After 5 years of work, modern Vietnamese restaurant and bar will open in Lincoln District

More than five years after buying the white-brick building at 1001 S. 38th St., the owner of Tacoma’s popular La Cà Bar off Sixth Avenue will open his third restaurant.

La Cà 38th opens Dec. 2 in the Lincoln District with a menu of noodle soups, street-food snacks and a full bar. It joins Tuan Nguyen’s second spot, La Cà Cafe, in Parkland.

The menu — to be served from a modestly sized but open kitchen on the main floor — is about “50% the same” as the original on Junett, said Nguyen, but with “a few extras.” He pointed to the four noodle soups, which include mi ga quay (roasted chicken leg with egg noodles and mustard greens), bun mang ga (vermicelli noodles with shredded chicken) and a beef pho.

A similar quad of vermicelli bowls features grilled pork, chicken or beef with house-pickled papaya carrots and the greenery of basil, mint and cucumber. The same meats are available in banh mi. There’s just one rice dish: com ga tuy hoa, a Southern Vietnamese specialty with turmeric rice cooked in broth, fried or steamed chicken thighs, kimchi and a chili-garlic fish sauce.

Nguyen’s vision for La Cà has always been rooted in street-food — dishes that can be readily enjoyed with friends.

“The whole concept was just for me and my friends to hang out,” he said this week. “La Cà — that’s what it means: to hang out. You come to the spot and hang out. You don’t want to leave.”

There are also two rice crepes: one with pork belly, shrimp and squid and the other with shrimp and coconut milk. Shareables include an array of fried and fresh rolls, crispy chicken wings with the classic fish-sauce or five-spice rub, and a papaya salad with beef jerky. The Hue City dumpling with pork and shrimp, steamed in banana leaves, is otherwise hard to the find in the area. Tapioca flour lends a pleasant chewiness.

Vegetarians and vegans will find a few options, including tofu spring rolls and noodle bowls.

To drink, sip on a classic cafe sua da or fresh coconut milk. Like the original, La Cà 38th also has a full bar.

That was the impetus for Nguyen to open a business there, he explained. As a Lincoln District resident, he longed for a place to hang out, especially in the evening. He swings by Cafe La Vie most mornings, he said, but few places in the area are open past 8 or 9 p.m.

“We want to make it for the people in the neighborhood,” he continued. “The concept is like Sixth Avenue,” but a bit smaller. One perk is an attached patio, where he and his wife have set up a large igloo with two big tables.

LA CA IN LINCOLN

He originally anticipated using the second floor but ran into complications with the fire code that would have required him to install a new sprinkler system. The 2,000-square-foot building from the 1920s was most recently an attorney’s office, he said, but even that commercial zoning didn’t ease the process of converting it to foodservice.

“It’s very hard to build a restaurant,” he said, adding that he was his own project manager. He also ran into terrible timing — he bought the building for $320,000 in April 2019 after years of admiring it.

“The reason I bought the one in Lincoln District is because I love that building,” he said, noting he would drive by it every day.

After some back-and-forth with the design and the sprinkler situation, the pandemic halted his progress. “It’s a lot of rules and laws … but I made it happen.”

It’s also something of a homecoming, added the 44-year-old. When Nguyen was 20, he opened a restaurant with a friend in the Lincoln District. He gave it up for other work, but later in life, he recalled, “I realized, I wanna go back to the business to prove to myself: I think we can do it.”

One thing he learned through traveling and visiting Vietnamese restaurants in other cities is that spaces that felt modern and approachable to diverse demographics could spell success. That’s a big reason why La Cà has a bar, and why it’s open a bit later than its peers.

The 38th Street outpost won’t be open quite as late as the original (Sixth Ave is open until midnight on weekdays and 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday), but it will start the day mid-morning and end around 10 p.m.

“That’s the whole idea, you know, the way I run my business. If people open early, I close late. If they open late, I close early,” he said.

It’s in those moments that you can pick up a new customer.

LA CA 38TH

▪ 1001 S. 38th St., Tacoma, laca38th.com

▪ Daily 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

▪ Details: third Vietnamese restaurant from La Cà Bar owner opening Dec. 2

▪ Menu: street-food snacks, banh mi, noodle soups, vermicelli bowls ($8.50-$18) plus coffee, beer, wine and cocktails

This story was originally published November 29, 2024 at 5:15 AM.