Restaurant tidbits: Cues, stars and arepas

Don’t get excited about authentic pho. The sign reads “café,” but no menu is available at Viet-Nam Café & Bida near Saigon Market.

The 4519 Franklin Ave. place, off Kerr Avenue near Market Street, is a pool hall, as “bida” is the Vietnamese word for “billiards.”

In other area restaurant news, celebrities continue making rounds at Wilmington tables. Jennifer Aniston has been to Manna and Port Land Grille and Robert Downey Jr. was at Mixto on Sunday, but one downtown restaurant was the star of the show last weekend.

N.C. Public Television’s Bob Garner on Sunday was at Le Catalan, 224 S. Water St., to shoot a segment for the show "North Carolina Weekend," Le Catalan co-owner Marie Penegre said.

The program has yet to release an air date for the segment featuring the French café, which was named by Southern Living magazine as the best Wilmington spot to watch the sunset on Cape Fear River.

If star stalkers miss Downey at Mixto, 5 S. Water St., they might want to stick around for chef Trinity Hunt’s Friday-to-Friday specials menu. Each Friday begins a new round of three to four creative dishes that blend Latin American tastes with world flavors.

Hunt recently featured chorizo corn dogs, panko-crusted avocado fries and prosciutto with grilled cantaloupe. This week’s choices are summer corn and cherry tomato salad, pulled pork arepas and blackened ahi tuna steak.