Red Cajun and Grill Vietnamese restaurant opens in Dix Hills

It might not show up if you Google "Vietnamese restaurants," but this tiny new shop in Dix Hills is one of the most legit places to get a bowl of pho on Long Island. 

The name Red Cajun and Grill might have you thinking New Orleans, but it actually refers to the Viet-Cajun crab boil restaurants that are popular with the Vietnamese community. The cuisine emerged in the years after the Vietnam War when refugee communities popped up along the Gulf Coast in Texas and the South. Viet-Cajun restaurants often pair items like spicy crawfish with noodles, utilizing both Cajun and Vietnamese flavors. 

It's a style of food that Long Island resident Suong "Annie" Pham loves. Originally from the imperial city of Huế, Vietnam, she's visited plenty of Viet-Cajun restaurants while on vacation in Texas, Louisiana and Florida, where her friend owns one. She owns the fish store Torii Koi and Pond across the street in Dix Hills, and thought that having her own Vietnamese restaurant would be a good complement to her business. (Koi ponds are less popular in the winter, whereas pho is great for cold weather.) 

When she opened last month, she filled the space with rustic wooden benches that you might find at a Cajun seafood spot. Behind the counter, a pyramid of Cafe Du Monde coffee canisters is a telltale sign that a business has hand-dripped Vietnamese coffee. Her short menu appeals to fans of Vietnamese flavors as well as people in the area trying to grab a quick bite.

Pham prepares her own spice blend for the seafood boils, which are steamed in plastic bags that you rip open at the table. A pound of Cajun crawfish $15.99 is stacked with potatoes, corn and sausage. A fabulous deal, but yes, also kind of messy. She's also got rice plates and banh mi sandwiches stuffed with meat, mayo and pickled carrots.

Pho isn't technically on the menu, but it's posted on a paper sign on the wall. Order the pho combo ($16.99) which comes with three varieties of beef: meatballs, brisket and sliced flank steak. Pham prepares the broth overnight, starting from bones, and then infuses the liquid with herbs the next day. The beefy broth has a clean taste to it, which works when you scatter on fresh basil and slices of spicy jalapeño. If you wont' want to get noodle stains on your shirt, just keep your bib on. 

Red Cajun and Grill, 15 E. Deer Park Rd., Dix Hills, 631-742-3782. Open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, and Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, closed Monday. 

By Andi Berlin

andi.berlin@newsday.comAndiBerlin

Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.