Dine: Something fishy going on here

HELP YOURSELF: Fish is served with assorted fresh herbs, rice paper and vermicelli noodles to create your own spring rolls. PHOTOS: KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER   MORE PHOTOS NHU Y CA 8 MON 10830 Warner Ave. Fountain Valley (714) 963-1700 Cuisine: Vietnamese Hours: 10 a.m.-midnight daily Reservations: Not needed Parking: Lot What to wear: Casual What to order: The Ca 8 Mon, or 8 courses of fish; ca nuong da don, or oven-roasted whole fish. Pricing: $10-$35 Credit cards: Major credit cards accepted Smoking: No Kid friendly? Yes Alcohol: Wine and beer How’s the service? Friendly

Attention fish lovers: We've hit the mother lode restaurant.

Before I ventured to Nhu Y Ca 8 Mon (which literally means eight courses of fish), the thought of so many fish dishes made me feel full already.

The decor at the family-style Vietnamese restaurant will likely draw a few double takes. A deer head mounted near the door greets diners upon entering. Festive Christmas lights run amok. Fake ivy sprawls across white lattice partitions around the dining booths. And the tablecloths with the fish and bait pattern only add to the eatery's willy-nilly charm.

Here, the service is refreshingly friendly and attentive, unlike most other Vietnamese restaurants that offer brusque attention at best. You'll likely have two or three waiters tending to your table. Don't be afraid to ask for suggestions on what to order, or, especially, on how to eat certain dishes, as the staff is more than willing to help.

"Don't worry, we like to teach people how to enjoy our food!" our waiter said to us, smiling.

To drink, my favorite Vietnamese beverage is a glass of soda chanh, a fizzy concoction of lemonade mixed with club soda and sugar.

For $15.99, eight appetizer-sized (and manageable) portions of sole filet prepared in a variety of styles yielded some wonderfully tasty surprises, perfect to share with a friend.

Forrest Gump's friend Bubba might have gotten a kick out of this feast: There are fish egg rolls, fish spring rolls, fish sausage, crispy strips of fried fish served with a tamarind sauce, and nuoc mam - or dipping sauce - fish porridge and so on and so forth.

The goi ca song, or fish salad, was a coleslaw-like dish topped with strips of steamed fish, meant to be eaten with the two accompanying crispy shrimp chips.

Our favorite was the ca la lot, or fish wrapped in a Hawaiian lot leaf, which was flavorful and had just a tad of heat to it. We couldn't get enough of the ca vi sat, a sizzling filet of fish that came out on a skillet. The fish was savory and garlicky and melted in our mouths.

Another house specialty to try is the ca nuong da don, or the crispy oven-baked whole fish.

You can pick from three types of fish: catfish, striped bass and trout. (Go with the catfish.) A $20 extra-small fish was just enough to feed two. A $35 large fish could easily feed four.

The fish is served with a spread of assorted fresh herbs, rice paper and vermicelli noodles, all of which you will use to assemble your own spring rolls.

The rice paper is dipped in a bowl of warm water to soften and turn it into a pliable wrapper. Place the dampened rice paper onto your plate and add about a tablespoon of noodles in the middle of the wrapper. Then take some chunks of fish and greens and fold everything into an egg-roll shape. Voila, you've got yourself a spring roll. Dip into the nuoc mam and enjoy.

When we asked for another round of soda (the only downfall to most Vietnamese restaurants is no free drink refills), our kind-faced waiter quipped, "You know, a bottle of Corona is probably better to wash down all this food with!"

The other fish offerings are seemingly never-ending. You can get practically every kind of fish cooked in every kind of way you can think of: steamed catfish, deep-fried red snapper, sautéed salmon ... you get the picture.

As if the fish wasn't enough, there's even Bo 8 Mon, eight courses of beef. Let me add that, long before Nhu Y, there were several Vietnamese restaurants in Little Saigon that specialized in Bo 7 Mon, or seven courses of beef.

I'm thinking the folks at Nhu Y felt they upped the ante with eight courses of fish and beef.

The beef, as you can imagine, was a lot more filling than the fish.

The goi cuon bo nuong, or the beef spring rolls, were a little on the sweet side, but the bo mo chai, or wrapped barbecue beef, was delicious, especially when wrapped into a spring roll with the rice paper, rice vermicelli noodles and greens.

And, believe it or not, there's more to the dizzyingly vast menu at Nhy Y, where everything from traditional pho soup to home-style rice dishes is served. But that's like going to a steak restaurant and ordering pizza.

Stick to the fish; you won't regret it.