Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Risking it all for Pho on Macdougal Street

Tonight Michala and I decided to risk it all and try Pho in the West Village at Saigon Shack on Macdougal Steet. The place was highly recommended to me by a Vietnamese friend well over a year ago but time marched on and somehow I never made it to Saigon Shack. I mean, good Vietnamese food on Macdougal Street? The very sentence seemed preposterous to me. Overpriced and watered down Pho? I bet they have that on Macdougal Street, but surely they couldn't be serving up anything blogworthy in that NYU infested corner of the city. I thought wrong.

The first sign that Saigon Shack was serving something out of the ordinary here was the line that spilled out onto the sidewalk. After I muscled my way up to the front and gave the surprisingly attentive waitress/hostess my name we had a short ten minute wait for our table.  The restaurant was jam-packed with NYU students, not necessarily a good sign but it did belie one important piece of data, the prices are very reasonable. Michala remarked we were out of our comfort zone here. For two white people, we seem to spend an awfully big chunk of our lives in Chinatown. It was time to find out how the other half lived.

Skeptical....





but game!
We began our meal with summer rolls, as is our wont, and we were both impressed that they appeared to have been freshly made with crispy vegetables and fat shrimp. I noticed they didn't have any pork in them, which I am a fan of, but I mean who isn't a fan of a littl e chewy pork in a summer roll? Still, they were pretty effervescent. We began to warm slightly to the West Village...

Some snappy little summer rolls
We also ordered a salad with some sesame dressing. It was very tasty and much bigger than I thought it would be. The two of us weren't even able to finish it, which is rare. One demerit though for slightly unripe tomatoes, we both agreed the salad didn't even really need them and would have been better without it.  It is a fantastic value for $6 though and it went well with the refreshing glass of fresh cucumber juice Michala ordered.

Tasty big salad
Cucumber juice- refreshing even in winter
We were impressed despite our shitty Chinatown-or-bust attitudes. Yet we were also aware that no matter the quality of a few paltry hors d'oeuvres, there was only one dish that really mattered. The proof would be in the Pho. And then are bowls arrived and we were lost in the ecstasy of the revelation.

Gorgeous Pho!
Nice fixin's too

We both liked the way the Pho looked. And then we tried the broth. All would be lost if the broth was some watered down West Village version of the real thing. Surprisingly, this broth had a deep breadth of flavor. At first it is pleasantly reminiscent of the types of Pho that I have tasted in Vietnam, sweet and redolent of Anise, but after a few seconds it transitioned to a robust beefy flavor that called to mind a good steak. It was very pleasant indeed, and better than most of the Pho I have had in NY. I was worried about getting slimy noodles too, which often happens when a restaurant doesn't know how to precook their noodles for the proper amount of time, but the noodles were actually perfect, if not slightly overabundant.

We both expected the Tai, the raw eye-of-round steak that cooks in the hot broth, to arrive overcooked and gray, yet this beef was tender and rosy pink. We also added brisket to our Pho, and we received an almost overly generous portion. Happily for us it was some very delicious brisket, and not too fatty either. I noticed they have a spicy brisket Bun dish on the menu, I may just have to try that next time. We also saw that many tables were ordering the spring rolls, which looked extremely presentable and not too greasy.

The other good news about Saigon Shack is that it is very reasonable. Michala and I gorged on all these dishes, including a couple of non-alcoholic drinks, for $22 each, including the tip. That's around $5 more than we would have spent in Chinatown, but actually a lot less than I had expected to spend in this neighborhood. A steaming hot bowl of Pho at Saigon Shack will run you a reasonable $8, and it's worth every penny too.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

A Spicy Village in the heart of Manhattan

Last night I headed out to Chinatown's spicy village at 68B Forsyth between Hester and Grand street  with Ian, Jasmine, Michala, David, and Bernard for some delicious and inexpensive knife cut noodles. Ian had been bragging about the spicy chicken at this hole-in-the-wall for a couple of months and I have to hand it to him, he's found something special here. As usual, we decided to eat family style and we ordered up dumplings, vegetables, "spicy big tray chicken" and lamb hui mei for the table. Hui Mei are the thick knife cut noodles that are just perfect for sopping up the Mala (Sichuan peppercorn) soaked sauce that accompanies many of the dishes.

Bring us our noodles now!
We started out with some cucumbers brined in garlic and I recommend you do the same. These are fantastic not to mention fun to munch on while you wait for your entrees.

Cucumbers n' garlic, with a note of chili too
We also ordered up two pancakes, one with pork and one with beef. Consider it a chinese hamburger, only better. These are what Xi'an noodles, of Flushing and St. Marks Street,  are famous for, only I like them better here. The two restaurants have quite a bit in common, the use of lamb, knife cut noodles, and the buns below to name just a few. One difference is that you can sit down at Spicy Village while Xi'An is standing room only. I also prefer the noodles at Spicy Village, they seem a little less "hard".

Pancakes with roast pork or beef- hearty and delicious

And of course I can't resist dumplings. These are homemade and steamed and redolent of five-spice. I really enjoyed them. They also serve soup dumplings, but I was suspicious of those, this is Hunan cuisine and the offering seems more of a kowtow to popular tastes.

Tasty pork dumplings packed with five spice.

After whetting our appetites with these tasty morsels, we moves on to more serious fare. The Spicy big tray chicken lives up to its name; it can feed a small army. It's packed with small pieces of dark meat chicken on the bone and potatoes and is served swimming in a spicy brown broth chock full of numbing Sichuan peppercorns. We ordered ours with some knife cut noodles on the side, which we soaked in the sauce and consumed lustily. For those unfamiliar with Sichuan peppercorns, beware, they lend many of the dishes here their flavor. In a sauce, they are fairly innocuous, but if you bite into one of these peppercorns they have a numbing effect on the tongue that many people, including myself, find unpleasant.  I will usually clean off the one or two pieces that may stick to a morsel of chicken or a strand of noodle before I imbibe.

The Spicy Big Tray Chicken you wish you were eating

Lamb Hui Mei


Keeping things healthy with some Bok Choy

Everything was really incredibly tasty here, but the chicken is the true standout. I just found out they deliver, so I'm basically going to try everything on the menu, because spicy village is SO cheap. Six of us ate for $60 including tip. The possibility to have a meal like this, with truly exceptional and unique dishes that you can order to you r heart's content and still only spend $10 is what keeps me in NY. We even had a tasty desert, which isn't on the menu but is worth ordering, of sesame balls served in hot water. These gelatinous rice ball have a sweet and slightly crunchy center and are a great way to finish off a memorable meal at Spicy Village.

Sesame balls for desert

You can also feel good about eating at Spicy Village, the people that work there are genuinely nice and pleasant to be around. Ian tells me their children are often hanging around and that they seem to be nice kids surrounded by loving parents and, of course, very delicious food. Writing this post is making me really hungry so I'm going to call Spicy Village right now, and hey, if you are lucky enough to live in downtown Manhattan, you should too!