Vien Dobui and Jessica Sheahan have leased a 1600 sq ft space at 55 Washington Avenue where they plan to open Cong Tu Bot (Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter), a Pho noodle bar. Dobui and Sheehan ran a few Cong Tu Bot pop-up dinners back in 2013 and I can say from personal experience that Vien’s noodles and soup are outstanding. I am very excited to see opening day for this new venture.
They’re planning a casual, moderately priced restaurant that customers want to, and can afford to make a regular destination. Cong Tu Bot will be open 10am to 10pm serving primarily lunch and dinner items but with some breakfast dishes in the mix and takeout will be available.
Vien was the first employee and a former partner at Tandem. He’s currently cooking at Palace Diner. A fellow Blue Bottle alum, Joseph Zohn, will be moving to Portland from Los Angeles to work as the sous chef at Cong Tu Bot. Zohn has also cooked at Reynard and at Marco’s in Brooklyn.
Jessica will be the GM for Cong Tu Bot. She has 9 years of experience both in front and back of house in the restaurant industry, both in San Francisco and Portland.
Dobui and Sheahan are hoping to open sometime in early 2017.
Been waiting for this announcement for a long time. My wife and I had the good fortune of attending a pop up dinner that Vien and Jess hosted a few years ago on Munjoy Hill. It was one of the great dining experiences of my life, including the periwinkles with lemon grass they harvested that morning. This will be a Vietnamese restaurant like no other in the area.