As all Orlando residents know, the vast majority of our Vietnamese restaurants are mostly located together in the Mills 50 district, centered around East Colonial Drive and Mills Avenue, east of downtown Orlando. There are a few more in Orlando’s Chinatown, centered in Pine Hills on West Colonial Drive, west of downtown. A few Vietnamese restaurants have come and gone in the Seminole County suburbs, closer to where The Saboscrivner lives, but they are never fantastic, and they rarely last. So when An Vi (https://www.anvirestaurant.com/) opened relatively close to home in Casselberry (I think in 2023), we hoped for the best. I am pleased to say it did not disappoint after two visits — one for takeout and the second for dining in. Chef-owner Joseph Nguyen and his wife-partner Rose Nguyen opened An Vi after running two Vietnamese restaurants in Seattle, and my favorite city’s loss is our gain.
For our first takeout order, my wife requested lemongrass tofu with rice vermicelli noodles (bun). I didn’t try any, but she loved it.
We ordered shrimp pad Thai noodles to share, since we hadn’t had pad Thai in a long time, and it always hits the spot, even from a Vietnamese restaurant. Especially from this Vietnamese restaurant. I love it when the pad Thai is a little bit tangy, even approaching sour, and An Vi nailed it. Some places make it too sweet, without that acidic tang to balance it out. 
We also shared an order of gumbo, that Cajun stew that usually contains shrimp, chicken, andouille sausage, and the “trinity” of onions, celery, and green bell peppers, served in a rich roux thickened with okra and ladled over white rice. If getting gumbo at a Vietnamese restaurant sounds even weirder than getting pad Thai at a Vietnamese restaurant, consider that many Vietnamese immigrants settled along the Gulf Coast in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and there is a wonderful culinary fusion cuisine called Viet-Cajun. (King Cajun Crawfish is one of several Viet-Cajun restaurants around Orlando that serves this style). 
My wife and I both adore good gumbo (although I like mine much spicier than she does), and An Vi’s version did not disappoint either of us.
I am famous for my love of sandwiches, especially banh mi, the Vietnamese sub sandwich that is a product of French colonialism. While the menu teased a ribeye French dip banh mi that sounded amazing, I was told it is no longer available. I chose my standard, a house special pork banh mi, with a few different pork-based cold cuts, pickled carrot and daikon radish, and fresh cilantro and jalapeno peppers served cold on fresh, crusty French bread. It is a surprisingly light and refreshing sandwich, compared to the heavy gut-bomb Italian hoagies and Jewish deli monoliths-on-rye I love so much. I usually like a lot of mayonnaise (usually Kewpie brand) and pork liver pate on my banh mi, but I didn’t notice any on this particular sandwich.
Despite being a bit dry as a result, it was generously stuffed with the various meats and vegetables. 
About a month later, we were both hungry on a Friday night and climbing the walls after working from home (and eating at home) all week. I took my wife to dinner at An Vi, since it is so close, and we knew we would get seated and served quickly. My wife always loves summer rolls with peanut sauce at any Vietnamese restaurant, but we almost didn’t order these, since they were called “fresh rolls” (also known as goi cuon) on An Vi’s menu. But when we saw them being walked out to another table, we asked, and she was glad we did. 
She ordered a house special vermicelli platter that came with a lot of neat meats in addition to the rice vermicelli, but she didn’t love all of them. Luckily, I did.
It included grilled beef, chicken, and pork sausage skewers, all with a slightly sweet, tangy, and funky flavor from being brushed with fish sauce. There was also sugarcane shrimp, with ground shrimp brushed with fish sauce and reformed around a length of sugarcane before being grilled, and a fried spring roll stuffed with pork. While she liked the vermicelli and all the crushed peanuts, I think the funky fish sauce flavor turned her off these grilled meats, so I happily devoured them. I think I’ll order this exact dish for myself on our next visit to An Vi. 
I had a feeling she might not love all those unique meats, so I ordered a fried catfish banh mi sandwich because I wanted to try it, but also because I know my wife always loves fried catfish and might end up preferring it. I was right — it was good, and she loved it. This banh mi almost reminded me more of a New Orleans-style po’ boy sandwich, the way it was dressed without the traditional butter, pate, or pickled vegetables. The side of Cajun fries really hit the spot too.
Since Pho Huong Lan is my absolute, accept-no-substitutes favorite restaurant for pho, I tried the bun bo hue at An Vi instead of pho. Labeled as Hue’s spicy beef soup on the menu, it was warm and refreshing, spicy without being overwhelmingly so. I was so glad I had the foresight to wear an expendable shirt for all the inevitable splashing of the oily orange broth.
It was good, but the bun bo hue at Pho Huong Lan still wins.
I ordered a side of French bread (the same bread they use for the banh mi) for dipping in the rich, spicy broth and for eating plain to cut the heat.
I hope An Vi makes it in Casselberry, where too many good restaurants that are considered “exotic” don’t last. While our first impulse when we crave Vietnamese food is still to schlep down to Mills 50, I am glad An Vi is so close to us, and I’m sure we will be ordering plenty of takeout over the cooler months ahead.
The Saboscrivner 