Easy does it: Mr. Lu's Burgers & Seafood offers simple satisfaction

This week I was sent out to profile what is undoubtedly going to be the most kickin' fish 'n' chips shop in town. Michael Hebberoy, the infamous mastermind behind the oh-so-subversive One Pot dinners and the "kill the restaurant" movement, has -- GASP! -- opened a restaurant.

The first Seattle establishment from the anti-establishment crusader (never mind the crumbled restaurant empire he left behind him in Portland) is a fish shack stacked between Neumos and Moe Bar like a slice of bologna on a hipster-and-cheese sandwich.

I arrived, however, to find Pike Street Fish Fry shuttered and dark. Turns out his new venture is still more anti- than establishment. Hebberoy had left me in the lurch, but I couldn't do the same to my editor.

My friend knew of another fish 'n' chips shop that had recently opened on University Way, so off to the U District we went. There was no big-name chef, no drama, no hype. But sometimes that's refreshing. And what I found was an oddly parallel fish tale. What I found was the anti-Hebberoy.

Thang Tran, 30, is the man behind Mr. Lu's Burgers & Seafood. He recently moved to Seattle from his native Vietnam, where he ran a high-end restaurant serving beautiful pieces of culinary artwork -- the kind you hate to destroy by eating.

His original plan was to open another temple of haute cuisine, but he was quick to realize that the University District wasn't the place for it. So earlier this year, he opened a bright, casual burger and seafood joint on the Ave, next to the recently refurbished sandwich shop Deli-Licious (formerly a Sub Shop), which is owned by his brother.

Tran's fish tale is similar to Hebberoy's in many ways. Both are young men, 30 and 31 respectively, fathers of adorable kids who charm the socks off customers, and recent transplants with considerable culinary careers behind them already, now channeling traditions of highbrow craftsmanship into new street-food ventures.

Both are working under assumed names -- Michael Hebb added the "-eroy" to combine names with his ex-wife, while Mr. Lu is a nickname bestowed by Tran's French-cookie-obsessed uncle. Tran holds a day job working in the nonprofit social services sector; Hebberoy travels to Ethiopia on do-gooding missions revolving around fair-trade coffee.

Nothing about what Tran does, however, feels like a PR stunt. His kid is there because Tran's wife is cooking in the kitchen and making milkshakes. He works in social services to pay the bills.

I don't know how the fish is at Pike Street Fish Fry. When Hebberoy gets it together, I'll let you know. But the most basic item at Mr. Lu's -- good old fish 'n' chips ($6.25) -- was the best I've ever had. They'll fry up cod, halibut or salmon, with tartar, ranch, cocktail, barbecue and Cajun sauces for dipping. The fries are the kind that put others to shame. They're firm and crispy with that outer coating of crunchy texture that gives them an added lift.

When I bit into the Cajun salmon sandwich ($6.95), the juicy pink meat flaked away perfectly, melting into a mouthwatering swirl of grilled onions, Cajun and tartar sauces. A messy salmon sandwich, my friends, is a really good thing. There are a dozen different hamburgers on the menu, eight varieties of chicken sandwiches and twice as many selections of fish, from deep-fried oysters and popcorn shrimp to grilled salmon with pineapple. Few things on the menu are more than $8, and there's free delivery -- and punch cards to be filled.

If Tran were to host an underground dinner in a secret location and charge $70 a head, I would sign up. If he opened a sleek, sultry Vietnamese restaurant downtown and eventually commanded a vast culinary kingdom, I would be one of his devoted subjects. But if he never serves a piece of fish out of anything other than a plastic basket, I'll be perfectly content with that, too.

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