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Asian Malls and Shopping Districts Markets Viet Restaurants Tips on Finding Viet Ingredients and Restaurants
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Below is
a list of 12 Vietnamese restaurants printed in the New York Times'
"Eating Out" column on April 14, 2000. The commentary come
from reviews, columns and articles in The Times by William Grimes, Eric
Asimov and others. Cafe
Asean NYT Review: "This charming little cafe combines the vogue for Pan-Asian menus with a pleasant, rustic American look and an eager-to-please staff. The menu is largely Vietnamese with a scattering of Malaysian and Thai dishes; the Vietnamese are the best. Bun tom, the Vietnamese standard of rice vermicelli served cold with grilled shrimp, is perfectly cooked, while fresh salads of lettuce, basil and mint topped with grilled shrimp or slices of grilled beef are simple and satisfying. Goi cuon, shrimp and rice noodles wrapped in soft rice paper and served cool with a sweet peanut sauce for dipping, is also refreshing." Le Colonial NYT Review: "Le Colonial, an oddly American combination of Euro-chic and Indochina,somehow manages to be fun. Vietnamese cuisine here is sedate: more delicate than Chinese, less spicy than Thai and notable mostly for its abundance of vegetables and absence of grease. Spring rolls are so delicate you tend to forget they are fried. The beef salad is sparked with lemon grass, basil and enough chili to make those who do not like hot food unhappy, while grilled spareribs are fragrant, chewy and slightly herbal. Steamed fish is a conversation stopper: the preparation is simple, but the fish has been cooked with so many herbs, vegetables and spices that the flesh has absorbed a pleasantly savory taste. The flesh near the bone is especially sweet." Cuisine
de Saigon NYT Review: "Authentic Vietnamese food is served at this Village restaurant. The menuincludes items like shrimp crepe; sauteed beef with garlic and lemon grass;and shrimp brochette, grilled shrimp on a bed of angel hair rice noodles, wrapped with rice paper and served with nuoc mam sauce. The menu also features vegetarian dishes, a dessert menu and specialty drinks." Cyclo NYT Review: "Cyclo stands out among New York's Vietnamese restaurants because the food is so light, fresh and balanced. Delicate, greaseless spring rolls cry out to be eaten the Vietnamese way, wrapped in a lettuce leaf with some mint or cilantro and marinated carrot and dipped in nuoc cham, the tangy sweet-and-sour sauce. Among the other outstanding dishes are ca bam, chopped monkfish that you spoon up with a crisp sesame-rice cracker, and chicken roasted with lemon grass and lime juice. Chao tom, grilled shrimp paste wrapped around sugar cane, is served with soft rice wrappers, as is traditional. You remove the shrimp paste from the cane, fold it in a wrapper with fresh herbs and dip it into rich hoisin sauce." Mekong NYT Review: "Mekong owes its allegiance more to SoHo than to Chinatown or Vietnam. It has a dim, relaxed ambience in its pleasant home across the street from St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. While the atmosphere is thoroughly Americanized, the cuisine is authentically Vietnamese. A typical dish, easily enough for two, is a cool but very spicy salad of shredded chicken with cabbage, carrots and onions in which the searing heat of the chili is offset by refreshing lime and mint. More delicate, even with the strong flavor of nuoc mam, is a steamed rice crepe cut into chunks and served with bits of chicken, shrimp and mushroom. The best Vietnamese main courses are fresh and lively, like savory grilled pork with lemon grass served on steamed rice vermicelli." Monsoon NYT Review: "In 1994 Monsoon was the first Vietnamese restaurant to open on the Upper West Side, and it has been busy ever since. Sometimes the kitchen shows the strain and stints on seasonings. But when the kitchen has breathing room, Monsoon produces food that is fresh, flavorful, carefully prepared and subtly spiced. Noodle dishes are terrific, whether stir-fried or simply steamed, topped with chicken, shrimp or beef. Pork chops, sliced thin and marinated in lemon grass, honey and garlic, have a wonderfully balanced sweet and smoky flavor." Nam Phuong
NYT Review: "With its dim lights, wall-length mirrors and neon signs, this pleasant Vietnamese restaurant fits well into its TriBeCa neighborhood. Nam Phuong serves delicious soups like pho tai, a traditional northern Vietnamese dish: a rich, almost velvety cilantro-scented beef stock filled with paper-thin slices of tender steak and rice noodles. The southern version of pho, hu tieu, is equally good, the rice noodle soup full of sliced pork and shrimp. A nice counterpart to the soups is the cool, refreshing shredded chicken salad flavored with mint, lemon grass and lime and spiced with chilies. Iced Vietnamese coffee, made with condensed milk, is like a coffee milkshake, while limeade, made with Vietnamese limes, is sweet and refreshing." Nha Trang NYT Review: "There's nothing fancy at Nha Trang, a plain storefront with typical Chinatown brightness. But Nha Trang was one of the pioneering Vietnamese restaurants in Chinatown, and it's still one of the best. Spring rolls are perfectly fried, while steamed ravioli, glistening paper-thin rice noodle crepes wrapped around minced pork and ground mushrooms and served with slices of smooth, mild Vietnamese pork sausage, is another excellent appetizer. Vietnamese rice noodle soups like pho tai, a huge bowl of noodles and tender slices of beef in a coriander-scented broth, are big enough to be an entire meal. Vietnamese iced coffee can be a fine dessert." Rain NYT Review: "Rain is one of the most compelling restaurants specializing in Southeast Asian cuisines. The stylish, high-ceilinged dining room seems perpetually busy, service is pleasant and helpful, and much of the food is quite good. Cold vegetarian summer rolls are wonderfully cooling, while green papaya salad is fiery yet refreshing. Vietnamese charred beef salad, a spicy, beautifully presented composition that balances cool herbal and citrus flavors with spicy heat, is top-notch, as is Thai chicken-and-coconut soup. The best main courses are stir-fried beef in peanut sauce and stir-fried Chinese eggplant with an excellent yellow bean sauce. Rain has an East Side branch on Third Avenue near 63rd Street." Saigon
Grill NYT Review: "This plain, bright restaurant specializes in takeout, but it is also a pleasant place to eat. Noodle dishes and soups like pho bo, an oxtail broth with rice noodles and paper-thin slices of rare beef, are excellent, as is chao tom, the snack of grilled shrimp paste wrapped around a stalk of sugar cane. Green papaya salad, topped with grilled beef, and goi ga, a chicken salad with crushed peanuts, are very good, simultaneously cool, refreshing and spicy." Seeda
Thai 2 NYT Review: "For years, Seeda Thai served decent Thai food in the theater district. When Vietnamese food started to catch on, the restaurant was reincarnated in a new location as Seeda Thai 2, serving both Vietnamese and Thai. Both sides of the menu are pretty good, from incendiary minced pork to soothing chicken in peanut sauce with mint. While Seeda's building is, to put it kindly, unprepossessing, the restaurant offers good cheap meals near the theaters." La Soiree
d'Asie NYT Review: "It would be difficult to imagine a more peaceful restaurant than this Upper East Side town house where beautiful waitresses in silk dresses glide serenely through quiet rooms. It would be even harder to imagine a less threatening Vietnamese menu. Appetizers include the familiar spring rolls, dumplings and fried ravioli, and the main courses offer no challenges either. Everything is easy to eat; even the fish have no bones. And while the menu goes on for pages, listing endless dishes of beef, chicken, shrimp and fish, it soon becomes clear that they are merely variations on similar themes. The best main courses are among the house specials. Sugar-cane shrimp, a traditional dish of shrimp broiled on sticks of sugar cane and served with rice pancakes, are fun to eat. The special clay-pot rice mixed with shrimp, chicken and crunchy bits of black fungus is slightly sweet and surprisingly delicious. And steamed fish turns out to be a rustic clay-pot casserole filled with white sea bass in a broth rich with ginger, peppers and vegetables. Noodles are appealing, too. There are variations, but they all turn out to be similarly tasty and unexceptional." |
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