discovering them all to be tastier than any I had before, I’m re-thinking my 20 menu item maximum.   

Two of my favorites were the special plate with grilled shrimp, pork and beef ($8.95) and the pork hot pot ($10.95). Of course these had vastly different names on the menu, usually including far too many consonants and punctuation marks for me to pronounce without sounding like Rain Man, so I ordered by letter and number: CD8 and CS5.

The combo special plate was quite possibly the best $9 I’ve ever spent (and that includes my impulse eBay purchase of the complete set of New Kids on the Block comic books. And yes they really do have comics, including one where they team up with Richie Rich to save their and Macaulay Culkin’s careers). The beef, rib and egg roll that came with the combo plate blended sweet and hot better than a remake of Lolita starring Dakota Fanning.    

Nguyen Hue uses only high quality meat and doesn’t make me feel guilty when I’m through. Their drink menu is 100% Charro—tropical and cheap. Mai Tais and Chi Chis are $5, and they’ve got exotic fruit Bobas for the kiddies.

The décor is what you’d expect from an Asian restaurant– simple tables and chairs, photos of what I imagine to be Vietnam on the wall and CNN projecting the latest in the never ending series of who-gives-a-damn Hillary/Barack news. It’s the food that makes the damage to your car rendered by driving down pot-holed Federal worthwhile, and Nguyen Hue is well worth denting your rims.

Nguyen Hue
333 S. Federal Blvd. #125
Denver, CO 80219
303-922-5774