My wife and I hit this place before catching a bus back from Philly. Generic name aside, this place was pretty good at satisfying our cravings for Viet food.
We started with an order of banh cuon; rice noodle crepes rolled with ground chicken, mushrooms and herbs, served with a tangy, sweet and savory fish sauce and bean sprouts.
This is one of my wife’s favorite Vietnamese dishes, so we pretty much always try to order it if we see it on a menu. This one was pretty good, but I think it’s safe to say we’ve both had better.
Next were a pair of soups.
First, the classic beef pho noodle soup, with thinly sliced eye round beef (my go-to Viet soup of choice).
This packed a good amount of flavor, but, again, we have had better. Nonetheless, this bowl was still better than good portion of NYC Viet joints, which are known to suck on the whole.
Second soup: My wife had bun bo hue, which is typically a spicy lemongrass pork- and variety meat- based soup that contains everything from tripe to congealed pork blood.
This version had brisket as opposed to all that offal. It was still super spicy and had a great lemongrass kick to it. Also, the noodles were good. Lots of times the noodles used in this style of soup get too soggy and overcooked. These held up nice to strict scrutiny.
I still liked the pho better, but that’s a subjective thing for me. I think, objectively speaking, the bun bo hue was the better bowl here, even though it was dumbed down and “Americanized” a bit to avoid the use of offal meat.
VIETNAM RESTAURANT
221 N 11th St
Philadelphia, PA 19107
I was invited to newly opened The Anthony by my buddy Mike from Gotham Burger Social Club for a special tasting dinner with some other influencers and Instagrammers. We sampled a massive portion of the menu, and everything was pretty much fantastic. Let me get right into it for you hungry savages…
First, the cocktail menu is excellent. I tried this “Matador” drink, made with mezcal, lime, cilantro and spicy habanero honey – it was dynamite.
To start, we had a cheese and meat board, with my favorite olives: Castelvetranos!
Then some French onion fondue. This was really unique and flavorful.
We also did some fried oysters, which were breaded to a perfect crisp and served in refreshing lettuce cups.
But the star of the apps, though, were these mini char siu pork belly and liver mousse banh mi sandwiches. Holy shit! I could eat a dozen (two minis per order).
While this item is listed as a starter, it can probably be consumed as a main if you order the banh mi to start. Duck confit and waffles.
Fuck what you think you know about chicken and waffles. This is the way to do it.
On the side we did some cacao e pepe fries, which were really nicely cooked and golden brown.
Some lobster mac and cheese, which was really nice as it was made with thick cavatappi / fusilli rigate (ridged).
And some Asian style sautéed greens (broccolini / Chinese broccoli).
Okay now let me get into the meat of the review. I’ll tackle the burgers first. We tried two: an off menu “Tavern Burger,” and the “Tony Prime.” Nice name, right? Maybe he iso a long lost brother of mine or something. He must be, because he is made of aged beef and a special house made creamed spinach cheese. Say whaaat?!??!
Yup. That’s right – they make it in house by combining creamed spinach with cheese, spreading it out flat and thin, cooling it down to let it congeal, and then slicing it out into individual cheese sliced for this incredible burger.
This has to be one of my new favorite burgers in town. It’s so unique and special. It actually tastes like steak! Amazing. And so does the Tavern Burger, which is topped with a nice melty gruyere and arugula.
We also tried the brick chicken. This had a great crispy top from the cooking process. I think it just suffered a bit and got too dry. I honestly don’t mind dry chicken from time to time, as long as there is a sauce to go with. Otherwise it was excellent.
We also hit this pork chop pretty hard. Really nice spice and herb mix going on here, and a very tasty glaze.
Underneath this 12oz Berkshire chop is a bacon and apple potato cake, and on top are caramelized onions.
And now for the champion. The 28-day dry aged 40oz tomahawk rib eye.
This was truly a sight to behold.
I got more funk and flavor from this 28-day steak than I have from 60-day chops. It was absolutely wonderful.
It seemed a bit small for 40oz (and $140), but then again the bone was pretty big, as was the flavor. I was hoping for a bit more cap, but what I did taste was great. It was nicely cooked, well rested with no bleed-out, and it sported a nice outer crisp. 8/10.
I didn’t think any of us had room for dessert, but apparently humans are equipped with a second stomach that’s just for dessert.
First, this berry mousse. Very light and flavorful.
Next, an apple pie style tart. Great hits of cinnamon and brown sugar here. Cold ice cream and hot pie – perfect combo.
And chocolate cake, because why the fuck not.
This was really a great meal. The biggest standouts for me, for which I will definitely go back, are the burgers, the banh mi and the duck waffles. I recommend you do the same.
Vietnamese food is a tough nut to crack in NYC. Most of it sucks here, and the few places that people rave about just don’t really do it for me. I’ve been to places where they get one dish right, but fail on others. They have a great sandwich, but the soup in bland. You can literally go to almost any other city in America and find better Vietnamese food than you can in NYC, which baffles the living shit out of me. New York is the best at everything, so why not Vietnamese food? Who knows. The answer eludes me. Maybe the Vietnamese community just isn’t big enough here, or there aren’t enough courageous Vietnamese chefs that are willing to stretch their neck out and take a financial risk in the highly competitive and quick-to-closure NYC restaurant scene.
Goddess Kali: house sake, sparkling wine, chia seeds, hibiscus, lemon and pineapple.
In any case, Bo Caphe isn’t like those lame joints that attempt to offer traditional Vietnamese food and then fail to deliver because there is not one single Vietnamese person on staff who would know how to make the dishes. Bo Caphe is embracing the non-traditional by proudly offering fusion dishes that you can get excited about, like the Bao Burger with taro chips.
The burger had a nice char on the outside, with what seemed like diced onions mixed into the grind. It was juicy, and the steamed bun was the perfect Asian version of a soft and pliable yet strong potato bun. The addition of cilantro and green pepper sauce made it pop. The taro chips were a nice touch as well. They were thin, crisp, well seasoned and only occasionally greasy.
Being a French-Vietnamese fusion restaurant is nothing too outside the box, since binding the two cultures makes sense from a historical/colonial perspective. But Bo Caphe dives a bit further into French territory by offering a few selections that feature cheese, something largely not featured in Vietnamese cuisine, let alone Asian cuisine generally. Both the spring roll menu and bun menu featured cheese. The spring roll item, Vach Kiri, which literally translates to “laughing cow,” is a fried rice paper wrapper that’s filled with cheese and quinoa.
The fried chicken bun had some goat cheese. I enjoyed it, as it added a different texture and flavor combination to compliment the pickled carrots and daikon on top, but I can see how this might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
The braised beef bun, on the other hand, was pretty straight forward and delicious. No cheese that I could taste. And while I was eating this one I remarked that I was surprised the Bao Burger didn’t feature any cheese. Of all places to have it, that seems like the most proper fit for cheese in Asian cuisine.
The noodles here were fantastic. We tried two styles: one was cooked lemongrass beef, and the other was raw diced salmon. The salmon dish was reminiscent of a poke bowl but with noodles and fish sauce for dressing rather than soy-based sauces. It was refreshing and tasty.
The lemongrass beef was my favorite of the two. The beef was really tender and packed with great lemongrass flavor and aromas.
Both noodle dishes were topped with peanuts, shredded carrot and cucumber, fresh mint and a veggie spring roll.
The next two dishes we tried run the gamut from traditional Vietnamese to traditional French. No real fusion here; two dishes in the style of two different countries. The first, of course, is pho.
This aromatic, comforting soup is not bad for NYC pho, but my wife and I are just spoiled by the soups we had up in the mountains of SaPa in Vietnam. Nothing can compare. In any case, if you need a fix, this is not a bad bowl. The noodles are slightly different than the usual flat style (these are square spaghetti shaped, like “alla chitarra”), but the aromas are great and they use cilantro, which is what we saw in Vietnam fairly often. If you dress this bowl up with some hoisin and sriracha, you should be good.
The second dish is a marinated skirt steak with salad.
The steak was largely French-inspired, even down to the mustard seed sauce (which I liked very much). The steak was a bit over-cooked for my liking, but it packed a lot of flavor and was charred nicely on the outside. I’d order it again, for sure. 7/10.
The watercress salad featured some nice ripe avocados, tomatoes and red onions.
The dessert menu has some interesting selections. First was a molten chocolate lava cake with coconut. The lava wasn’t very melty, but the sauce that came with it was delicious. The coconut here was similar to the inside of a mounds chocolate candy bar.
This black sesame ice cream was more like a cream ice of shave ice texture and flavor; light, refreshing, icy rather than creamy. It was delicious, especially with the toasted sesame seeds on top.
This next dessert was an interesting take on the avocado shakes that I love to get from Vietnamese restaurants. This was a chocolate avocado mousse. You could taste equally the avocado and the chocolate, which was a flavor combination that I never thought or expected to like. It was great!
The only down side was that they didn’t have the spicy pineapple, sumac and mint salad dessert item. I was really looking forward to trying that out. Also just FYI: I was invited to this joint as an “influencer” – basically free food in exchange for pics and an honest review. So there it is.
My wife and I hit this joint when we were in Boston for the weekend attending a wedding. My wife did some poking around to find this joint, which was highly rated and with good reason. It is better than anything we have for Vietnamese food here in NYC. NYC is known for having piss-poor Vietnamese food. Shameful.
So we ordered up a bunch of our regular favorites. First were the summer rolls and spring rolls. The summer rolls (goi cuon) were great. The ingredients were all nice and fresh, with good shrimp and pork inside.
The spring rolls (cha gio) were not as good, unfortunately. They had a different wrapper than we are used to having (I’m not sure which is correct or more “authentic”), but the filling tasted more Thai or Chinese than Vietnamese.
We also ordered banh cuon; broad noodles rolled with pork meat and mushroom inside, and topped with herbs, bean sprouts, crispy onions and thick-sliced Vietnamese bologne. It was excellent!
For the soups, we tried pho with sliced eye round beef (pho tai), and bun bo hue (beef and pork noodle soup with thick spaghetti style rice noodles).
Here’s a look at the pho, which had a nice strong flavor in the broth, high quality eye round and yet a light and fresh feel to it.
The bun bo hue had a great robust flavor, but I preferred the pho. The meat was all good quality and braised nice and soft, unlike many NYC places.
We even had some avocado shakes, which are becoming increasingly rare by us in NYC, and when they do it, it is almost always bland. This one was perfect! Just the right amount of sweetness from the sweetened condensed milk.
Other flavors available:
This place is right near the south bus station, so when we are back in town again, I’m sure we will revisit.
NEW DONG KHANH RESTAURANT
81 Harrison Ave
Boston, MA 02111
My wife and I stopped in this little joint to sample some sandwiches. Over the last week I’ve put away six or seven different banh mi sandwiches, and this place served up the best of the lot.
We went with the classic bologna and pate banh mi, as well as the grilled pork. The bread was softer and less flakey than most baguettes, but it was still crisp and delicious.
The meats were delicious, and packed well with abundance. The grilled pork had hints of lemongrass, and the pork roll and pate sandwich had great texture. At $5 each, this place is a steal.
This no-frills Vietnamese sandwich joint is pretty legit.
They even have the jewelry case in the front of the restaurant as you walk in, which seems to be a somewhat common occurrence in NYC Vietnamese sub shops.
The banh mi were packed with meat. We tried both the classic bologna pate and the chicken. Of the two, my favorite was the chicken. It was nicely marinated in herbs and spices like lemongrass, and the meat was soft and flavorful. The pickled veggies were shredded and remained crunchy, though the cucumbers should have been cut down a bit thinner, with the skin removed.
The bread was super crispy, tearing the roof of my mouth up, but such is the life of a banh mi fanatic.
My wife and I stopped in here for a quick Vietnamese fix.
I had the small bowl of Pho Tai (eye round beef only). The broth had good flavor. It was a bit salty, but overall it really hit the spot. The meat was good quality, and the herbs were fresh.
My wife tried this version of bun bo hue (another hearty type of beef stew) but with added pork as well. The broth had a shrimp paste flavor to it that really threw us off. We weren’t happy with it.
We also tried these flattened rice noodle cakes that were topped with dried shrimp powder, mung bean paste, scallions, fried onions and fish sauce. These were okay. Though I am not a fan of the dried shrimp powder in general, that flavor made much more sense here than in the paste form in the bun bo hue soup.
My wife also had a durian fruit shake. I’m not a huge fan of durian (smells like rotting garbage), but if you can get past the smell then this was actually pretty tasty.
This little corner Vietnamese bodega was a staple spot for me and my wife when we lived nearby.
They sell everything from Vietnamese variety show VCDs to music CDs, over the counter meds to dry goods and trinkets.
But they also sell banh mi sandwiches.
I grabbed two on my way home from jury duty, which brought me back into my old stomping grounds.
The classic: ham, pate and slices of pork roll with pickled veggies, cilantro, mayo and sri racha.
The spicy BBQ pork: BBQ pork with pickled veggies, cilantro, mayo, BBQ sauce and sri racha.
Both were really tasty and flavorful. The bread here is likely made early in the morning. When I arrived it was still being kept warm in a toaster oven type thing, but it may have dried out a bit in the hours it was there. The French bread was crispy and flaky, so much so that the roof of your mouth gets raped pretty hard, but the sandwich flavors make it worth the pain. These sandwiches are pretty solid for a cheap Chinatown deli shop. Stop in if you’re nearby.
SAU VOI CORP.
101 Lafayette St #3
New York, NY 10013
BONMi is a Vietnamese-ish soup, sandwich and breakfast joint that opened about nine months ago on 62nd between Columbus and Amsterdam.
The menu is simple, fresh and straight-forward:
Unlike traditional pho, the soup here has very thin, rounded noodles, as opposed to wider, flat noodles. The broth is beef or veggie stock, and you can add a variety of meats as toppings. We went with 18-hour beef in beef stock, with a lemongrass sauce and everything but carrots on top. It was pretty good! Just don’t expect that robust pho flavor. This is more like a standard noodle soup than pho.
The sandwich, however, keeps it pretty real to banh mi. The flavor profile is similar, though not with exactitude, and the bread is good quality, crunchy, fresh French baguette style:
It is a bit short on length for the price point, but it is packed to the gills with meat and toppings. This is the pork belly filling:
The joint also serves pre-made salads, summer rolls and other Vietnamese items, like this fresh brewed coffee:
For all three items it was just over $22. Not bad, considering the quality was acceptable to me, and even passed muster with my wife (her heritage is Vietnamese, so she is naturally picky when it comes to anything claiming to be remotely Vietnamese). Give it a shot!
This is fast casual Vietnamese food, which I think needs more of a presence throughout the country. Vietnamese food is generally pretty healthy and fresh, and the staple items like summer rolls, pho and banh mi are so fucking delicious. I already have a concept in mind for a chain that I think would kill… Anyway, we sampled the pho and a classic banh mi. The flavors were spot on, correct to how these items should taste.
The price for the pho was a little higher than normal, at around $9, but the portion size was big.
