When visiting New York, my question always is: Where should I eat? This weekend I'm in New York and a number of people have emailed, tweeted and Facebooked me restaurant recommendations. One person, Jennie M. sent this detailed message and though I can't go to all of these places, I'm sharing her list of mostly Vietnamese restaurants with you:
Hi Andrea,
I just saw your tweet about NYC asian food recommendations on Twitter.
Honestly, Asian food is really watered down in the city. Cong Ly
is about the only Viet place I go to when I'm in Manhattan's Chinatown.
I usually order pho, #57, banh beo, or cha gio there. I think the
outer-boroughs have much more variety and flavor compared to
Manhattan. It's not California for sure, but it's the best list I've
got.
Thanh Da (review)
6008 7th Ave
(between 60th St & 61st St)
Brooklyn, NY 11220
(718) 492-3253I've never had banh canh cua (pic)
outside of Brooklyn so I don't have much of a basis. All I know is
that, I go to this restaurant at least once a month with my pops.
Sometimes we go once every week. We slurp up all the soup with "bowl
in face" til the last drop. They make banh beo only on the weekends as
well. The rice cakes are as fresh and home made tasting as you can
get.Thanh Huong (review)
533 West Side Ave
Jersey City, NJ 07304
(201) 333-3030
Good
bun rieu and great cha gio. I haven't tried a lot of other dishes from
this place, cause well, it's in Jersey. They have the best cha gio for
the east coast!Pho Hoai (review)
1906 Avenue U
(between 19th St & Ocean Ave)
Brooklyn, NY 11229
(718) 616-1233
Deeelicious but inconsistent bo luc lac and a good hearty bowl of pho.Omai (review)
158 9th Ave
(between 19th St & 20th St)
New York, NY 10011
(212) 633-0550
This
place is not your average $6 pho. It's a small restaurant in Chelsea
that makes modern Vietnamese cuisine similar to Ana Mandara or Slanted
Door in San Francisco. They have a great chef who definitely knows how
to cook. All their appetizers are very good. I used to order grilled
prawn and scallops over veggies, rice noodles with lime and basil sauce
from my office all the time. They have a good banh xeo and grilled
calamari.Imperial Palace (review)
Neighborhood: Downtown Flushing
13613 37th. Avenue
Flushing, NY 11354
(718) 939-3501
The NYT wrote an article
about this place yesterday.. This is one of my FAVORITE PLACES with
traditional Cantonese cooking. I love crabs - and I can have cravings
for their crabs with sticky rice every day. Read the article and you
will want to go to Flushing to try it. (Just don't get Viet food in
Flushing) While you are on that street, make sure you stop by the
smokiest street cart to get a few lamb skewers before dinner cause you
might have to wait. The lamb skewers at this Xin Jiang cart are to DIE
FOR. I just introduced my dad to it last Sunday, and he can't stop
talking about it. He told me next time he is going to bring rice to
accompany it with. These Xin Jiang lamb skewers are Western
Chinese/Middle Eastern.Lao Bei Fang Dumpling House (review)
86-08 Whitney Ave
Elmhurst, NY 11373
(718) 639-3996
Time Out magazine recently published a piece
on "Best Food Neighborhoods." This dumpling place was featured in it.
It's very popular. I don't know if I love it. A lot of people do.
Maybe I don't have enough experience in dumplings. If you are still
hungry, get soft shell crabs at Chao Thai (it tastes like chips. I think it's deep fried in lard to get it's crispy airyness) or get a bowl of pho at Pho Bang.I hope you make it to some of these places. If you do, let me know how you like them!
If you've been to these spots, do weigh in! Or, if you have additions, include them so we can expand the listing.
Btw, Cathy of Gastronomyblog also suggested that I hit Xie Xie for their cha ca la vong banh mi.
Christine@ FRESH LOCAL says
Andrea,
Thank you so much for sharing this list! Since moving to NY from SF earlier this year, I've been having a tough time finding an authentic Vietnamese restaurant. It's been one disappointment after another. I'm looking forward to trying these places in the near future.
Thanks again!
Christine
Noah says
Make sure to check out Doyers Street Vietnamese in Chinatown on (surprise) Doyers Street. It's a fairly deserted part of Chinatown, but there's a gaudy sign to let you know it's there.
Andrea Nguyen says
You're welcome Christine. I just ate at Cong Ly this evening after grocery shopping at the Viet market on Bowery (at Grand) for my cooking classes. Cong Ly is tucked away on a side street and it's totally low key and old school. Their nem nuong meatballs weren't brilliant but made with care. The Grand Street subway station is nearby so with the rain tonight and my bag of ingredients, it was a relative breeze.
Doyers has so many options. I'll pay more attention!
Jessica Lee Binder says
Welcome to NY Andrea! I completely agree with Jennie that Asian food is better in the outer boroughs. Edible Queens had an article about Flushing, which is where I go for Chinese food. Thanks for the list. I'm looking forward to some more places to try!
Mic says
This is great, I love Vietnamese food and i'll be in New York in three weeks and I will some of these places, thanks.
Andrea Nguyen says
Thanks, Jessica. Love what you do on Foodmayhem.com. Those ghoulish bones from 10/30 are extra fabulous!
http://www.foodmayhem.com/2009/10/halloween-bones.html
Mic -- my pleasure. Many thanks to Jennie.
r4 says
Thanks for sharing the list and for the feedback on the restaurants. I love eating Asian food and Vietnamese is one of my favorites. The next time I am in NY would be trying one restaurant from your list.
corewu says
We passed by Cong Ly restaurant a while back...and my wife was afraid to go in there since it looks so small and she feels dirty. After seeing all the good reviews at Yelp, I will definitely try it next time I visit Chinatown.
Tan says
Its so difficult to know which restaurants are good, bad, indifferent when you visit a new place- like 'corewu' says above - it might look a little shabby on the outside but it could hold untold culinary wonders within! Thanks for the list!
JDG says
Xe Lua on Mulberry Street is wonderful for Pho and grilled stuffed squid.
Hong says
Andrea, thank you for your blog and recipes! I'm cooking your Chao Ga at the moment since I have a cold, and it's looking great.
Just wanted to add on this post that for me the main reason to go to Cong Ly is that it has a dish difficult to find anywhere else, especially in Manhattan, and that is Hu Tieu My Tho. They use the chewy hu tieu noodles, which is the rare part. Delicious! You can see on my sister's blog from the last time we went there: http://lunchstudio.blogspot.com/2009/10/cong-ly-with-hong.html
Andrea Nguyen says
Hong -- hope you're feeling better. I had a pot of chao creamy rice soup yesterday for lunch too. Perfect autumn weather food.
Cong Ly is old-school. Love that they use the chewy tapioca noodles for hu tieu. That's the way I like it too. I make the noodle soup at home because it is hard to get 'right' at restaurants. I just call my noodles hu tieu nam vang as a nod to the Cambodian-Chinese influence:
http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2007/11/hu-tieu-nam-van.html
Harvey, Proud Owner of the Best Restaurant in Chelsea says
Perfect! I need this information as I will be visiting NY next month and I need to find the best restaurant near Chelsea that serves Vietnamese dishes. Thanks a lot!
Air Jordans says
shishang zicai bing, shenghuo jiankang you meili. ni keyi qu pinwei yixia.