City: Kansas City, MO

Category: Restaurants

Telephone: (816) 531-4447

Description: This family-owned Vietnamese cafe is often voted the best in Kansas City thanks to its award-winning dishes. Stir-fried dishes are very popular, and the spicy pineapple soup is a unique taste sensation you could easily learn to love. Think you can take the heat of the kitchen? Better watch how you order your dishes—mild, medium, or hot—because the cooks will comply. An extra-spicy version of the crabmeat-and-squid soup has become an ad hoc prescription during cold and flu season; it’s guaranteed to knock the germs right out of you. Other soups, as well as stir-fries, can be customized with combinations of meat and fish or served vegetarian style. Order a side of their ethereal spring rolls and you have a fine meal. Bring cash—nothing else is accepted—and call ahead because Saigon 39 is open on a limited and ever-changing schedule. But their curry dishes alone are definitely worth a phone call.