Little Vietnam, the latest restaurant on Upshur Street in Petworth, aptly bills itself on its menu as offering “big taste in a small space.” It’s not lying on either account.
The intimate dining space only has eight two-person tables and six seats at a bar overlooking the open kitchen, but the small-yet-mighty staff behind the casual Vietnamese spot are slinging hard-to-find traditional Vietnamese dishes with a twist.
The menu is limited but focused, offering up small plates like chicken wings in a fish sauce caramel (8 for $14), chicken caesar spring rolls (2 for $10), light and airy Tom Yum tofu with Thai basil ranch ($9), and a staff favorite, fried egg salad with fresh vegetables and herbs ($12). For larger offerings, there’s soup, like your standard chicken ($16) or beef pho ($18), or not soup, as the section of the menu calls these dishes, the highlight being banh xeo, a turmeric rice crepe stuffed with pork, shrimp, mung beans, and bean sprouts ($17).
Those in D.C. that have been craving the savory crepe dish should be excited that Little Vietnam has it, says co-owner and beverage director Joshua Davis, since most places to get it locally are in Annandale. The Petworth restaurant’s version of the dish, traditionally eaten by ripping off portions, wrapping them in lettuce leaves with fresh herbs and dipping the whole thing in the sweet-and-sour nuoc cham sauce, mostly sticks to tradition, although its bean sprouts are cooked instead of raw.
Little Vietnam’s drink menu consists of wine, beer, sake, and non-alcoholic drinks like coconut horchata and a giant jar of chocolatey Vietnamese iced coffee ($8).
The crew is very detail-oriented, Davis says, so their dessert menu at the moment only consists of strawberry matcha tres leches cake ($8) that takes a long time to make and therefore frequently runs out. But he hopes to add some ice creams and affogato — a dish where espresso is poured over a scoop — to the menu soon.
Little Vietnam is a partnership between Davis, Kevin Robles, and Jafar Umarov, Davis says. The three met when working for the Daikaya Restaurant Group around 2015 and bonded over their “mutual love for noodles.”
Davis acts as beverage director and runs the front-of-house operations, while Robles and Umarov are in charge of the kitchen, though they all have a hand in the whole business.
“For our dishes, we all collaborate and work on that,” Davis says.
The three partners also worked together briefly at Moon Rabbit, where they honed their appreciation for and knowledge of Vietnamese food. They most recently hosted a pop-up for another venture, Kiko (serving up Japanese-Caribbean fusion with sake cocktails), at the Upshur space in October before deciding to lease the space and open Little Vietnam.
Though there are many pho shops and Vietnamese eateries around the D.C. area, Davis said they were trying to mirror with Vietnamese food the high quality ramen shops that have become more common in D.C. proper, including Upshur Street neighbor Menya Hosaki.
“We saw a lane for this style of casual Vietnamese food while we still are using our cooking techniques working in fine dining restaurants,” Davis says.
The casual nature of the restaurant is also reinforced by the size and layout of the dining room. The cement walls, white marble table tops, and green-tiled bar are part of the minimalistic design, which has a few small exceptions: a print of the Spiderman pointing meme sits on top of the wine fridge and a curtain covered in birds helps block the dining room from the cold coming in through the entrance.
By 7 p.m. on a recent Thursday just a couple weeks after opening, Little Vietnam’s atmosphere was lively and each table and seat at the bar was occupied. Tables are close together, so customers can easily get to know their neighbors or spy on their food orders. The intimate space is meant to feel like someone’s living room.
“There’s nothing wrong with fine dining but we appreciate more of a laid back family style environment,” Davis says.
The small space has seen high turnover in the last 5 years. It started as the modern Japanese joint Himitsu, which caught the attention of locals and national media alike, with Bon Appetit naming it one of the 50 best new restaurants, before the two co-founders (including Moon Rabbit’s own star chef Kevin Tien) split ways and the restaurant closed. Soon after, it transformed into the whimsical Pom-Pom, before it fell victim to the wave of pandemic closures in 2020. Finally, Korean spot Magpie and the Tiger from Tien and protege Caleb Jang debuted in the space in early 2022, before suddenly closing this past August.
Davis is hoping the focus on friendly, casual hospitality, where he and other staff can focus on meeting guests and neighbors, will ultimately bring Little Vietnam a different fate than its predecessors. The restaurant also hopes to add an outdoor patio come spring—if permits allow—and add lunch service to maximize the potential of the space.
Little Vietnam is located at 828 Upshur St. NW. Open for dine-in only Tuesday-Saturday 5 p.m.-9 p.m.
