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Fresh, Healthful Is How They Roll

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

Bamboozle Cafe's menu offers quick, healthful Vietnamese fare such as fresh rolls and noodle salads.

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By ROMMIE JOHNSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 17, 2008

TAMPA - If you've worked downtown for long, it's likely you remember a time when popping out for lunch meant devouring a club sandwich at the deli across the street or, for a change of pace, trying the club sandwich at the one around the corner.

Times, mercifully, have changed. Although the long-promised renaissance of the city's urban core is hardly in full swing, at least its cubicle dwellers are no longer eyeing their break rooms' vending machines as a viable option for a midday meal.

Instead, a colorful medley of culinary traditions now simmers among the city center's bustling streets, and today's office workers can choose from Thai, Indian, Jamaican, Spanish and French eateries, among others.

Bamboozle Cafe, open about three months, adds Vietnamese to the mix.

The restaurant serves up a tantalizing concept: a fresh, healthful and exotic alternative to fast food that's - usually, anyway - nearly as quick.

Bamboozle's narrow but accommodating dining space is simple and clean. Exposed brick on one side lends a natural, organic feel to the room, while the opposite wall is lined with a sleek, modern cafeteria-style service line featuring three prep stations.

The menu offers only a few basic items - mainly fresh rolls, Pho and noodle salads - but the variety of ingredients makes the possible combinations seem countless.

Fresh rolls are made to order and, in our experience, with a delicate touch. Choosing ingredients is half the fun. You pick a meat or tofu, veggies and herbs, and it's all wrapped with lettuce and vermicelli rice noodles in translucent rice paper.

On a recent afternoon visit, we ordered the three-roll combo, served with a miniature egg roll and a nicely aromatic cup of spicy-sour Tom Yum (technically a Thai soup, but why nitpick?) finished with a sprig of lemongrass.

Our fresh rolls each boasted a unique flavor. One was stuffed with large, clean-tasting prawns, julienne cucumbers, sprouts and cilantro, and dipped in a mildly spicy peanut sauce. A second was filled with juicy grilled pork, sweet jicama and fresh mint, and complemented with a sweet and spicy chili sauce. The third combined tender grilled chicken breast, fresh ginger, carrots and sprouts, for which we chose a bolder hoisin sauce.

All three were delicious. Of course, if we didn't like them, we would have had no one to blame but ourselves.

Noodle salads, although mostly pre-made, are another good bet. Vermicelli noodles are served over a bed of red and green leaf lettuce and topped with a harmonious blend of cucumber, pickled daikon, fresh mint, bean sprouts, roasted shallots, crushed peanuts and your choice of meat, tofu or (our favorite) crispy egg rolls. We recently tried it with tofu and loved how its soft texture complemented the crisp veggies. It was topped with a zesty chili dressing that was sweet without being overpowering.

Of course, no Vietnamese restaurant is complete without Pho, and Bamboozle serves the fragrant soup in meal-size bowls so big they call them boats. The rich broth, loaded with rice noodles and chicken, is one of the world's great comfort foods, and Bamboozle's version is a fine example.

The eatery also offers more Americanized salads and sandwiches (a meat and three veggies on a toasted baguette) for less adventurous appetites.

If there's a knock, it's that the lunch line can sometimes be excruciatingly slow. Maybe that's just because downtown diners aren't accustomed to being faced with unfamiliar options. Until that wild notion sinks in, delivery is an option. Either way, though, Bamboozle's a keeper.

DINING REVIEW

Bamboozle Cafe

BOTTOM LINE: Fresh, healthful Vietnamese rolls for the downtown lunch crowd

WHERE: 516 N. Tampa St., Tampa

HOURS: Breakfast and lunch only, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday; Sunday brunch (Vietnamese dim sum) beginning July 20

CREDIT CARDS: All major

RESERVATIONS: No

CHILDREN'S MENU: No

ALCOHOL: Beer and wine

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes

PRICE: $2.25 to $8.95

CALL: (813) 223-7320

Tribune reviewers eat anonymously. Rommie Johnson can be reached at (813) 259-7426 or rdjohnson@tampatrib.com.

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