Taking the Safe and Seine Route

WESTMINSTER —  Tai Buu and Paris. Go together like a horse and carriage.

If you doubt me, check it out. I’m talking about the phenomenon of the French-Vietnamese restaurants run by a grandfatherly Saigon-born chef named Tai Buu. Tai Buu Paris is a bakery-cafe; the other is a more formal place optimistically named Tai Buu Paris Deluxe. They’re a blast from the ‘50s.

I recommend trying the cafe first to get an idea of what Tai Buu is all about. Tai Buu Paris a cramped little place in the corner of a Bolsa Avenue mini-mall. As you walk in, you come face to face with a pastry case seductively stocked with fruit tarts, clafoutis, cakes and croissants.

The dining area, what there is of it, is eight or nine glass-topped tables and one framed poster of the Eiffel Tower.

The menu is divided into sections titled Vietnamese Cuisine and French Cuisine, but both sides have their share of fusion dishes, such as banh mi xiu mai, a bowl of steamed Vietnamese pork meatballs served with crusty French bread. (Note: This is not the usual sandwich-style banh mi.) Or, from the French side, a beautifully crisp roast chicken mounted on garlicky rice that seems to have been tossed with catsup.

Chicken curry (which includes chunks of carrot and potato) comes in a mild, thick gravy dominated by ginger. There’s a fairly classic beef Burgundy: tender cubes of beef braised in an appealing red wine sauce with pearl onions and mushrooms.

My favorite lunch dish from the Vietnamese side of the menu is com tam bi cha thit nuong, a plate of rice topped with barbecued pork and an egg and minced pork cake. The most exotic dish here (and it may be too fishy for some tastes) is the northern Vietnamese specialty bun rieu, a rice noodle soup enriched with coral-red crab roe.

For dessert, there are all those pastries you saw when you were coming in the door. Like all Vietnamese cafes, Tai Buu offers strong coffee sweetened with condensed milk, though on request they will reluctantly serve it black.

Tai Buu Paris is inexpensive. Vietnamese dishes are $1.95 to $4.95. French dishes are $4.55.

*

Tai Buu Paris Deluxe is a mile north of the cafe and many miles away in spirit.

This is emphatically a French restaurant in a strikingly old-fashioned style (heavy sauces and baked cheese toppings) that has been passe in big cities for decades.

The dining room also is old-fashioned--almost dowdy by ‘90s standards. These days, how often does a new restaurant choose floral-print wallpaper and brass chandeliers with tulip-shaped bulb holders? The music playing in the background will probably be Edith Piaf.

Don’t expect major surprises among the appetizers and soups--other than the prices, which are so low they could come from the Eisenhower era.

Beignet de crevettes, for instance, is a full dozen lightly battered prawns, plus a side dish brimming with a textbook garlic mayonnaise, for $5.95.

Escargots--half a dozen good snails in garlic butter--are also $5.95, and a rich creamy chicken laced with shreds of smoky ham is positively clearance priced at $1.75.

Chef Buu is fond of topping dishes with Gruyere cheese. It browns beautifully on his soupe a l’oignon, which is simply one of the best onion soups around, made with beefy stock and properly caramelized onions. A baked cheese topping also shows up on crabe farci, a crab shell stuffed with crab meat and bland bechamel sauce.

Lobster Thermidor, however visually impressive, is disappointing to eat. It’s lobster meat mixed with mushrooms, sherry and bread crumbs, stuffed back in the shell (with a Gruyere topping, naturally) and baked. This version uses way too much bread crumbs, though.

You’ll do better with the rabbit stew in red wine sauce (civet lapin), served with steamed potatoes, or canard au poivre en grains, a roast duck in a creamy sauce with whole peppercorns. Both are expertly braised and come in impressively large glass casseroles.

I didn’t much care for my New York steak with black peppercorns, nice though the meat was, because it was in effect a smothered steak, served under a heavy mushroom sauce.

This sort of French food comes straight from the ‘50s, the decade when the French left Vietnam. And it certainly has its virtues, such as low prices--and easy time travel.

Tai Buu Paris is moderately priced. Appetizers are $5.95 to $7.95. Entrees are $6.95 to $19.95.

BE THERE

Tai Buu Paris, 9039 Bolsa Ave., Westminster. (714) 895-6114. Open 7 a.m.-9 p.m. daily. Cash only.

Tai Buu Paris Deluxe, 8861 Westminster Ave., Garden Grove. (714) 903-3911. Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. All major cards.