New Vietnamese Kitchen in Hempfield hits diners' sweet spot

These days, Ten Fox is working seven days a week — but it’s by her own choice.

Already the owner of a Unity salon bearing her name, she opened The Vietnamese Kitchen in Hempfield on Jan. 6.

“I’m Vietnamese, I grew up eating Vietnamese food, and I always had this crazy idea that I wanted to do a Vietnamese restaurant in Greensburg because we didn’t have anything like that around here,” she said.

Maybe it wasn’t such a crazy idea after all.

Business has been good — almost too good at times — and customer feedback has been positive, she said.

“The first couple of months were insane,” she said. “Every day, from open to close, it was insane. People would be waiting in line before the doors would open. We didn’t get a break for eating or anything else.”

Now, the pace is more manageable.

“Lunch is steady, then there’s a little bit of a lull before dinner. At first, there was no lull,” Fox said.

The restaurant offers local diners something not previously available in the area, including Vietnamese dishes such as pho and bun that have become favorites of American palates.

Pho, a beef-broth-based noodle soup served with a choice of protein, is the Kitchen’s biggest seller.

Second place probably goes to bun, Fox said — vermicelli rice noodles with fresh vegetables and a choice of protein, served with a spring roll.

“We sell out of our pork dumplings every day that we have them,” Fox said. “My mom makes the dough, rolls it out, makes the filling, hand-makes every single one. That’s why, once we sell out of them, they’re done for the day.”

Fox’s mother, Van Lieu, supplies the traditional Vietnamese recipes and shares cooking duties with Fox’s father, Dung Lieu. The Lieus are veteran area restaurateurs, formerly having owned a Chinese restaurant, The Happy Garden, behind Westmoreland Mall.

The Happy Garden is “where I learned to chop vegetables and to do just about every aspect of running a restaurant,” Fox said.

The Vietnamese Kitchen, likewise, is a true family affair.

Fox’s daughter, Ava, is a server and her two younger children, Gavin and Nathan, also help out when their schedules permit. Her husband, Jason, maintains the physical building and handles the daily cleanup.

Same, but different

Fox said Vietnamese food shares the same basic ingredients as other Asian cuisines. It differs from Chinese food in the use of sauces — while Chinese dishes tend to be cooked in sauce, Vietnamese dishes serve them on the side.

“This way of eating does not use much oil or dairy or sugar, and is often gluten-free because many of the dishes are rice-based instead of wheat-based,” Fox said. “We use a lot of rice noodles, rice papers and rice flour.”

The fresh, natural flavors are complemented by herbs and spices such as lemongrass, ginger, mint, Vietnamese mint, Saigon cinnamon, lime and Thai basil leaves.

The Kitchen also serves various appetizers, along with steamed rice and vegetarian dishes and bahn mi sandwiches, all using fresh ingredients sourced from Pittsburgh Strip District suppliers.

“We do offer some Chinese dishes for people who don’t want the Vietnamese food,” Fox said. “Everybody loves my dad’s General Tso’s Chicken, so we do sell a lot of that.”

Beverage offerings include soft drinks, Vietnamese iced coffee, regular tea, boba and bubble tea.

Fox said that, though hers is the first Vietnamese restaurant in the area, many diners come in with previous knowledge. She credits that, in part, to social media and the Food Network, along with the availability of Vietnamese food in Pittsburgh.

“People say, ‘Thank you for bringing this to Greensburg. Now I don’t have to go to Pittsburgh for pho,’ ” she said. “They say all Greensburg needs now is an Indian restaurant.”

The Lieu family moved to Pittsburgh from Vietnam in the early 1980s, when Fox was a baby, joining Dung Lieu’s sister who already was living there. They moved to Greensburg when Fox was 12.

In addition to Happy Garden, the Lieus owned restaurants in White Oak and Scottdale. Fox’s brother also owns a Vietnamese restaurant in North Carolina.

Following her graduation from Hempfield Area High School, Fox went to cosmetology school. She opened the Ten Fox Salon in 2010.

Fox had been kicking the restaurant idea around for a while before she noticed a “for rent” sign on the building that formerly housed a Pizza Hut, along Route 30 east of Greensburg.

“I called about it a year ago in January, and the rest is history,” she said.

Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays, 4 to 9 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 8 p.m. Sundays. The Vietnamese Kitchen is closed Wednesdays.

For the complete menu and more information, call 724-420-5092 or visit thevietnamesekitchengbg.com.