Ava Street Cafe on Essen

Everything in this place is a work of art. I have never had anything here that I didn’t immediately fall in love with. Vietnamese cuisine lends itself to sharp, clean flavors and Ava does an excellent job realizing that goal with each dish they put out. This trip I tried the iced green Thai tea with cream, the grilled pork spring rolls, and the Korean short ribs.

I can’t say enough good things about this place–you’ve got to check it out. I will warn you though, if you want to get in the parking lot at lunch time or rush/happy hour, you need to plan on coming in from Perkins so you can take a right. There’s no way to take a left into that lot off Essen because it is too close to the light and no one will let you cross three lanes of traffic in Baton Rouge without a light or a police escort.