StreetSide: Vietnamese street food on Girard Ave.

There are modest restaurants, for sure, but rarely are there modest restaurateurs - those too shy to talk up their business.

It took a few minutes of wheedling and pleading just to get the name of the owner of StreetSide, a low-key Vietnamese BYOB that opened over the summer in a converted rowhouse at 165 W. Girard Ave., across from the Fine Wine and Good Spirits shop in Northern Liberties.

StreetSide joins a small collection of nearby Viet storefront eateries, including SameSame in Northern Liberties and Stock in Fishtown.

My Huynh, who grew up in South Philadelphia, described StreetSide as her family's first food business and chose to leave it at that.

It seats 14 on the ground floor. One wall in the dim interior is brick and topped with an awning for a "street" effect. A curtain separates the kitchen from the dining room. A few paper lanterns and light strands add a splsh of color. There's seating upstairs for a couple dozen more people.

Someone with a deft hand is at work in the kitchen, turning out an easy-to-decipher, somewhat politically incorrect menu of vermicelli bowls, fried spring rolls, rice paper rolls, dumplings, banh mi, baked mussels, edamame with "Viet crack" (chili salt), and "happy endings" (aka dessert) including doughnuts and flan.

Drinks (from the category labeled "me thirsty") include mocktails such as basil seed lemongrass, and pineapple lychee.

Most dishes are priced under $5, allowing two people to run a good portion of the menu for under $30.

It's open from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 5 to 10 p.m. every day but Tuesday.