A fancy bánh bôt chiên at J.A.M.

Bánh bôt chiên is usually a humble pleasure. The comforting Vietnamese flat omelet, bearing crisped and stretchy rice or turnip cakes, then strewn with vegetables and herbs, has long been a favorite order of mine when checking out a restaurant that is new to me.

It's an instant vibe check.

One of my all-time favorites of this Vietnamese classic was the one dished out at Cafe TH by chef-owner and host extraordinaire, Minh Nguyen. The vibe on that particular omelet was homey and unassuming, yet texturally sophisticated. I loved it to distraction and—after Minh closed the little EaDo cafe in 2021–I miss his version to this day.

So I had to order the dish when I finally got around to trying out J.A.M. Viet Kitchen & Bar, out Westheimer bordering northwest Westchase. Vibe check on this particular example of the form: ambitious. Cheffy. A little bit fancy, with a vivid orange hillock of tobiko in the middle and a skitter-scatter of micro cilantro.

Honestly, I thought I'd dislike the cross-cultural addition of flying-fish "caviar," but instead of skewing the classic bánh bôt chiên flavor profile, the fish eggs just added a delightful, evanescent little crunch to the omelet's lively textures. Carrot, radish and crisp-fried shallot bumped up the fun; and the cubes of fried rice-cake gave way from the smoky singe of their exteriors to the sticky smoothness inside.

My only quibble? While the micro greens were pretty in their delicate way, I would have preferred the more assertive bite of grown-up herbs. But I got those in—get this!—the Northern Pho cocktail I ordered just because it existed.

Seriously, I could not pass up the chance to see how beef-fat-washed tequila reposada would act in concert with chilefied Mezcal, clarified lime and the classic pho spices of star anise, clove and cinnamon. Cinnamon sticks and a sheaf of Thai basil dressed up the glass. The requisite big square ice cube cooled it down.

I had to chortle over the improbability of ordering a fancy cocktail with one of my trusty humble lunch faves, but it worked. Well enough to bring me back to this fresh, pretty space near the end of a relatively upscale strip mall. (There's plenty of opportunity out here to turn lunch into a twofer or threefer: just blocks away lie the mothership Phoenicia grocery and the West on West shopping center, hosting the Japanese lifestyle store Teso, Paris Baguette bakery and Lady M Cake Boutique.

Chef-owner Jimmy Nguyen's Northern Pho (Pho Bac) cocktail honors his family's Northern Vietnamese heritage, and spotlights the Northern-style pho that occupies a place of honor on his well-honed menu of classics with modern flourishes. Yes, there is the fragile rice-paper 'Vietnamese pizza" that was all the rage in Saigon a decade ago. Plus salmon with turmeric and dill, oysters grilled with green onion and peanut, and a celebrated broken-rice plate.

A long bar sets the stage for J.A.M.'s ambitious range of cocktails, including an espresso Martini that combines Vietnamese drip coffee and egg yolk in an intriguing marriage of cà phê sũa dá and egg coffee.

The setting invites guests to feel a little fancy, too, in a coolly casual way. The young couple enjoying a romantic midafternoon lunch the day I was there fit right in with the atmosphere: they were in tank-top and tee-shirt mode, but could have stepped from an urban-cool magazine spread.

They were sharing J.A.M.'s Bò Né platter, a cast-iron skillet extravaganza of grilled skirt steak, egg, sausage, ham, pate and baguette. Yes, they went for the bone-marrow option.

They left with smiles on their faces. So did I.

J.A.M. Viet Kitchen & Bar, 11700B Westheimer, 832-619-1790. Monday—Friday 11am—10pm; Saturday & Sunday 11 a.m.–midnight