Archive for 'Vietnamese'

Mooncake Foods Has A Fancy Vietnamese Meatball Sandwich For When Chinatown Is Too Far

I know many of you who work in the far reaches of Soho or the upper part of Tribeca by the Holland Tunnel probably frequent Mooncake Foods on Watts (btw. Thompson & 6th Ave.) because there’s not much else in the area other than a couple of Latin luncheonettes and some street meat carts. I however, had never made it there for lunch despite hearing nothing but good things about its food. The other day I was looking for an excuse to leave the Financial District for lunch, and what do you know, the Vietnamese pork meatball hero ($8) at Mooncake called my name.

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OBAO’s Pho Is Kind Of A Fail

It’s been face-numbingly cold this week and as a result, foods that will help unfreeze said face sound really good all. I hadn’t checked back in with OBAO down on Water (at Hanover Sq.) since the Thai and Vietnamese food purveyor opened back in October. The menu has two noodle soups on it for $9 and I decided it was a good time to try the pho (the other option is a tom yum with shrimp). I’ll go into more detail after the jump, but it’s probably worth your time to walk up to Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches at Nassau & Ann for your pho fix, or order online from Chinatown. Read more »

First Look: You Might Have To Break The $10 Barrier At OBAO

Several months after paper went up on the windows in the former space selling “exquisite jewelry”, OBAO opened last week selling a mix of Vietnamese and Thai dishes that they mercifully didn’t fuse together. There’s a steam table with Thai standards and most of the Vietnamese fare is out of the ML price range. The prices are a bit high for a place that looks like a bit more downscale, but if you’re willing to toe the $10 line you’re probably going to be pretty satisfied with your lunch here.

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At Nicky’s Vietnamese, Three Kinds Of Pork Are Better Than One

I’ve eaten at Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches a couple of times for a banh mi and to try the pho but recently realized that I’d never had their classic sandwich featuring the holy trinity of crumbled pork, pate and cold cut. It just so happened that the next day was miserably rainy and I didn’t want to venture more than a couple of blocks for lunch, so Nicky’s sounded perfect. It was time to see how three varieties of pork stacked up against the pork chop sandwich I’d eaten on my first visit there.

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Chinatown’s Bo Ky Focuses on Noodles, But They Serve Another Standout

It is definitely hearty, carb-filled food weather but I have grown tired of the options down in the Financial District. Sure, there’s the Hot Soup Cart when something warm sounds good, but I’ve found that hit or miss, and I can only eat the pho at Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches so many times before that too becomes boring. This is when I look for an excuse to head to Chinatown and I found that with a Serious Eats post on the food at Bo Ky on Bayard (btw. Mulberry & Mott). The shrimp rolls looked like something that needed to be consumed (by me), and I am always OK with noodle soup in its many glorious forms. Read more »

Pho From Nicky’s Vietnamese Does The Noodle Soup Genre Proud

It’s that time of year when there are days (like yesterday) that you just want to hunker down for lunch with a hot steaming bowl of soup. The recently-opened Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches on Nassau St. (at Ann) said they would be serving pho and have delivered on that promise. This is the only place I’m aware of in the Financial District that you can get the Vietnamese noodle soup, and it’s nice to not have to hop on a train up to Chinatown when the craving hits. Read more »

Fake Meat Banh Mi: Not As Bad As You’d Think!

When profiled lunch’er Chirag mentioned one of his favorite lunches downtown was the veguette banh mi at Baoguette, I was both intrigued and skeptical. To me soy protein masquerading as a meat product (in this case kung pao chicken) is kind of like the McRib: trying to be something it’s not. I know not everyone eats meat and as it’s one of the only vegetarian banh mi options in the Financial District (other than Nicky’s Vietnamese tofu version). Clearly someone had to try this sandwich for research purposes. Read more »