Nhu Thuy

Imagine how cool it would be if there were a whole neighborhood in Tacoma where all the businesses were open on Sunday, and everyone came out and walked around and shopped and ate and socialized all day. Wait a minute, there is! The Lincoln District is a fine example of what downtown and other Tacoma neighborhoods could be, if we could just reach a critical mass of businesses that both stay open on the weekends and appeal to all ages.

Yesterday's Lincoln destination was Nhu Thuy, a no-frills-just-good-food restaurant on South 38th. Kids buzzed in and out of the restaurant, chased each other around tables, and got up to admire the fish tank while we enjoyed a delicious lunch of spicy carrot beef stew, meatball pho, and home style lemonade. (Vietnamese lemonade is fantastic. Try it some time.)

On the walls, Nhu Thuy has posted up some Yelp.com reviews, including one that made me laugh a little at the writer's disbelief that good pho could be found, in all places, in Tacoma! Well, yeah, look for the whole neighborhood where all the signs are in Vietnamese, silly.

Although we went with our standard favorites, Nhu Thuy has a full menu including rice and rice vermicelli dishes, as well as pho. Our server was very personable and had a great sense of humor about the kids, although he did forget to bring me my iced coffee. This I can forgive, I didn't really need the caffeine, anyway.

My beef stew arrived already spiced just about right, I really didn't need to add too many serrano pepper slices or other accompaniments, but I did manage to dig in to the giant pile of fresh basil that came with it. My eldest is crazy about meatball pho, but my youngest opted just to slurp the noodles out of her extra bowl. With the size of the portions it's really not necessary to buy children under 6 their own soup.

Apparently, they also serve a fabulous veggie pho. This is all the rage amongst the Yelp reviewers. Our carnivorous family got out of there for about $15.

Nhu Thuy

758 S 38th St

Tacoma, WA 98418

253-474-3992

Lincoln, Vietnamese