Edible Food Find: Viet Citron
Photos by Michael Piazza
“Less is more” is a common adage in the field of architecture. It was a guiding principle for Trân Ngọc Lee when she was working for the design firm behind building projects like Apple’s iconic Fifth Avenue store. Since leaving the industry to open her own restaurant, Việt Citron—first in Burlington in 2020, and more recently at Bow Market—the philosophy has continued to inspire Trân, inform her choices and contribute to her success.
She takes classic Vietnamese dishes and elevates them with premium ingredients, such as local herbs, imported rice-paper vermicelli noodles and young pork belly with skin crisped perfectly to order, served in a counter-service setting. “We do it this way so that people who don’t have a lot of money can splurge and eat a $20 bowl of really good Vietnamese food without feeling like, ‘Oh, now I have to put a 20% tip because I had full service,’” Trân says.
It’s an approach that has set Việt Citron apart. In 2019, when Trân was scoping locations for her first restaurant, “I didn't see anybody doing super authentic [Vietnamese food], but with a more modern take on it,” she says. In her estimation, it was either a mom-and-pop restaurant with an expansive menu geared toward value, or a full-on fusion concept. “Part of being in design school is that you’re pretty good at trying to separate yourself out from the crowd,” she says.
Việt Citron debuted in Burlington in February 2020 and was picking up steam with local food fans before having to shut down a couple weeks later because of the Covid pandemic. Trân credits the business’s survival in part to her husband, Howard Lee, and his pragmatic approach to accounting; and partially to her own conviction about limiting the menu to dishes of the highest quality.
“From the beginning, we have had a lot of customers driving from Brookline to [Burlington] every single week to get our food, and from Somerville; even Quincy and Dorchester,” Trân says. “If you don’t eat a lot of authentic Vietnamese food, you will love this. If you eat a lot of authentic Vietnamese food, you will still love this.”
Việt Citron rotates in seasonal specials, like bánh xèo (crispy crêpes) and local-farm chicken pho, alongside the core menu of bánh mì (sandwiches), bánh hoi (rice-paper vermicelli noodles), salads, rice bowls and beef pho.
Trân moved with her family from Vietnam to the Medford area when she was 11 years old. She attended Tufts as an undergrad in the early 2000s—when, she says, the Asian food scene was lacking in Somerville. There was a nearby 24-hour grocery store, which Trân frequented to make comforting meals in her dorm kitchen.
“The idea of having a restaurant or becoming a chef never crossed my mind because I always wanted to be an architect,” she says. After college, she got her master’s degree in architecture from the University of Virginia and had opportunities to travel abroad, which continued upon entering the workforce. Two trips to Japan, in particular, solidified Trân’s appreciation for simplistic, satisfying restaurant experiences, helped develop her palate and introduced her to the concept of mis en place, the French phrase that translates to “everything in its place.”
In practice, it’s setting up your cooking station to maximize efficiency, but Trân approached the business itself with that mind-set. Along with Howard, who’s now a 50/50 partner in Việt Citron, Trân has upwards of 18 cross-trained employees who make a decent wage and are all eligible for medical benefits and a 401(k) program. The couple’s mind-set is “run it professionally, so that when we grow bigger, we don’t have to worry about” scaling up systems, Trân says.
Việt Citron expanded this past March to a 380-square-foot kitchen at Bow Market, about onequarter the size of the Burlington original. Building a tiny kitchen was a challenge, but her skills with 3D-modeling programs came in handy: She was able to plan exactly where the frig would go down to the inch. Trân says she’s now interested in additional small locations in the future.
From honing her culinary skills in a dorm kitchen, to moving around the East Coast for architecture school and jobs, to returning to Boston to open a restaurant then immediately weathering a pandemic, “If I had to do it all over again,” she says, “I would take the same path.”
vietcitron.com
47 Middlesex Turnpike, Burlington
1 Bow Market Way, Somerville
This story appeared in the Fall 2025 issue.
