This new sandwich joint and bar slings some great sandwiches. We ordered for delivery, but it was good enough to mention as a restaurant review here.
We tried a spicy mortadella, a Korean rib sandwich, a meatloaf banh mi, and a chicken Caesar salad sandwich. They have funky names and I forget which ‘wich is which.
The bread is great here, and if I had to choose favorites, I’d go with the banh mi and the mortadella.
CLUBHOUSE SANDOS & SUDS
22 Orchard St
New York, NY 10002
I stopped in this joint for a sandwich while I was serving jury duty. I felt like the price was high for $11.50: turkey club and a seltzer. But it was decent.
They also had banh mi. Look at the HORROR/DEATH METAL font!
I grabbed one for the road. It was okay for the price, but I’ve had better.
SAM’S DELI
30 Mulberry St
New York, NY 10013
This little Vietnamese sandwich joint in Chinatown serves up some of the best I’ve had. The bread really sets this place apart from the rest.
At this point, I’ve tried about six different kinds, and my favorite is the #4, the traditional sandwich but with SMOKED Viet ham rather than regular. I also like to order with hot peppers and extra cilantro. They don’t charge!
BANH MI CO UT
83 Elizabeth St
New York, NY 10013
After two previous visits to New Orleans I was dead-set on finally trying some Vietnamese food. This town has a large Vietnamese community, so I know the food will be good.
My wife and I picked this joint because it was the closest to our hotel that was actually open on New Year’s Day. It had nice ratings to boot. We started with a pair of Vietnamese drip coffees, which were excellent.
Next, we shared a banh mi sandwich – their signature “dac biet” special sandwich.
This was great. Just the right amount of filling, nice fresh French bread that didn’t rip my mouth apart from being too hard or crispy.
Then we had some soup. I had the large “dac biet” special bowl of beef pho. This was great for the price tag. It easily surpassed most of the pho I have access to here in NYC (obviously there are some big exceptions since NYC is finally getting some good Vietnamese food).
My wife had the bun bo hue, which I thought was a bit too pungent and overly fishy for my taste, but it was still good as far as this dish goes. Especially impressive were the noodles. The round, “thick spaghetti” style rice noodles typically used in this soup will often get overcooked and become mushy. Then they break easily when you grab them with chopsticks, which is a pain in the ass. But these were perfect.
Give this place a shot when you’re down here.
PHO TAU BAY
1565 Tulane Ave
New Orleans, LA 70112
Currently, Saigon Social is chef Helen Nguyen’s pop-up dining experience. The location varies, but the most common spot seems to be at Boys Don’t Cry in the Lower East Side/Chinatown.
A lot of buzz has built up around her dinners – deservingly so – because she’s extremely talented. I’ve eaten her food several times in the past year, and I have to say she’s serving some of the best Vietnamese food I’ve ever had in the city.
I haven’t written about her yet because, well, up until now she’s only been doing pop-ups, and for some reason I feel like I can’t talk about pop-ups since they’re so fleeting and temporary.
But Helen is about to open a restaurant here in Manhattan, spearheading the way for great NYC Vietnamese food, along with John Nguyen (Saigon Dep), and Yen Vo and Jimmy Ly (Madame Vo and MV BBQ). Yes, I’m ignoring Brooklyn and Queens Viet food for the moment; there are some great spots out there in the sticks.
Anyway, my wife loves her food too, so that pretty much means it’s legit. Those of you that don’t yet know Helen Nguyen will be saying, “Hey, wait a fucking minute… Johnny GODDAMN Prime was talking about her, and now here she is, all over the news!” But if you read food publications, you may have seen her pop-ups featured as a “must try” for the past year.
Her bo 7 mon (“beef seven ways”) feast was incredible. Her brûlée bone marrow ended up in my top dishes of 2018, not to mention that she can seriously cook steak and makes some of the best pho around.
She knows her meat, as she is deeply connected to the Pat LaFrieda brand. At a recent pop-up, I had her garlic noodles with deep fried soft shell crab, which was incredible.
Also, her meaty fried rice with bone marrow and egg was probably one of the best rice dishes I’ve ever eaten. Highly addicting with that home made scallion oil.
Her newest creation is a banh mi burger. The perfect halfway point between American and Vietnamese, marrying the familiar flavors of both classics.
This beauty is a blend of short rib, chuck and 60-day dry-aged rib eye.
It’s topped with pate, mayo, maggi sauce, pickled carrots, cilantro and jalapeno.
What I really like about this burger is that it’s meaty as fuck but it isn’t heavy. Just like Viet food generally, it’s light, fresh, herb-ish, and healthy… but the culture is very meat-centric. And just like a banh mi sandwich, you can eat this and still walk around after, not food-comatosed and yet still craving more.
Look out for these dishes at Saigon Social, coming soon to NYC!
The owner of Em, Patrick Lin, invited me in to try some of their awesome noodle dishes and sandwich creations. I was really excited about this menu.
We started with some smoothies: the classic avocado, and the watermelon. Both were really refreshing and delicious. HOLY SHIT SOMEONE ARREST THEM BECAUSE THE STRAWS ARE PLASTIC!
Then we moved right on to the sandwiches.
The first one I hit was this bacon egg and cheese banh mi sandwich:
This is perfect. It has all the familiar flavors of banh mi, but with bacon, egg and cheese to go with it. That’s a winning combo. I could eat this every day, so this was well worth the hour-long subway ride out here to Bensonhurst.
Next up was the banh bi burger.
This is actually the one “burger” that I would almost prefer to be served without cheese. This one has provolone, but I didn’t think it was necessary (clearly some might love it though). The bright, fresh herbs and acidic pickled slaw are really all you need, except for a sauce or mayo. This, too, was really tasty – cheese or no cheese.
Next, we moved on to the soups.
Hu Tieu is a pork based broth with pork rib, ground pork, and a mix of seafood (shrimp, fish balls, etc). This was light and flavorful. My wife liked this one the best out of the two.
The pho here is really nice. The broth is flavorful but not heavy, and the addition of short rib really turns this into a satisfying meal. There’s lots of brisket, eye round and meatballs in there, yet this still manages to stay light. This was my pick between the two.
For dessert, we had Vietnamese coffee tiramisu. This was super creamy and fluffy, and the coffee flavors came through nicely.
I’ll definitely be back here again to eat my way through the rest of the menu. And the good thing is that this place was packed on a Sunday for lunch. People are really digging this place, and so am I.
EM
1702 86th St
Brooklyn, NY 11214
NOTE: THIS PLACE IS CLOSED
Alice’s Arbor is a true farm-to-table concept in Brooklyn by Dimitri Vlahakis (Motorino, La Gamelle, Esperanto). They use products sourced from 13 local purveyors, and fresh pastries and bread from sister restaurant La Gamelle.
The menu features breakfast all day, like this hanger steak and eggs that I had for brunch:
That’s a great meal for just $15. The steak was a perfect medium rare with a nice crust on the outside. The black bean sauce was unique and delicious. 8/10. Eggs were exactly as ordered, and the paprika-spiced potatoes carried a nice comfortable heat.
They also offer signature sandwiches like the Banh Mi Croissant (braised chicken or pork with daikon, carrot, cucumber and jalapeño). We went with pork:
This reminded me a lot of the Thai dish called larb as posed to a classic banh mi. It was savory, pungent and flavorful like larb, only in sandwich format. The croissant was an interesting choice for the sandwich. It ties back to the French colonial and Vietnamese roots of banh mi, but there’s just something about a classic baguette that holds up really well to the juiciness of these kinds of sandwiches. The flavors were great, but I ended up using my fork and knife to take this baby down. That said, I’d still eat this again for sure.
There’s also an exceptional selection of dinner entrees from the wood-burning oven, like Sullivan County Farms Trout filet over green beans and roasted fingerling potatoes in a lemon brown butter sauce, topped with almonds and capers.
Other favorites include the unique, customizable Mac & Cheese with spiral pasta, cheddar and goat cheese bechamel topped with toasted breadcrumbs (with optional add-ins of pulled pork, truffle oil or jalapeños); or the popular brunch items like crab hash with poached egg, lemon Hollandaise and greens.
Daily happy hour specials from 4p.m.-7p.m. include $5 for draft beer, $6 draft wine, $2 off well drinks and $1 oysters. Awesome deal!
The interior evokes cabin-esque ski lodge decor, perhaps from the northwest: An upcycled vintage vibe with aged brick walls, repurposed wood paneling and driftwood branch light fixtures. Very cool.
I definitely recommend hitting this joint.
ALICE’S ARBOR
549 Classon Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11216
This little take-out joint slings a pretty decent banh mi. I haven’t tried their Vietnamese food yet, but I can at least give a run down of their “classic” sub. I put the word “classic” in quotes, because there really isn’t much pate, head cheese or other items that would make this a classic viet sandwich. Perhaps they gave me the roast pork shoulder by mistake? Not sure. It could just be that they’re using different ingredients from the other shops.
SAIGUETTE
935 Columbus Ave
New York, NY 10025
My wife and I strolled by this place and picked up a classic sub. It was fantastic, though a bit smaller than I am used to seeing up here in NYC. But for $4.50, it was worth every penny.
Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of it to share, but I did get a shot of the outside.
This was in Philly, by the way, near Pat’s & Geno’s. As such, they had a Vietalian version of banh mi that featured Italian sausage:
Didn’t try it.
CAFE THANH TRUC
1037 S 8th St
Philadelphia, PA 19147
NOTE: THIS PLACE IS CLOSED
I was invited to newly opened The Anthony by my buddy Mike from Gotham Burger Social Club for a special tasting dinner with some other influencers and Instagrammers. We sampled a massive portion of the menu, and everything was pretty much fantastic. Let me get right into it for you hungry savages…
First, the cocktail menu is excellent. I tried this “Matador” drink, made with mezcal, lime, cilantro and spicy habanero honey – it was dynamite.
To start, we had a cheese and meat board, with my favorite olives: Castelvetranos!
Then some French onion fondue. This was really unique and flavorful.
We also did some fried oysters, which were breaded to a perfect crisp and served in refreshing lettuce cups.
But the star of the apps, though, were these mini char siu pork belly and liver mousse banh mi sandwiches. Holy shit! I could eat a dozen (two minis per order).
While this item is listed as a starter, it can probably be consumed as a main if you order the banh mi to start. Duck confit and waffles.
Fuck what you think you know about chicken and waffles. This is the way to do it.
On the side we did some cacao e pepe fries, which were really nicely cooked and golden brown.
Some lobster mac and cheese, which was really nice as it was made with thick cavatappi / fusilli rigate (ridged).
And some Asian style sautéed greens (broccolini / Chinese broccoli).
Okay now let me get into the meat of the review. I’ll tackle the burgers first. We tried two: an off menu “Tavern Burger,” and the “Tony Prime.” Nice name, right? Maybe he iso a long lost brother of mine or something. He must be, because he is made of aged beef and a special house made creamed spinach cheese. Say whaaat?!??!
Yup. That’s right – they make it in house by combining creamed spinach with cheese, spreading it out flat and thin, cooling it down to let it congeal, and then slicing it out into individual cheese sliced for this incredible burger.
This has to be one of my new favorite burgers in town. It’s so unique and special. It actually tastes like steak! Amazing. And so does the Tavern Burger, which is topped with a nice melty gruyere and arugula.
We also tried the brick chicken. This had a great crispy top from the cooking process. I think it just suffered a bit and got too dry. I honestly don’t mind dry chicken from time to time, as long as there is a sauce to go with. Otherwise it was excellent.
We also hit this pork chop pretty hard. Really nice spice and herb mix going on here, and a very tasty glaze.
Underneath this 12oz Berkshire chop is a bacon and apple potato cake, and on top are caramelized onions.
And now for the champion. The 28-day dry aged 40oz tomahawk rib eye.
This was truly a sight to behold.
I got more funk and flavor from this 28-day steak than I have from 60-day chops. It was absolutely wonderful.
It seemed a bit small for 40oz (and $140), but then again the bone was pretty big, as was the flavor. I was hoping for a bit more cap, but what I did taste was great. It was nicely cooked, well rested with no bleed-out, and it sported a nice outer crisp. 8/10.
I didn’t think any of us had room for dessert, but apparently humans are equipped with a second stomach that’s just for dessert.
First, this berry mousse. Very light and flavorful.
Next, an apple pie style tart. Great hits of cinnamon and brown sugar here. Cold ice cream and hot pie – perfect combo.
And chocolate cake, because why the fuck not.
This was really a great meal. The biggest standouts for me, for which I will definitely go back, are the burgers, the banh mi and the duck waffles. I recommend you do the same.
THE ANTHONY
183 Bleecker St
New York, NY 10012
