Same Same: Vietnamese street food in Northern Liberties
A young Bucks County-bred chef has brought his six-year sojourn home.
Bucks County-raised chef Chad Kubanoff, having immersed himself in Vietnamese food and culture for six years, has come home to open a restaurant in Northern Liberties specializing in Viet street food.
Same Same - a riff on a Vietnamese expression ("it's the same, but not the same," Kubanoff explains) - is at 614 N. Second St., occupying the BYOB that most notably previously accommodated Copper and Koo Zee Doo. Kubanoff kept the basic open-kitchen configuration, decorating with street signs and objects that he brought back from a recent trip to Vietnam. The kitchen counter is made of a collection of đồng bank notes sealed in plastic. What appears to be stenciled phone numbers on the walls are just that; Kubanoff explains that laborers in Vietnam post solicitations this way, only to see the authorities paint over it.
The early menu, on a chalkboard, is simple: two spring rolls, four banh mi (on rolls from South Philly's Ba Le Bakery), a salad, and six bun (rice noodle) dishes; top price is $7.50.
Although Same Same opened Friday, May 29, it likely will close for two days on short notice. Kubanoff and his wife, Thuy, are expecting their first child any day. (There's something uncanny about biology when it applies to restaurateurs, who frequently have to juggle a new restaurant and baby.)
Kubanoff, who grew up in Holland, dropped out of the Culinary Institute of America and got classical and modern experience at Daniel (in New York) and Alinea (in Chicago). He had an epiphany while watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. He flew to Vietnam and got a head chef's job. The fact that he spoke no Vietnamese was immaterial.
He met Thuy, and they ran a Hồ Chí Minh City company called Back of the Bike Tours, which took tourists on food adventures.
Initial hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday.