Restaurant experiment: Pho Hoang

Pho Hoang

41-01 Kissena Boulevard between 41st & Barclay Avenue

Flushing, NY 11355

718-762-6151

Dave wanted to eat at Pho Bang, where we’ve eaten before, but alas, the chairs were on the tables and mopping was taking place.  Luckily, Pho Hoang next door was open, and we were told it closes at 2 AM.

As with these sorts of joints, service is not very solicitous.  Brusque at best.  Dave and I ordered large sized bowls of pho for roughly $6.25 each, whatta bargain!  Dave requested a bowl option with lots of meats in it, and I picked out a standard beef one with eye of round.

When I asked for no cilantro, apparently the cooks read that as no greenery at all.  I was sad that there were no scallions in my bowl, so I asked a runner for some scallions/green onions.  He barely comprehended what I was saying, even with Dave’s visual aids.  As you can expect, the green onions never showed.  Tsk tsk.  Lousy service.

Since there were lemon wedges presented with the bean sprouts and cilantro, I took it upon myself to squeeze citrus into the broth.  It actually tasted quite pleasing.  It might not be for everyone, but I sure dug it.

The bubble tea that we sampled was chock full of bubbles that were quite dense.  The tea itself was ultra sweet.  Too sweet.  If you didn’t want regular tea, you could add bubbles to other drinks for $0.50, I believe.  But the free tea was a win.

P.S.  Bathroom smelled like pee and lacked toiled paper.

Restaurant experiment: Pho Bang

Pho Bang

41-07 Kissena Boulevard at 41st Avenue

Flushing, NY 11355

718-939-5520

I found this place through my trusty Zagat, and even though it was late and rainy and cold, Dave and I ventured out to Pho Bang to sample its wares.  The service is efficient and bare bones.  The menu is sprawling so there’s something to suit practically anyone, or it would appear.

Since the name of the place has pho in it, naturally I wanted pho.  And it was the perfect weather for it too.  I forgot exactly which pho we ordered since there are about twenty zillion varieties.  Here is the visual.  Mmm.  Dave was entranced by the subtle cinnamon clove taste of the soup.

The vermicelli was also tasty, and as with the pho, I am not sure exactly what kind we got, but it contained beef and peanuts, as you can see here.  I should add that there were generous helpings of bean sprouts and mint for adding to your broth.

And our appetizers were spring rolls, even though they came out at the same time with all of the mains.  No big.  Crunchy and hot.  Will have to try the summer rolls during the next visit to Pho Bang along with the coffee (it was too late for caffeine for yours truly).  Even though we were the last patrons in the restaurant, the staff weren’t shooting daggers at us or cursing at us, or maybe they were since we couldn’t understand.  We wrapped up and left promptly, only to face the dreary chill and damp of outside but feeling satisfied with the Vietnamese delights in our bellies.

Restaurant experiment: Saigon Grill

Saigon Grill

620 Amsterdam Avenue between 90th & 91st Streets

New York, NY 10024

212-875-9072

Right as I stepped into this sprawling restaurant, I immediately took in the fact that this place is packed. Hustle plus bustle. Mostly families, but college kids, old folks, you name it. The host pointed to an empty chair where I could wait for the rest of the birthday party party to arrive. Once everyone showed up, we were escorted to a holding pen for groups in the back much like Gradisca. We were not the only birthday party in attendance.

Saigon Grill behind the scenes is a bit sketch; some of us were touching on the fact that SG got into hot water for faking their books and not paying their deliverymen fair wages.

I ordered grilled beef bun which is described on the restaurant’s MenuPages menu as “room temperature rice vermicelli with cucumber, lettuce, bean sprouts, crusted peanut and fresh herbs in nuoc cham sauce topped with grilled beef.” For something around $11, it’s totally bang for your buck times seven, what a good deal. Granted, I filled up a bit on appetizer rolls beforehand, but there were noodles aplenty in the bowl, so much so that I couldn’t finish and I was secretly ashamed. I don’t know if the bun normally comes with cilantro; I played it safe by requesting that mine be vile weed-free, and it was, either through my request or because it doesn’t come with cilantro. It is Vietnamese cuisine; you/I can’t be too careful.

Saigon Grill, the least you could do was comp Max’s birthday green tea ice cream. And you didn’t. Our party was nearly twenty people! Tsk tsk.

Restaurant experiment: Xe Lua

Xe Lua

86 Mulberry Street between Bayard and Canal

New York, NY 10013

212-577-8887

xeluanewyork.com

I discovered something that I like, and I like that. And it goes by the name of iced Vietnamese coffee. Where has it been the past few years? Thai iced tea, you might have to take a backseat for the time being. Amy suggested we try this place down in Chinatown, and it’s a Vietnamese joint run by Chinese people. The menu is huge and full of good deals; I ordered pho for only $5.50, and it wasn’t a wimpy little portion either. Four of us shared a plate of spring rolls that were a bit too chewy on the wrapper part (like biting into a Band Aid), but I found the filling acceptable. My pho with beef eye round (not eyeballs) was pleasant enough but the soup lacked a strong flavor so I had to sauce it up myself. And there were cilantro leaves which automatically irk me (I picked those out). There isn’t much beef, so if you want bundles of beef in your pho, go with the house special pho which gives you more cow for about $2 more.

The decor at Xe Lua is a bit spastic, as it’s tiki lounge in the front, and clouds/ocean-like in the back. The service is kind but maybe not the most attentive.

Now I must talk about my new favorite thing: iced Vietnamese coffee. I had never had it before, and Amy urged me to try it. It’s cute: a tiny teakettle-like object holds hot water which slowly drips onto ground coffee and then into a cup with a generous layer of sweetened condensed milk on the bottom. You stir up the coffee and milk, and the net result is a dark sludge. Skillfully pour the sludge over ice, and you’ve got iced Vietnamese coffee. It’s just like a mocha!