I’m All Lost In, #76: a South Seattle classic; two biographies in one; and an iffy business plan.

I’m All Lost In …

the 3 things I’m obsessing about THIS week

#76

1) Billiard Hoang

Tofu Vermicelli at Seattle’s legendary Billiard Hoang, 3/23/25

After watching a ponderous and disappointing movie at south Seattle’s local art house theater The Beacon, XDX and I scrolled on our phones for a nearby place to get a cozy Sunday night dinner; I love procrastinating Monday. We quickly settled on an unremarkably remarkable Seattle gem, Billiard Hoang.

Located two blocks from the Columbia City light rail station at MLK Jr. Way S. and S. Hudson St., this is the kind of easygoing spot where the owners—hanging out at the bar when you mosey in, and maybe an old married couple—offhandedly direct customers to one of the tables in the vaguely raised seating area off to the right of the larger, pensive pool hall.

At first glimpse, Billiard Hoang’s lengthy menu seems to offer the standard Vietnamese fare—warm noodle soups, banh mi, vermicelli bowls, fresh or fried spring rolls, and rice plates (served with beef, duck, or veggies). But the energetic touch (scrambled eggs on the banh mi, congee, durian or avocado milk shakes) quickly brings the love afoot in the kitchen to your attention.

I had the vermicelli and tofu, served atop a spicy broth in a bowl filled to the max with fresh veggies, including, red bell peppers, shredded spinach and carrots, cooked onions, and cabbage. XDX got the sliced quarter leg of duck (very recommended by our amiable and proud waiter) with some gingery bamboo shoot rice vermicelli soup.

Vibe is an overused word, but this is that. Or per XDX, “an institution.”

2) The Goddess and the American Girl by Larry Engelmann

Like a gateway drug, Tom Cumberstone’s hardcover graphic novel (on my obsessions list two weeks ago) about 1920s French tennis star Suzanne Lenglen led me to a more traditional, 464-page biography of the six-time Wimbledon champion.

Larry Engelmann’s The Goddess and the American Girl begins with an engaging anecdote from his college days in the early 1960s at the University of Michigan: His class was reading Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises and trying to figure out who “Lenglen” was; this was Hemingway’s description of his Robert Cohn character: “He probably loved to win as much as Lenglen…” The prof had no idea who this Lenglen fellow may have been, so Engelmann “underlined that passage and put a question mark in the margin of the page.” His subsequent sleuthing didn’t turn up anybody named Lenglen, though. About a decade later when Engelmann was researching his first book, a history of 1920s Prohibition, he came across Lenglen again, a she—not a he, as presumed—who was getting constant notice in the newspapers of the time.

From Larry Engelmann’s comprehensive book: Suzanne Lenglen in action

To Engelmann’s satisfaction I imagine, the NYT called The Goddess and The American Girl “overdue” when it first came out in 1988

They also, lovingly called it “overlong.” No question this is a fat book—because it’s actually a joint bio, coupling Lenglen’s historic and seismic seven-year sweep of the international women’s tennis circuit in the early 1920s with that of her rival and successor, the slightly younger (and more staid) American player, Helen Wills.

Following Lenglen’s taboo-breaking, 1919-1925 run (Lenglen wore flapper friendly bandeau head scarves and hit down-the-line backhand smashes like a man), Wills—with lightning speed and uncanny anticipation (including on-court somersaults)—won Wimbledon eight times herself between 1927 and 1938, disassembling all comers with her “poker face” court demeanor and power hitting.

Another reason this book is hulking: Engelmann—who has written acclaimed history books about China, the fall of Saigon, and as noted above, prohibition America—is clearly a tireless researcher. I could picture him deep in the stacks (and hovering over the microfiche) as I read his prize quotes from Lenglen’s and Wills’ awed contemporaries, gasped at the stroke by stroke details from long-vanished Wimbledon matches, listened in on the up-close accounts of cross-country train rides, and delighted in the dish from late night dancing in Harlem (Lenglen, not pigtailed, Wills, a stoic presence who “acted like a Quaker” and who moved “like a West Point cadet,” wrote the sports columnists of the day).

Indeed, in the two chapters I’ve read so far—uptempo outlines of these athletes’ respective careers as they ascend toward to their 1926 “Match of the Century” (cued up for Chapter 3, “Ballyhoo”), Engelmann is big on the historical context. As much as Engelmann places Lenglen’s and Wills’ superpower tennis skills in direct competition, he more so pits cosmopolitan Lenglen as a cognac-sipping European versus Wills as the embodiment of public-park-system-America, where tennis was the “royal sport of the people.” Engelmann quotes legendary and contemporaneous sports writer Grantland Rice observing that Wills “represented the power of youth, but not the romance of youth.”

Speaking of dominant female tennis stars, I am once again riveted by WTA action this week: My favorite player, No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, is currently tearing through the Miami Open, having beaten both No. 9 (and Olympic Gold medalist) Qinwen Zheng, 6-2, 7-5 and No. 7 Jasmine Paolini, 6-2, 6-2 (!) en route to her fourth finals match of the year. While Saby is 1-2 in 2025 finals to date, and isn’t getting the love that recent Cinderella-story winners like No. 5 Madison Keys and No. 6 Mirra Andreeva recently got, I’d say she’s the most consistent winner on the tour right now.

How consistent has Sabalenka been? She’s only the fourth player to reach the semifinals at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami the same year as World No. 1, joining Steffi Graf (1994), Martina Hingis (1998, 2000 and 2001) and Serena Williams (2015). That’s some list.

3) Rocket Taco: New Space Same as the Old Space?

“No news about what’s moving in yet, but hopefully at the new place, they’ll ask if you’d like a coffee refill at lunch or another glass of wine after dinner.”

That’s me, back in a December 2023 obsession list, ruminating warily.

I was preparing myself for yet another misplayed business venture on my aspirational block, the brief human stretch on 19th Ave. E. where it’s zoned Neighborhood Commercial, or NC-1 (multi-story, mixed-use apartment buildings, convenient retail, and restaurants). After an awkward three-and-a-half year stint of totally misreading the room, December 2023 was when Bounty Kitchen (I called it Empty Kitchen) was finally closing its doors; the owners had been obstinate about their HOA feng shui as opposed to considering the renters living in the vibrant cluster of surrounding six-story buildings.

This week, a new business finally moved in. Well, not exactly new. Local Mexican restaurant chain Rocket Taco—hardly outstanding, but certainly respectable with their in-house handmade tortillas and tasty lentil, chickpea, and cauliflower vegan options—is simply moving across the street from its current 19th Ave. E. spot into the much bigger 3,000 square foot abandoned Bounty Kitchen space.

The move seems risky. Unless, owners Jill and Steve Rosen are plotting some changes to their current kids-friendly approach—and, according to Capitol Hill Seattle Blog it doesn’t sound like they are— the switch from the smaller spot where they’ve done steady, but not jumping business for seven years seems destined to be another flubbed opportunity.

My fears were not allayed when I peeked in on their soft opening Wednesday night. The tell? The shelves above the long, gorgeous bar that defines the new, posh space—and which made the long-ago Tallulah’s a hit here—was spare, with the smattering of liquor bottles looking like the two rolls of TP remaining on desolate pandemic-era Safeway shelves.

Until someone seizes the day by understanding the night, and turns this warm room into a neighborhood bar replete with: a 10 pm-or-later closing time (as opposed to the endlessly disappointing 9 pm closing times on my block); chatty waiters working tables (as opposed to the one-and-done fast food cash register counter service); plus an occasional DJ at a turntable , and yes, a full bar, Rocket Taco will remain, as it did the very next evening, their official first day, mostly empty.

My heart sank as I approached the relocated business on Thursday at 8:40 pm and saw the night’s ominous adumbration: A sole diner and two idle workers hovering.

3/27/25, A disappointing opening night at Rocket Taco

Very unrelated to all that, but lastly, two music recommendations, both to be used as playlist prompts. First, Khruangbin, a Houston-based world-music- meets-soft-soul-rock trio whose floating tunes are built around petty electric guitar musings; tunes like their lightly psychedelic 2024 track “Ada Jean” will nudge your head in a groovy direction that’s similar to the sound of fusion revivalist Thundercat, though less yacht rock jams and more Chicano-think-piece jams.

Second, try a droney track called “Ionosphere” by ambient musician Elias Mia when you want presence but not attention.