Diamond’s Cafe is a cozy restaurant just off State Street that serves American breakfast and Southeast Asian lunch and dinner.
The latter is limited to only a handful of items, including banh mi ($8.95). When I received my order, I was wondering why it was leaking. It turns out that Diamond’s version includes green peppers and some kind of sauce or au jus–neither of which are mentioned in the menu–making it a juicy and messy sandwich. While the sandwich was tasty, I still prefer the traditional version.
The Pad Thai noodles ($9.95 + extra for meat choice) were a mixed bag. On the one hand, I enjoyed the noodles, which weren’t greasy and had a low level of spiciness. However, the chicken was a little dry and didn’t have much flavor. The dish also includes red peppers, bean sprouts, cilantro, green onion, onion and zucchini, most of which were unnecessary.
I regret ordering the Banh Xeo crepe tacos ($13.95). The “taco” is a scrambled egg turned into a crepe and filled with an immense amount of onions plus bean sprouts and crumbled pork and chicken. Unfortunately, the crepe was way too flimsy to hold any of the ingredients, so I had to eat this flavorless dish with a fork. At least the peanut dipping sauce was delicious.
Vietnamese egg rolls are my favorite type of egg rolls, and the ones here ($5.25 for three) did not disappoint. They’re not overly fried yet still crispy, and they have a yummy mixture of vermicelli, carrots and pork (chicken or veggie are the other options).
Oddly for a place that serves breakfast, Diamond’s doesn’t open until 10 a.m. I didn’t try any of the breakfast items, but they include steak n’ eggs ($12.99), an egg and cheese sandwich ($6) and a Denver omelet ($10.50).
Diamond’s Cafe is open every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Tags: American, downtown, Vietnamese
