2 Inexpensive Restaurants Offer Tasty Vietnam Fare, Barbecue

Readers occasionally clamor to be told of “really good but really cheap restaurants.” It would be nice to be able to oblige often, but that is in the realm of wishful thinking. Although there are many mediocre expensive joints, exceptional inexpensive ones have become about as rare as neckties at the beach.

But you can find decent, inexpensive food if you look for it. Two North County restaurants of extremely relaxed mood and style offer hearty meals that won’t substantially lighten slim wallets.

The Lily, housed in a spacious storefront in downtown Encinitas, offers a menu of only 117 items, which is rather abbreviated by Vietnamese restaurant standards. With the exception of soups, however--some Vietnamese soup lists run to 50 or more offerings--this menu hits all the high spots while including much standard fare.

In terms of style--well, the Lily hasn’t much. The room is bright and decorated with a few prints of flowers, and that’s about it. The servers wear T-shirts and set their own pace (the guest who suggested a visit to the Lily said, “I warned you about the service”), and diners may find it necessary to request such luxuries as the serving spoons necessary to share dishes.

Getting Down to Business

The menu starts rather tentatively--in fact, it seems to hold its breath for a long moment before getting down to business--with an appetizer list that seems aimed at Occidental familiarity with Chinese, rather than Vietnamese, tidbits. The fried won ton, which are simply crisp pastry shells enclosing minuscule amounts of meat filling, and the batter-coated fried shrimp both reflect this.

But the list also offers several types of Vietnamese egg rolls and spring rolls, of which a particularly nice variety is the crepe ( banh xeo ). A cross between an omelet and a pancake, the thin crepe has a crisp, papery texture and encloses a tasty filling of shrimp and bean sprouts. Sprigs of mint and cilantro (quantities of fresh herbs are a delicious trademark of Vietnamese cuisine) can be nibbled between bites as pungent accents, and the crepe should in any case be liberally doused with the nuoc mam -based sauce served on the side. (A fermented fish extract, nuoc mam can be thought of as the ketchup of Vietnam. Either plain, or seasoned with hot pepper flakes, chopped peanuts or other condiments, it enters many dishes during cooking and commonly is added to taste at table.)

The short soup list nonetheless includes a number of the classics, such as asparagus-crab, and the sweet-and-sour soups, made piquant with lemon grass, that include the guest’s choice of shrimp, crab or chicken as well as rice or noodles.

The last two pages of the menu list the grander dishes of Vietnamese restaurant cooking under the heading “Lily Special.” The prices are indeed modest (virtually all of them cost $6 or less), and plenty of favorites are included, such as the spicy meat balls wrapped in grape leaves and broiled over charcoal ( bo cuon la nho ); the beef fondue, in which thin slices of meat are boiled in spiced vinegar ( bo nhuing din ); beef marinated with lemon grass ( bo nuong vi ), and chao tom , the classy mouthfuls of shrimp paste wrapped around lengths of sugar cane, then grilled over hot coals.

Everyday Fare Alluring

None of these were sampled at a recent meal, however, since the listings of everyday fare offered their own allure. A chicken curry ( cary ga ) that purportedly included coconut proved to be so breathtakingly spicy that the thick slivers of onion that added bulk to the dish seemed innocuous and bland.

The Vietnamese omelet filled with shrimp and assorted vegetables ( tom chien trung ) looked quite like the crepe mentioned above, but was in fact a genuine, nicely eggy omelet. Several generous spoonfuls of the sweet, nuoc mam -based sauce helped bring out the savory qualities of this light and rather likable dish.

This is but a brief rundown of the many possibilities offered by the Lily’s menu; other potentially interesting choices would be the fresh tofu salads and the various pan-fried rice noodle dishes. For dessert, the rich Vietnamese coffee mixed with sweet condensed milk is offered both hot and iced.

San Marcos’ Schoolhouse Bar-b-que is a friendly little eatery, to be sure. It does not lack mood, part of which comes from the old-fashioned personality of what was once the main San Marcos school, built in 1910. Proprietor and chief carver Jerry Bigham greets each arrival with a cheery “Howdy, howdy, how you do today,” and if one inquires as to Bigham’s own state of being, the likely response will be, “Finer than a frog!”

The menu is displayed behind the counter, where piles of sliced barbecued brisket, chopped beef, spareribs, spicy sausage and burnished chickens keep warm under heat lamps. Side dishes include beans, potato salad and indifferent cole slaw (“You come here mainly for the meat,” explained a knowledgeable and frequent patron), and there is homemade cobbler for dessert, although the meat is served in such vast quantity that a brisk walk would seem wiser than a sweet.

Guests place orders and retrieve their food at the counter, pausing to pick up plastic utensils at a buffet that sits under a sign reading: “We Use Green Oak to Cook All of Our Meat.” It is smoke from this wood that gives the meats a subtle, understated tang; because the flavor is so mild, generous helpings of the spicy house barbecue sauce are quite in order.

Generally speaking, the chicken captured top honors, because it was beautifully juicy and full of smoky flavors. The chopped beef (painstakingly hand-chipped by Bigham), although less expensive and from a less choice cut, seemed much more flavorful than the sliced beef, which is carved from brisket heels. The tangy spiced sausage was first-rate.

The restaurant offers both sandwiches ($2.65 to $3.10) and hefty platters (from $3.75 for a half-chicken to $6.75 for a groaning, three-meat combination). Everything is available for takeout, which, given the sparse comforts of this one-time schoolroom, may be just as well.

LILY

505 1st St., Encinitas

943-8649

Credit cards accepted.

Meals served daily.

Dinner for two, including one beer each, tax and tip, $15 to $25.

SCHOOLHOUSE BAR-B-QUE

1511 Grand Ave., San Marcos

471-7160

Open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday; noon-7 p.m. Sunday.

A meal for two including soft drinks, $8 to $15.