V2 Sports Bar & Restaurant opens in the Far East Center with Vietnamese dim sum

Lori Midson

Welcome to V2 Sports Bar & Restaurant, a behemoth sweep in the Far East Center, big enough to swallow the entire country of Vietnam. The "V" stands for "Viet's," the excellent Vietnamese restaurant directly next door, owned by Hiep Thia, who last December added a No. 2 to his repertoire at 333 South Federal Boulevard.

No. 2 showcases local Vietnamese bands backed by singers from California; a layout that resembles a bingo parlor; a handful of TVs in the eerily minimalist bar to lend superficial credence to the "sports bar" part of the name; a Vietnamese menu, 96 dishes long, that's intended to offer "snacks" while watching those TVs, even though several of those "snacks" are upwards of $30; and a Vietnamese dim sum menu.

Brilliant!

At least the Vietnamese dim sum part of the equation is brilliant, especially since no other restaurant that we know of in -- or around -- Denver, has jumped on that bandwagon, an observation echoed by Hiep's brother, Quang, who works at Viet's: "There's a lot of Chinese dim sum in Denver, but I don't know of any restaurant that's doing Vietnamese dim sum," he says.

Frankly, we don't know of any restaurant, anywhere, that's even remotely similar to V2. Period. It is, to say the least, a peculiar place, even more so, because while you can order from that "snack" menu at V2, you can also pick from the menu at Viet's, which adds another 252 dishes with which to bombard your brain.

Still, a Vietnamese dim sum menu trumpeting nearly eighty (!) choices -- fish balls, sticky rice dumplings, spring rolls, pork intestines, goat curry, Vietnamese noodle soups and bánh mì among them -- is something that definitely commands our attention. If you want to partake in the feast, the dim sum menu is offered daily between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

For more info, call 303-922-5774.