Shop Girl: Phuc Loi Vietnamese Food To Go

Phuc Loi Vietnamese Treasures To Go

Strip malls. They make architects break out in hives, they are cultural shorthand for shamelessly uncultured subculture, and they are so bent on functional form that they are only prettied, albeit garishly, by nighttime's need for illuminated signs. But if you pay them a bit of attention, you can find delightful surprises: cheap manicures, affordable Halloween wigs and astonishing food.

Phuc Loi Vietnamese Food To Go is a source of the latter; it's in a strip mall on Gravois a few blocks west of Grand, along with a laundromat, a payday loan place and a mobile phone store. The restaurant's most attention-grabbing feature is a photo menu of its dishes that extends the width of the back wall and hovers over a hot buffet that can contain items as diverse as whole fried fish, fritterish patties made of tiny fish, roasted chicken legs and knobs of meat attached to cartilage and bone. There are about a dozen standard-issue to-go joint tables surrounded by the usual indestructible vinyl-covered chairs. And facing the door is a cooler case full of things so seldom seen in St. Louis that it's safe to call them treasures: rows of colorful parfait-looking plastic cups holding what is known collectively as Chè.

You can think of them as dessert soups or loose puddings made with a wide range of ingredients. Chè bà ba contains taro, and a kind of sweet potato called khoai lang bí. Chè ba màu, (meaning "three colours sweet soup") tends to include green mung beans, black-eyed peas and red azuki beans. Other varieties contain corn, tapioca, rice and seaweed (said to be very popular) as well as gem-colored jellies; the selection varies depending on who's been in the kitchen.

You'll find Chè in the cooler most days of the week, but on Sunday mornings, the counter is jammed with cellophane-wrapped take-away foods including still-warm Bánh bao (steamed buns filled with a sausage, vegetable and hard-boiled egg mixture) and three kinds of spring rolls. There are also more exotic items on offer - banana leaves wrapped around a pork and shrimp mixture, dainty dumplings with gelatinous rice skins, and flavored rice. Vegetarian options exist, but most items contain pork, shrimp or both.

The counter staff will good-naturedly take time to answer questions about ingredients, but if you want to be able to make a considered, leisurely selection, go early (9:30am) on Sunday. This is when the selection is best, but before the crowds arrive - because like all great authentic ethnic restaurants, this one is very popular with the people who come from the country whose cuisine it honors. And as with many brunch spots, this is a place people throng to right after church.

Chè $2, Bánh bao $1.50, spring rolls $3 or $3.50 for two

Phuc Loi; Tuesday-Thursday: 8am-8pm; Friday and Saturday: 8am-9pm; Sunday: 9:30am-8pm; 3723 Gravois Road #C, South St. Louis, 314.772.7742