The Diplomat's Guide to Dining: New York City & Beyond

Vietnamese in Chinatown

One of our first blog posts here was about Boi, a stylish and estimable Vietnamese restaurant on the East Side near the United Nations. Boi was the restaurant a Vietnamese diplomat recommended as the most authentic of his cuisine. Our experience there was quite delightful, but I still couldn’t help doubting that this was representative of the cuisine eaten in most Vietnamese homes. The initial conversation on the topic was with a group of Vietnamese diplomats, and there had been some mention of possibilities in Chinatown. So, Murray followed up, and was told that Nam Son in Chinatown serves very authentic Vietnamese food as well. A little over a week ago, we decided we’d waited long enough; a trip to Chinatown was overdue.

The interior of Nam Son is on the other end of the spectrum from Boi. Nam Son feels a bit like a cafeteria, waiters bustling to and from the kitchen, a cart filled with dirty dishes standing in the middle of the entrance to the dining area, and workers pushing a garbage can on a handtruck past the tables as they moved it outside. And this was a Saturday evening!  Still, we were encouraged by the clientele (mostly Asian, and mostly not speaking English), and thought we might be in for a treat.

 

The menu is extensive – some 150 dishes to choose from. So, we elicited some help from our waiter, and this is what we decided on:

• Cha Gio, Vietnamese spring roll
• Muc Chien Don, crispy squid
• Bo Luc Lac, marinated beef cubes with salad and rice 

• Ga Xao Xa Ot, sautéed chicken lemongrass with green pepper, onions and chili sauce 

• Rau Muong Xao Toi, sautéed water spinach with garlic sauce

I also had a Tiger beer, one of three Vietnamese beers on the menu, the others being Beer 33 and Beer Saigon – or you can go for the California wine.

The food was all very good (and the squid was particularly tender and tasty). We ate everything, but I still felt dissatisfied. We live in northern New Jersey – Englewood, to be precise – which is fortunate to be home to a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant called Saigon R (details below). We think it serves just about the best food we’ve ever had of any kind! The owner and chef, Khan “K.T.” Tran, was taught to cook by her mother, who reportedly once upon a time catered affairs for the Republic of (i.e., South) Vietnam.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Saigon R’s recipes have been altered slightly to appeal to the American palate, but I’m willing to bet the food is pretty authentic, just out of the usual stomping grounds of Vietnamese diplomats … plus, there’s that slight political difference ... and, after all, Murray did ask about the most authentic Vietnamese in New York City.

Back to Nam Son: We had dessert as well – a dish of red bean ice cream, a dish of lychee ice cream (both delicious, but maybe not originally from Vietnam), and something called “sweet basil seed” – which ended up being an iced, sugary drink with some kind of seeds (I guess basil). It was worth a try, but we did not finish it.

Service was very spotty. We had to remind our waiter continually to pay attention to us, and I see on various food sites around the internet, this seems a common complaint. Still, the meal was inexpensive – only $72 for three of us, including tip – so, if you’re in Chinatown and want to try something different, Nam Son might be worth checking out.

All major credit cards are accepted.

Where and When

Nam Son
245 Grand Street
New York, NY 10002
(212) 966-6507

Monday through Thursday, and Sunday
10:00 am – 10:00 pm

Friday and Saturday
10:30 am – 10:30 pm

Also

Saigon R
58 West Palisade Avenue
Englewood, NJ 07631
(201) 871-4777

www.saigonmopho.com

Tuesday through Saturday
11:30 am - 9:30 pm

Sunday
4:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Monday
Closed

Note: Reservations recommended at Saigon R; there are only 23 seats in this restaurant (yes, that’s seats, not tables) and some evenings they go fast!

Most Authentic Vietnamese

A few months ago, a group of Vietnamese diplomats took Murray out to lunch at Boi, on Manhattan’s East Side near the United Nations (full address below).  Murray of course asked if they considered this the best Vietnamese restaurant in New York.  The response from the senior diplomat of the group: “Some may consider a well-known Vietnamese restaurant on East 57th Street to be the best, but that restaurant is too French,” and Boi is more authentic.

According to Boi’s website, the chef, Tamie Trans-Le, comes from a family of Vietnamese restaurateurs, and Boi is named after her grandmother.  The restaurant is fairly small (fewer than 20 tables) with soothing lighting and décor, pussy willow branches and a red back-lit design accenting the otherwise sparsely adorned walls.

During our first visit to Boi – arriving around 7:00 pm on a weeknight – we received three menus – the wine list, the regular menu, and a prix-fixe menu for dinner for two.  A quick look at the math led us to select from the prix-fixe meal, and I am glad we did; otherwise, we might have missed out on dessert, which we learned is an unusual but delicious end to a wonderful meal.

The prix-fixe menu for two allows selection of two “small dishes” (appetizers) and two “big dishes” (entrees).  We selected Cuon Rau (vegetable rolls, pictured above) and Goi Du Du (papaya salad) as the small dishes, and Cha ca Ha Noi (grilled catfish, pictured below) and Ga me (chicken in black sesame sauce) as our “big dishes.”  Every plate was beautifully presented and delicious.

For dessert, we chose sweet basil seed tapioca with pomegranate molasses and mango chutney, mostly because it sounded so unusual.  And unusual it was – one of the most delicious desserts I have ever tasted – just the right mix of sweet and sour, crunchy and creamy.  Boi’s website reports that the pastry chef is Bill Yosses, and his desserts are inspired by Vietnamese cuisine if not exactly from it.  But don’t be alarmed: The desserts we are told are the only not truly authentic part of the menu, and I’m not even beginning to suggest you skip them!

This first visit was on a Thursday night and the restaurant was mostly filled by 8:30 pm, when we left.  Clientele appeared to be predominantly people from the U.N. community, and most tables were couples or foursomes.  We returned for lunch just the other day, and found the restaurant full and bustling, as Murray did the day he had lunch there with the group of diplomats.

Prices are about what you’d expect – definitely not cheap, but appropriate for the quality.  If you order from the regular dinner menu, you can expect to pay $20 to $30 or more per person for an entrée and appetizer – no drinks or dessert.  The prix fixe for two costs $49.95 and includes one dessert but no drinks.  Our bill at dinner (with the prix fixe) was slightly over $100 including a bottle of wine and the tip.  Please note that the prix-fixe menu is available only for dinner until 7:30 pm.

Every meal we’ve had at Boi has been delicious and filling without making us feel like we’d have to diet for the next week to get over it.  The service has also always been quite good, even when the restaurant was filled at lunchtime.   All major credit cards are accepted, and there is a full bar and wine list.

Although perhaps “less French” than its rival, I have a hard time believing that this is exactly how Vietnamese villagers eat.  In the discussion Murray had with the diplomats about authentic Vietnamese restaurants, the notion that there are several in Chinatown was also mentioned.  We'll be visiting one of those restaurants soon, and will post what we discover. 

Where and When

Boi
246 East 44th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Aves.)
New York, NY 10017

(212) 681-6541

www.boi-restaurant.com

Monday through Wednesday
11:30am to 3:00pm, 5:30pm – 10:00 pm

Thursday and Friday
11:30 am to 3:00 pm, 5:30pm – 10:30 pm

Saturday
5:30pm – 10:30 pm

Sunday
5:00pm – 9:00 pm