Mary Nguyen Aregoni and Theresa Nguyen remember adventuring in a bustling Vietnam market as children. Their mother and grandmother sold produce, rice and seafood as part of the family business.

The two sisters have brought their memories to Chicago in the form of Saigon Sisters, which offers Chicagoans a taste of Vietnamese cuisine. The business started off as a stand at the Chicago French Market and has now grown to a restaurant two blocks away on Lake Street.

“There is definitely a demand for Vietnamese food down here,” Aregoni said. “And hopefully if this concept works … I’d like to scale it to other locations.”

Vietnamese food is about grilling and bold flavors with minimal oil and fat, said Aregoni. There are French influences, she added, in both the cooking techniques and ingredients.

Banh mi, a Vietnamese sandwich, represents this unity. A typical sandwich consists of some meat, such as beef or pork, topped with pickled daikon radish, cilantro, jalapenos, mayonnaise and pate served on French bread.

“We’re doing what we’re calling Vietnamese Inspired, which means that we’re going to have some traditional Vietnamese dishes,” said Matt Eversman, executive chef for Saigon Sisters. “We’re also doing a lot of modern interpretations of old, classic dishes.”

Sandwiches, soup (pho), rolls (goi cuon) and salad comprise the Saigon Sisters menu, which could easily fit on one page. Aregoni said a normal Vietnamese menu would have five pages of 100 items and that she simplified it in order to make it more approachable.

Aregoni hopes to capture the customers who are interested in eating affordable, restaurant-quality food. She said that people are willing to pay a little extra for cooked food that takes a little more effort, but costs less than a formal sit-down restaurant.

“This neighborhood needs some sort of mid-range, quick lunch options that are not fast food fare,” said attorney Vivek Jayaram who lives in the area. “I mean there are a lot of great upscale restaurants in the neighborhood, but most of them don’t open until 5 o’clock. So for lunch this is a great option.”

The classic banh mi — Vietnamese pork, American ham and French country pate served with mayo — costs $7. A pho soup with noodles, sliced beef flank and beef meatballs is priced at $8.

Aregoni has plans for the future, including scaling up the stand concept at the French Market. She would only need a small space, perhaps 600 square feet, to sell her food somewhere else with high customer traffic, even without a kitchen. Food could be cooked offsite and delivered to the location. She said she has her eyes set on the Loop.

However, she is struggling to find capital for the project because of the tough economic climate. She expressed disappointment that she could not acquire a large enough loan from banks in order to expand her 20-employee business even further.

“I’m helping the economy,” said Aregoni, “but they don’t see that. Since I’m self-employed and have only been in business for a year or less, it’s tough to show them I have this expansion plan, and there is a demand, and there is money coming in, [but] it’s still not good enough.”

For now, Aregoni tackles the challenges in front of her, such as setting up an efficient delivery system for take-out orders as Chicago temperatures drop. Additionally, Saigon Sisters is still refining its dinner menu.

“I can’t think of any other Vietnamese restaurants in the area that are as simple and fresh and tasty as this one,” said Jayaram. “I’ll keep coming back.”

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By MB from South Loop
Posted: 12/30/2010 11:26 AM

No favor to Saigon Sisters to omit its address from your review!

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By Bud from Northwest suburbs
Posted: 12/30/2010 8:05 AM

Sounds like a great adventure without traveling 12,000 miles. Best of luck! Bud Life is Good