When most folks think of Vietnamese food, their minds likely conjure up steaming bowls of nourishing pho or sweet and savory meats grilled with lemongrass. We’re always up for the surly table service at Pho 75, but our absolute favorite Vietnamese dish of all time has to be grilled beef wrapped in grape leaves.

Last weekend, we were all about satisfying obscure food cravings, so we made an expedition to Eden Center -- one of the culinary and cultural crown jewels of Northern Virginia.

If this dish sounds unfamiliar, it’s because not every Vietnamese restaurant seems to offer it. For instance, Tyler Cowen’s current Eden Center favorite, Viet Bistro, did not list this dish among its hundred-something items.

Fortunately, we stumbled upon Huong Viet, which was good enough to garner a listing in Washingtonian magazine’s annual “100 Very Best” restaurants list.

This dish is listed on their menu as “Beef in grape leaves with rice vermicelli”, or “#87," if that’s too much to utter when ordering. One of the great things about Vietnamese cuisine is the heaping tangle of fresh herbs that often complements each dish. What appears to be akin to a side salad, is, in fact, a sort of fixin’s bar on the side.

Huong Viet’s grape leaves were accompanied by fresh cilantro and mint, cucumber slices, shredded and lightly pickled carrot, and lettuce wraps. The eight or so grape leaves were loosely wrapped, topped with sauteed scallions, and nestled on a bed of densely packed squares of vermicelli. And while this dish is normally accompanied by nuoc cham, the citrusy fish sauce that serves as an all-purpose Vietnamese condiment, Huong Viet provided a nuoc cham and peanut sauce blend as a variation.

The grape leaves themselves were small, juicy cylinders of ground beef loosely wrapped in grape leaves and then grilled, not entirely dissimilar to the more widely known Greek dolmades. We attempted to incorporate one grape leaf along with all of the aforementioned elements into each lettuce wrap.

Though we appreciated that the squares of vermicelli were easy to manipulate, that was Huong Viet’s only concession to ease of use. The lettuce leaves simply did not contain enough surface area to accommodate our piggish desire to experience all of the myriad flavors in each and every wrap. And though we’re usually big fans of overusing peanut sauce, we would have preferred it if the nuoc cham were performing solo.

While Huong Viet’s grape leaves were a bit too home style for our taste, Four Sisters, another perennial Washingtonian favorite, offers a much more elegant version of this dish. Listed as “Grilled beef wrapped in grape leaves”, or “#113,” Four Sisters’ rendition is easily the finest we’ve ever had.

The six grape leaves were wrapped tightly and grilled to the point where the leaves had a snappy texture, not unlike a sausage casing. The juicy ground beef interior was fragrant with lemongrass and even had a sprinkling of ground peanuts mixed in with the beef for an additional element of taste and texture.

The fixin’s salad accompaniment included sweet basil instead of cilantro, shredded cucumber as opposed to the unwieldy slices at Huong Viet, and the pickled shredded slaw of carrots and turnip had a bit more of a vinegary bite. And their potent nuoc cham was first rate.

But Four Sisters’ main innovation is to offer a side of several sheets of steamed rice paper, instead of lettuce, for DIY wrapping. Each sheet of rice paper can be a bit difficult to manipulate, but it is the perfect medium for assembling all the elements in this meal into one attractive and manageable bundle. And the very stickiness that seemed to thwart us in the beginning actually aided us in the end by creating an airtight seal that held everything together-- even during repeat nuoc cham dipping.

Huong Viet
6785 Wilson Blvd.
Falls Church
(703) 538-7110

Four Sisters
6769 Wilson Blvd.
Falls Church
(703) 538-6717