Olaf Growald
There’s no shortage of great Vietnamese restaurants in and around the Fort Worth area. But for their newly opened restaurant, brothers Alex and Ryan Vu wanted to not only serve authentic Vietnamese cuisine but do so in an elevated setting — something not exactly common in the Fort Worth burb of North Richland Hills, where their exceptional restaurant, called V’s House, opened late last year.
Scan the menu, and you’ll find most staples of Vietnamese cuisine, including a half-dozen varieties of pho: chicken, beef, meatball, tofu, and shrimp, all of which are painstakingly, over a 24-hour period, made by hand. You’ll see fried rice dishes, too, dotted with your choice of pork, shrimp, or chicken; five variations of vermicelli; and entrees such as shaken beef, lemongrass chicken, and beef noodle soup.
But you’ll also find several nice surprises. One of the restaurant’s must-get dishes, for instance, is the banh khot. The dish is comprised of savory, bite-size pancakes whose edges have been lightly crisped and curled so they can cradle your choice of pork, veggies, or shrimp.
Curry chicken stew is another noteworthy, uncommon dish. Made with chicken roasted with potatoes and carrots in a curry stew, it’s served in a piping-hot skillet. Banh xeo makes an appearance here, too, in the form of a lightly fried crepe filled with pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts. Get it with a side of peanut sauce, your astute, attentive server may whisper to you.
Olaf Growald
Toasted crab bread
“We wanted to feature classic Vietnamese dishes but also some that people here may not be that familiar with,” says Alex.
Mostly everything is made in-house, by hand, from the chili oil, sushi sauces, and boba bubbles for the boba tea, which comes in both traditional flavors and unusual (try the brown sugar crème brulée).
The family wanted the atmosphere to reflect the high quality of the food, so they enlisted well-known Dallas restaurant designer Hatsumi Kuzuu, whose design credits include Urban Taco and FT33, to assist with the restaurant’s look and feel, resulting in a vibe that is wholeheartedly modern but tips its hat to a warm, old-world style.
While it’s a good date-night option, with its snug half-booths built for two and happening bar area, there’s plenty of room for large parties and families.
Later this year, when the weather is nice, the spacious, attractive patio will open for regular service, plus special events such as live music and crawfish boils.
“One of our goals was to make sure everyone feels at home here, whether you’re on a date or eating out with your family,” Ryan says.
V’s House has been in the works for more than two years. Drivers zooming east on State Highway 183, where the restaurant’s sign and large patio are visible, have no doubt wondered when, if ever, the place was going to open. But COVID-19, and the ripple effects it has caused throughout the restaurant industry, delayed the opening until late last year.
Olaf Growald
V’s offers 12 different types of Maki
The Vu brothers are third generation restaurateurs. For the past 13 years, their parents, Rex and Ann Vu, have run the popular Pho V Noodle House & Sushi in nearby Bedford, and they’ve also been instrumental in the development of V’s House.
Vu’s grandparents, immigrants from Vietnam who moved to Texas after the Vietnam War ended, were among the many Vietnamese expats who settled in and/or opened restaurants in Haltom City throughout the ’70s and ’80s, turning the neighborhood into a hotbed for Vietnamese cuisine. A local favorite, their spot was called Quan Vu; it opened in 1982 and thrived for several years.
“Restaurants are very much a part of our family and family culture,” says Alex, whose sister, Victoria, also works at V’s House, as a cook. “When my brother and I got out of school, we had opportunities to do something else. But maybe this is in our blood.”
