Ian Froeb | Post-Dispatch
Restaurant critic
Grand Bistro is a popular new restaurant that no one calls by its government name. You know it as Pho Grand. I know it as Pho Grand. If you鈥檝e moved to 果酱视频 only in the last few years, someone has told you wistfully about Pho Grand.
The awnings on Grand Bistro鈥檚 classic 果酱视频 brick fa莽ade still read Pho Grand.
Tami and Michael Trinh opened the original Pho Grand in 1989 at 3191 South Grand Boulevard in Tower Grove South. In 2000, the couple moved their Vietnamese restaurant a short distance to 3195 South Grand, the cozy home Grand Bistro now occupies. Across both locations, Pho Grand was an anchor of South Grand鈥檚 vibrant, diverse commercial district.
The Trinhs closed Pho Grand in 2022. After 33 years, Tami said then, they were 鈥渢aking some time off to relax and, you know, enjoy our life first.鈥
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Grand Bistro by Andrew Trinh is in the same building as his parents鈥 restaurant, Pho Grand.
Change is a constant in the restaurant industry, but this was an especially tumultuous period for the pillars of South Grand dining. Cafe Natasha closed a few months before Pho Grand did. Later that year, City Diner shuttered, and the King & I announced that it would relocate to Richmond Heights.
You can see some scars of 2022 today. Cafe Natasha transformed into Salve Osteria, which remains open, but both the storefronts of City Diner (and its short-lived successor GOTham & Eggs) and the King & I are currently vacant.
Pho Grand also stood empty after closing, but its fans clung to hope. The Trinhs hadn鈥檛 sold the building, and Tami herself had said, when announcing the closure, 鈥淵ou know, we鈥檙e just saying it鈥檚 not goodbye, it鈥檚 maybe see you later.鈥 Rumors of a return soon percolated through the neighborhood.
Owner of Grand Bistro Andrew Trinh behind the bar of his restaurant on South Grand Boulevard in 果酱视频.
Enter Andrew Trinh, Tami and Michael鈥檚 adult son and a familiar face to Pho Grand regulars. He is leading Pho Grand鈥檚 revival as Grand Bistro, which opened in April. It might be ridiculous to call this debut perfectly timed after the building鈥檚 nearly three-year hiatus, but Grand Bistro鈥檚 arrival gave South Grand a much-needed morale boost. A month earlier, a fire had closed the restaurant鈥檚 next-door neighbor, the cafe and gelato parlor the Gelateria, indefinitely.
The new name graces the top of Grand Bistro鈥檚 menu, but Trinh has wisely not messed with his parents鈥 formula. Given the number of fans who mourned Pho Grand by sharing their go-to orders by the dish鈥檚 number (e.g., 18.01 for bo luc lac, shaking beef), he would have faced a revolt otherwise.
The dining room of Grand Bistro owned by Andrew Trinh on South Grand Boulevard in 果酱视频.
This also makes Grand Bistro tricky to review in a traditional manner. The menu is expansive 鈥 I barely made a dent over multiple visits 鈥 and your own reaction will be as personal, as idiosyncratic, as your affection for Pho Grand.
Trinh and his staff don鈥檛 take that affection for granted. Grand Bistro can draw upon more than 30 years of experience and goodwill 鈥 and you will likely see Tami and Michael alongside their son in the dining room 鈥 but longtime fans and newcomers alike will find the crisp service and abundant flavors of a new restaurant eager to win you over.
The Bun Bo Hue at Grand Bistro.
Pho Grand regulars and those who love Vietnamese cuisine in general will fall easily into old favorites at Grand Bistro, from the delicate sweetness of the shrimp wrapped inside goi cuon (spring rolls) to a big bowl brimming with herbaceous pho tai. The broth of the beef noodle soup is glossy with its own rich essence even before you doctor it to taste with fresh herbs, a spritz of citrus, a dash of jalape帽o or sriracha heat (or both).
My favorite dishes here contrast the verdant and the biting with primal char. The shaking beef pairs deeply browned cubes of beef with garlic, onion and scallion, all of it brought together by the meat鈥檚 mineral heart. Ga xa ot energizes stir-fried chicken with bright lemongrass and brighter chiles.
The shaking beef at Grand Bistro.
Juicy slices of charbroiled pork and crunchy strands of fried onion are merely the first layer of flavor in the standout banh cuon thit nuong, a translucent rice-flour crepe filled with little bits of ground pork, onion and mushroom. I don鈥檛 recall ordering this dish at Pho Grand, so I guess I can count this as a 鈥渘ew鈥 favorite at Grand Bistro.
To appreciate Grand Bistro fully, though, I needed to see it through my older child鈥檚 eyes. They鈥檙e a tween now, newly curious about different foods, not yet (too) embarrassed to be caught in public with their dad.
This wasn鈥檛 their first exposure to Vietnamese cuisine, but here they dived into the menu with minimal guidance from me and settled on mi wontons, egg noodle soup with wontons filled with a mixture of shrimp and ground pork, shrimp, crab stick (imitation crab meat) and slices of barbecue pork.
For them, this dish 鈥 and Grand Bistro 鈥 were wholly new and good, a starting point for years of further exploration.
They didn鈥檛 like the crab stick, though. I can鈥檛 blame them.
Post-Dispatch restaurant critic Ian Froeb reflects on 10 years of doing the STL Top 100 and lists the top 5 restaurants on his 2025 list. Video by Allie Schallert, aschallert@post-dispatch.com
