maba grill (athens, ga)

Did you know? This location which was once a Cold Stone Creamery then Which Wich is now - the Maba Grill.

Located on Broad Street in downtown Athens (near the Mayflower) is the Maba Grill which entices its diners with grilled, Asian flavors. CIA graduate chef and owner Si Huynh mans up the grill and rather than calling his establishment a Vietnamese restaurant, he described it to me as an international Asian grill.

I swung by at an odd time just after lunch thanks to my awesome school schedule to grab a bite. The menu is fairly simple to navigate and even those who aren't familiar with Asian flavors at all shouldn't have trouble navigating. I opted for the steak and shrimp entree and the lemongrass chicken banh mi for my first visit.

The grilled steak and shrimp entree comes with some fruit and a fountain drink cup all priced at $8.75. The shrimp were perfectly cooked - juicy and tender - and eating them with the sweet fish sauce that it comes with heightened its flavor. The steak on the other hand found to be somewhat lacking in flavor (mainly soy sauce) although still quite tender. Chef Huynh suggested that I pour a little bit of the fish sauce over everything before eating but I like using it as more of a dipping sauce. This is especially true if you've never tasted this condiment or have no idea what the heck it is.

The lemongrass chicken banh mi ($3.95) was also tasty - juicy, hint of lemongrass and seasoned well. The pickled daikon, carrots and sliced jalapenos do their part adding much needed acidity and heat. The French bread has a good crunch on the outside and flakey. Reminded me of the bread from Lee's Bakery on BuHi. Priced at $4, you won't see me walking out the door with a bagful of them like I would do from places on Buford Highway but it's definitely worth a buy in Athens. And no, you don't need pate on every, single banh mi for it to be considered "authentic".

It sucks that Athens can't really have a full-out, ethnic restaurant being a college town and all but in the end, it all comes down to one thing - money. What's going to sell? What will 95% of the campus and town like? Still, I really respect how the Maba Grill doesn't call themselves Vietnamese but rather a place of international flavors. I mean...this is a town where sesame chicken is considered Chinese, Ru San's is the epitome of Japanese cuisine, teriyaki chicken/steak is hallmark Korean cuisine and TexMex is really in fact authentic Mexican. What's next? Pho is gonna be Thai thanks to Rachael Ray?

Best wishes to Chef and the establishment and I hope it fares better than Which Wich of last year.

Tips:

• Prepare to walk. Parking in downtown sucks and you may have to park a block or two away. Utilize campus transit - Orbit, North-South and East-West are your friends.
• Use fish sauce that comes with the combo entrees a little bit at a time if you've never tasted this condiment.
• Banh mi comes with jalapenos, remove if you can't handle the heat.