Chris Thach had gotten out of the restaurant business.

In 2005, after the birth of her third child, she sold New Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant in Town & Country Shopping Place.

But she’s back. And now her young daughter Kelly is writing the specials on the board inside the front door of the new place at 1639 N. Ironwood Drive, South Bend.

It’s called Cre-Asian Vietnamese Restaurant, a play on the word “creative.” And she’s making her Vietnamese food that many loved.

She opened New Saigon in 2001 on Russ Avenue in Mishawaka. (After she moved farther west down McKinley to the shopping plaza, Khun Daeng Thai Restaurant opened there.)

The Town & Country location felt a bit elegant and the food was very good. But in 2005, Thach was ready to be done with the restaurant business.

She had a hair and nail salon, but wanted to cook.

“I love it. Cooking is where my passion is,” she said.

The restaurant business is harder than operating a salon, but she is thrilled to be cooking again. Her family is helping. Her mother Lien Nguyen is in the kitchen and her husband and children are sometimes there.

The menu features a lot of soup and noodle dishes, but also has nice selection of entrees and appetizers.

Pho (pronounced “fah”) is available a number of ways. Last week, when I was fighting off a head cold, the waitress recommended chicken pho. I complied. The big bowl of noodles and meat in a great broth got the addition of lime juice, bamboo shoots and Thai basil. And then a bunch of sriracha and another chile pepper sauce.

The broths are rich and full-flavored. Thach said she simmers the bones and liquid at least 24 hours. The beef broth also has the fullness that comes with time and care.

In addition, Thach makes rich stocks that she uses in stir-fries.

Vietnamese food has less curry and coconut milk than Thai food, less oil than Chinese. It uses some of the same herbs and condiments, including basil, cilantro and fish sauce. The flavors tend to be clean and clear and that’s particularly the case in Thach’s cooking.

“I cook with all the love. It makes a big difference,” she said.

I haven’t done enough digging into Cre-Asian’s menu, but I’ve liked what I’ve had. Crispy noodles over shrimp, chicken, pork, beef, bean sprouts and onion ($11.95) shows how a good stock and ingredients can sing.

The Vietnamese crepe ($6.95) is full of fresh vegetables in a batter made with mung beans and coconut milk. It’s big and messy to eat, but is a good dish.

Boba tea, also known as bubble tea, is on the menu. A fruit smoothie gets a dose of big, black tapioca and a straw big enough to handle them. I like the taro or mango versions.

I want to go back and try the clay pot dishes, and the sandwich, which isn’t called bahn mi, but looks like one since it’s meat served with cucumber, pickled carrots and daikon radish on a French roll.

Thach said she may start offering breakfast soon. Whether she does, her restaurant is one of a growing number of ethnic places that are appearing near Notre Dame. Elia’s moved from Roseland to S.R. 23. J.W. Chen’s Asian Cuisine, where I had an amazing meal a couple weeks ago, is still doing well. Now Cre-Asian is offering good food there too.



If You Go

What: Cre-Asian Vietnamese Restaurant

Where: 1639 N. Ironwood Drive, South Bend

Fare: Vietnamese

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 11 to 10 Friday and Saturday

Details: No smoking, handicapped accessible, credit cards accepted but not American Express

Phone: 574-247-3000



Quick Bites

• IHOP will offer free pancakes Feb. 28 to benefit Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals program. Donations made at the Dunlap location will benefit local children. Each guest gets a free short stack of pancakes between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. that Thursday. I’ve never been able to figure out why IHOP does this after Lent starts. This Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday, the day on which many indulge in sweets before Ash Wednesday.

• El Real Taco, 23677 U.S. 33, Elkhart is offering dine-in or carry-out Mexican food, primarily tacos, burritos and quesadillas. Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday. Phone: 574-875-0245

• Michiana Beer Nuts will celebrate its third anniversary with a great event on March 8. Beer blogger Eric Strader will be joined by folks from Greenbush Brewing in Sawyer, Mich., at Constant Spring, 219 S. Main St., Goshen. The brewery will bring some special brews to Goshen for the event.

• Everence, a Goshen-based financial company with ties to the Mennonite church, praised The Hershey Co. for its Bliss chocolates. Everence’s Praxis Mutual Funds focuses on social responsibility and praised Hershey for getting a certification that shows that cocoa for Bliss is grown without child labor.

• Elkhart Environmental Center will have a program at 6 p.m. March 8 called “Eat Green, Save Green.” Krista Bailey, director of Indiana University South Bend’s Center for a Sustainable Future will talk about how to get locally grown, organic foods on a budget. Information: 574-293-5070

Marshall V. King is news/multimedia editor and food columnist for The Elkhart Truth/eTruth.com. You can reach him at 574-296-5805, mking@etruth.com, on Twitter @hungrymarshall or via www.facebook.com/diningalaking.

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