Get A Taste Of Baxter St. At The FiDi’s New Vietnamese Source, A La Saigon
We don’t have much in the way of Vietnamese specialties in the Financial District other than a couple of banh mi sources that also offer serviceable bowls of pho and bun.
Seemingly overnight, Eight Dumpling House morphed into A La Saigon much to the confusion of at least three customers I overheard trying to order their fix of General Tso’s chicken.
What I can report is the $8 lunch special I tried was pretty good, and a welcome counter to all that Americanized Chinese food of fried chicken in gloppy sauces.
There are several options for lunch including various proteins or vegetables over rice or vermicelli, and you get a can of soda or seltzer with your order. I ordered the bun (room temperature vermicelli noodles) with Vietnamese pork spring rolls on top. I also saw a guy’s order of grilled, thinly-sliced skewers of beef over vermicelli and it looked mighty tasty.
The spring rolls were not the best I’ve ever had, but are the best version you’re going to find without hiking up to Chinatown. The inside featured ground pork (you can also get a vegetable version) and some nubs of what I think was potato but I’m not sure. I’d stick to the grilled meats or vegetables if I were you.
The rest of the plate was good and included a pile of vermicelli studded with bits of crushed peanuts that were sweet, and pickled cucumber and carrot. I would imagine this will be a refreshing lunch in the summer.
Have any of your eaten at A La Saigon yet? If so, tell us your thoughts on the food in the comments.
A La Saigon, 8 Liberty Place (btw. Maiden Lane & Liberty St.), (212) 227-9899, 227-9855
Posted by Andrea H at 10:00 am, May 15th, 2013 under A La Saigon, Financial District, Noodles, Vietnamese.
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3 Comments
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Honestly, my first taste of A La Saigon was unimpressive. The vegetarian bun was a gloppy mass of vegetables stir-fried in a bland sauce. The rice noodles were pretty standard (don’t believe they’re made in-house, but if you find out differently, let us know). A spring roll tasted as if it came from one of those Chinese restaurants where you order through a bullet-proof window.
That said, I never like to pass judgement on a new restaurant before the kinks are ironed out. Will try their pho in the next several days and report back.
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Very pleased with their pho. Arrived via delivery still piping hot, with thai basil, bean sprouts, lime and sriracha packaged separately. Broth was rich and noodles abundant. Much better than their bun.
Xe Lua is pretty good (quite respectable pho) and delivers from Chinatown to the entire FiDi all the way down to Battery Park. So we aren’t actually starving for Vietnamese food here.
That said, more options are always good!