New Fast Casual Vietnamese Restaurant Opens In The Heights With Chipotle Visions — Your First Look at Iim

Andrew Lin aims to do for Vietnamese food what Chipotle has done for Tex-Mex in the realm of customizable fast casual dining. Lee’s new iim Vietnamese Eatery (located at 718 W. 18th Street in Houston’s The Heights neighborhood) has been years in the making. iim is modeled after the approach that diners have choices, and lots of them.

The blueprint is relatively simple. iim offers four dishes — the famed bánh mì sandwich, bún cha (otherwise known here as rice noodle bowl), goi cuon (those spring rolls bundled in the translucent rice paper) and salad. But regardless of the dish you select, the price you pay is determined by the protein you pick, most of which are marinated overnight to give the chicken, pork and steak an added depth of flavor.

One can choose chicken (dark meat, the more flavorful option, $8.95), tofu ($8.95), pork ($9.50), steak ($10.95) or shrimp ($11.50). From there, you choose the delivery system: a sandwich, a bowl, a roll, or a salad.

Can’t decide what to add to your bowl or sandwich? Follow the cheat sheet posted at the entry to the line and go Classic on your first visit. Then when you’re back, why not go off script?

This new restaurant follows Lin’s Vietnamese wife Natalie’s family recipes.

“Outside of the delivery style, we look to differentiate the restaurant with a focus on healthier eating with healthier ingredients — including only 100 percent avocado oil and 100 percent pure sesame oil – and fresh produce,” Andrew Lin notes.

No need to hollow out the French baguette for their bánh mì. After searching high and low they’ve found a perfect specimen with a light, airy interior and a crisp crumb that shatters delicately under each bite. For those contemplating the spring rolls, they come in threes, enough to sate anyone for a light lunch or dinner or share with the table.

Speaking of sharing we dare you to eat just one of iim’s highly addictive fried and seasoned chicken skins ($3.95), a Vietnamese take on Mexican chicharrónes.

iim is open daily from 11 am to 9 pm. The new Houston restaurant’s name translates politely to “be quiet” (and impolitely to “shut up”). Andrew Lin likes to proclaim,“iim is the sound of quiet when you’re eating our food.”