You know what this place is? Home. A home away from home, complete with the ability to eat on a coffee table with my bum on a pillow. And the Clay Pot staff? Family.
I came here so often that Phong knew my usual, which changed from time to time, but eventually I'd fall back into a rut of ordering something I really, really liked over and over again. He'd usually ask, "The usual?" and I'd stubbornly refuse, only to order my usual anyway once Phong returned to take my order.
This is what I love about the Clay Pot. I've been coming here since Quang was running the restaurant on a daily basis, and no matter which Le is running the show, they always take time to get to know their regulars. This place is Cheers, but with spring rolls and awesome tea.
The food here, of course, isn't all authentic. One of my friends and I dubbed the Pasta Pot the "Gringo Pot" accordingly, because even though Quang could talk at length about Marco Polo came to Vietnam, Italian noodles aren't typically considered Vietnamese cuisine. I still love the Pasta Pot, though. I've hated spaghetti all my life for being boring pasta with no cheese, and the Pasta Pot fixes that. I always got the Shrimp Pasta Pot, which gave me an excuse to lick my fingers after I was done pantsing my seafood.
My favorite "meat" in most of the hot pot and noodle dishes, though, wasn't meat at all--it was tofu. Clay Pot's tofu is squishy and absorbs all the flavors of whatever it's in. Dishes that are a tad salty with chicken or beef, such as the Pho Xao, are fantastic with tofu.
Forget chicken noodle soup when you're sick. The Chicken Curry Clay Pot was my standby, and they can make it hot enough to un-clog cement from your sinuses if you request. Others used the Clay Pot's Pho as a cure for everything. The Pho as a nice herbal flavor to it, almost like hot tea in soup form. Inhale deeply over your bowl and you won't have to bother with that gooey Vicks stuff. I liked the Bun Bo Hue soup more, which is similar to the Pho, but spicier.
I'm actually quite sad that the appetizer sampler platter wasn't around when I was a student! I love the steamed chicken dumplings, which come in a slightly oniony broth and come with a sweet dipping sauce. The wings are a tad different from traditional hot wings, but what isn't at the Clay Pot? They're delicious, anyway. The wings are lightly fried and the sauce comes on the side, more like a dip instead of already being on the wings themselves. The Clay Pot wings are slightly spicy, and the Ly Le wings have an almost sweet and sour-like sauce. Both are tasty.
Several of the dishes are fabulous excuses for grown-ups to play with their food. Order Ca Nuong (fish) or Goi Bo (beef), and you're presented with a couple platters of tasty fillings and several sheets of sticky rice paper for you to assemble your own rolls. This quickly devolves into a giant table full of finger food, and trust me, assembling everything into a tight, manageable package is harder than it looks. Even if your roll disintegrates halfway through you eating it, it's still great fun. If playing with rice paper isn't your thing, the Cha Ca gives you a pot where you can cook your own meat. Heh heh heh...FIRE!
So, the Clay Pot blends together Vietnamese, American and a little bit of everything else to make something unique, and for the most part, it works. The Nancy's Special is a delightfully large bowl full of pho noodles, sweet sauce, fruit and meat, and some of that meat happens to be in the form of meatballs. Whatever. It's delicious.
The tea is tied with Beatnix for my favorite iced tea in Waco. There's free wi-fi as well. If it looks like you're going to be there for a while, the waiter usually leaves a pitcher of tea behind to keep your mug full. I daresay I got more done at Clay Pot than I did in Club Moody, all while eating dinner.
Sometimes the Clay Pot gets very busy, but the staff is usually good at handling the crowds. The quality of dishes can vary a little depending on who's in the kitchen as well. Quang supposedly made the best Imperial Rolls, so if he's in town, you know what to get. I love the Pele Salmon because it's rare to find salmon on the menu in Waco, the plum sauce on top is just sweet enough, and the vaguely creamy Italian-ish sauce over the potatoes is so delicious that I eat--and like--the potatoes. (I usually hate potatoes.) However, sometimes it'd be just a little too done, or the size of the piece of fish would vary just a tad. For some reason, the best Pele Salmon was usually later in the evenings. Oh well. I still love their fish dishes because the Clay Pot staff is "on" more often than "off."
Sometimes the spring rolls can be a little tough at the edge if they've sat for a while, or sometimes they're rolled more tightly than others. I suppose this is a good reason to go on Tuesdays, when the two-for-one Spring Roll special ensures a high turnover of rolls (and that I'll inevitably end up ordering extra rolls myself).
There's no doubt that the staff at the Clay Pot wants everybody to be happy. Back when Quang was still there, you could ask the waiter for a "something" and the kitchen staff would make up something for you to try on the spot. I haven't tried that recently, though, because there's so much other great stuff on the menu. I can't wait to try the Banh Mi and some of the other new dishes the next time I'm in Waco. The meals are ridiculously cheap, and every dinner comes with free iced tea and a spring roll.
Finally, just look at the place. It's a little pink box of happiness, complete with a bunch of cool stuff the Les have collected over the years. Sometimes they would even let music groups perform on the "stage" (the elevated coffee table) in the corner.
There are few people nicer than the family who runs the Clay Pot, and it's a must try for anyone looking for good, cheap eats in Waco.
