The first advice I have for anyone looking for good Vietnamese food is to abandon New York and move to Pittsburgh where they can have a one armed man feed them a variety of noodle dishes on holiday themed plastic table cloths while his son-in-law unloads fresh groceries from the Lexus. The man at Tram's Kitchen knows food I tell them, you cannot find good Vietnamese food in New York. Give up while you're ahead.But after six years of trial and error I may have actually found Vietnamese food in New York that tastes like... Vietnam.
Despite its poorly chosen name, Thai Son is unexpectedly authentic. We chose it because it was almost completely full at dinner time, with not a white person in sight (I did find one later, hidden in a booth in the corner), and getting the same old thing at Pho Pasteur next door was getting... old.
Al looked around and ordered the dish he saw most often: Pho with Beef, $5. It was huge. And since the menu had few chicken items, and I fear vegetarian dishes in Chinatown, I sprang for the vermicelli noodles with grilled shrimp and lettuce, $6. It was perfect. In fact, it reminded me of Tram's.
The vermicelli was thick, white, and round, cut into three inch segments, tossed with shredded lettuce, basil, scallions and the classic salty sweet fish sauce that so many other restaurants fail at getting just right. A perfect spring dish, the noodles were cool and refreshing next to the shrimp warm off the grill. Thai Son may not be the last New York Vietnamese restaurant I try, but it will certainly be the yardstick by which I will measure all others.
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