38-year-old Vietnamese restaurant closes final Bay Area location
The last outpost of a favorite South Bay Vietnamese restaurant has closed permanently.
Vung Tau in Milpitas served its last bowls of catfish soup and lemongrass beef stir-fry on Sunday night. A recording on the restaurant’s answering machine informs customers that it’s now permanently closed.
Vung Tau, named after founder Chac Do’s hometown in southern Vietnam, was known for its seafood dishes and noodle soups, as well as fresh rolls and meat skewers. The restaurant was the second Vung Tau location to open and the last remaining out of three.
Do opened the original San Jose restaurant on San Carlos Street in 1985. The embrace from SIlicon Valley’s Vietnamese community led her to relocate to a much larger space on East Santa Clara Street just two years after opening, going from 32 seats to 150. The Milpitas location opened in 1996, followed by a third location in Newark in 2000.
Do’s daughters Tammy Huynh and Anne Le Ziblatt opened Tamarine, a modern Vietnamese restaurant, in late 2002, which remains open in Palo Alto. Le Ziblatt also opened the short-lived Nam Vietnamese Brasserie in 2020.
