August 22, 2006
Nha Trang
As far as I'm concerned it's always time for Nha Trang. My order:
2 limeades (because one is never enough)
spring rolls
hot and sour soup with chicken
bbq beef over rice
oh joy.
Nha Trang is @ 87 Baxter. Thaison next door at 89 Baxter is also very good as is Nha Hang Pho Viet Huong @ 73 Mulberry (the order here is the beef in grape leaves). My favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Saigon, has been replaced by Doyers Vietnamese @ 11 Doyers Street. 11 Doyers is delicious, but no match for Saigon which had spring rolls that made you forget your name. New York Magazine touts Spice Market, which calls itself Vietnamese, as as one of the best dining experiences in the city. I disagree heartily. Vietnamese in name only.
I've never searched out Vietnamese restaurants in Brooklyn or Queens (there is nothing in Brooklyn Heights/Cobble Hill/Ft. Greene), but the chowhounds have a few suggestions. As my family has decamped for a few days I've been thinking of going out to Elmhurst to look for a good meal. Will report back tomorrow.
to this site
08/22/06 08:16 AM
david said...
i used to live right around the corner from Pho Hoai on ave. U and ate there twice weekly. it's better than baxter st, for sure; just a bit harder to get to.
08/22/06 12:49 PM
david said...
my girlfriend at the time lived there. a lot of good food down there: brennan & carr, pho hoai, all the chinese spots, good pizza in all directions. i stayed away from the russian places for the most part. i've been meaning to get back down there to shoot some of the bowling alleys--spent most of that year bowling, for some reason.
08/22/06 01:12 PM
Steve said...
Hoi An (Vietnamese cooking in the Japanese kitchen)on West Broadway in Tribeca has reasonable generic Vietnamese, although as the tagline suggests, it's a Japanese restaurant serving Vietnamese food.
08/22/06 02:56 PM
Anonymous said...
more in manhattan for your list if you don't know them already:
Anh
363 Third Ave. at 27th
(212) 532-2858
Bo-Ky Restaurant
80 Bayard St.
(212) 406-2292
[the pigs feet are amazing here if you are into that]
O Mai
158 Ninth Ave.
(212) 633-0550
[overrated but the best in the area, forget the cross street]
08/23/06 11:11 PM
chanchow said...
My favorite Vietnamese restaurants in NYC were Nha Trang and, for a while, Saigon Grill on the UWS (for the banh hoi and canh chua). O Mai and Bao 111 are also good, but more upscale. Also, Le Colonial has good, authentic VN. For a long time, I refused to go there because of the name, but once I tried it I had to admit that it was pretty good. Supposedly there is (or was) an excellent, hole in the wall (literally) pho restaurant in an alley off the north side of Canal, just east of Broadway.