Banh Anh-Em (3rd Ave & E 13th St.)

[small_h]

A very successful group lunch with @Dean and his lovely bride, @DaveCook and @Saregama at the 3rd weekend pop-up of Banh Anh-Em, sister to the rabidly popular Banh on the UWS. Through some miracle of MTA competence, I managed to arrive at 11am, an hour before opening time. So I was first on line. A half hour later, there were about 30 people behind me.

We had the noodle soup with crab & snail (my favorite - so crabby! so snaily!).

Turmeric catfish, fatty and excellent, with dill and (unnecessary, according to me) rice noodles.

Sticky rice with egg and a variety of meats, very kindly placed on the side to accommodate my meat-averse self.

An impressive tower of rice crepes, ready to roll.

And a meatball banh mi.

I will be stalking this place for their weekend specials.

[Dean]

We really enjoyed the meal. The only issue to me was the whole, while wholly delicious, was overshadowed by the wonderous individual elements. The pork belly was incredible as a bite, it blended in in the intended dish.

I really liked the service which was heartfelt even as they were slammed. Well after a slow start to the food. The value was superb.

That was all we could eat all day for me and kay had dome veggie dishes at 54 below where we saw the well seasoned Lillias White. I had an idea she is saucy but she was downright ribald!

[travelmad478]

@small_h next time you are down here we should do Vietnamese food. I would much rather that than another heavy dinner!

[small_h]

Fine by me! Any standouts? We went to that one place for lunch a couple of years ago, which I didn’t think was all that.

[travelmad478]

I don’t remember what that place was but there are plenty. Not fancy-pants.

[small_h]

Between Banh, Mam, Hanoi House and Saigon Social, Manhattan is doing pretty well with Vietnamese, and I don’t even know what’s going on in Queens but it could be even better.

[vinouspleasure]

We wanted to try those too, I read that some of the places serve creole fusion, I’m not one for fusion, but one can imagine it working well.

[vinouspleasure]

Thanks for the wonderful report, looks scrumptious but I’ve given up waiting on lines at restaurants for the next 40 years or so.

[small_h]

You can be that person who lets the rest of his party wait and shows up 5:00 before opening.

[vinouspleasure]

I hadn’t thought of that but it’s nice of you to volunteer

[travelmad478]

There is a massive Vietnamese population in the New Orleans area. Many in that community (which got its start in the 1970s) were born here of immigrant parents, so there is a natural evolution of Vietnamese ingredients and methodologies melding with the local stuff that these kids also grew up on. Viet-Cajun crawfish is one example, the fusion of banh mi and po-boys is another, and there are many more that are more sophisticated.

[small_h]

It’s more like conscription.

[vinouspleasure]

You call it tomatoe…

[Saregama]

It has been years since I waited in line like this, and probably will be many years until I do again . But a fun meal, and even an enjoyable wait catching up and chatting with everyone.

The food was good, but overall I thought everything was too busy, and the assembly fuss was excessive as you really couldn’t fit more than one dish on the table with all the other little dishes that came with it, and we ended up moving things to a non-service ledge behind us just to create room.

The rice crepes ( Bánh Ướt Chồng) were my favorite, even without any additional inclusions (each crepe was topped with fried shallots and shrimp, I think). In earlier versions, I have seen this dish rolled in the kitchen and presented complete to the table – that would have been my preference vs the dramatic presentation of all components and DIY.

The banh mi bread was good (and you can smell the yeast inside, like a nicer Subway), but the banh mi had too much going for me and was not balanced in flavor. We got the weekend special meatball (xiu mai) which we had loved at Saigon Deli, but this one came with pretty heavily flavored pate, pickled mustard greens, and no pickled radish or carrot at all on my piece. The bread was good, but I much prefer the composed sandwich we ate at Saigon Deli.

The sticky rice with pork belly (Xoi Thit Kho) we requested that the pork topping be kept separate so our pescatarian could eat the rest. As you can tell from the picture, we apparently lost one of the two promised chunks of pork in that movement . But I liked the dish overall, mixed up on my plate. Keeping the pork separate also meant the house pate was available to taste on its own – quite intense, good with bread or rice.

Fish was good, but again the need to bring a burner to the table for drama was unnecessary to me – the fish was already cooked (deep fried in chunks) in the kitchen, so the only need for a heat source was to wilt herbs, which was just silly, because it took up all the table space.

All in all, a fun meal, but I don’t feel the need to go back unless there’s something new and compelling on their permanent menu.

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Banh Mi with meatballs / xio mai

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Rice crepes before they came to the table, and after

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Sticky rice with pork belly, sausage, and pate:

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Menu for the pop-up:

[digga]

@small_h

Turmeric catfish, fatty and excellent, with dill and (unnecessary, according to me) rice noodles.

Very traditional to have rice noodles in cha ca la vong to soak up all the delicious juices. That looks like an awesome rendition.

[digga]

@Saregama

Fish was good, but again the need to bring a burner to the table for drama was unnecessary to me – the fish was already cooked (deep fried in chunks) in the kitchen, so the only need for a heat source was to wilt herbs, which was just silly, because it took up all the table space.

This is how we had the dish in Hanoi so maybe they want to recreate the experience for people who have had it at the source? It was hot inside the restaurant so you can imagine that it was even hotter with the burner. I loved every minute of it. B, not so much.

[Saregama]

@digga

to soak up all the delicious juices

There weren’t really juices to soak up, though. The fish chunks were deep fried, so they were dry. No marinade exuded to make a sauce with the herbs. And the herbs didn’t cook so much that they exuded water, because we started eating as soon as they wilted, otherwise the pre-cooked fish would have gotten cold.

I was fine with having the noodles as one of their specialties is that their noodles are all made in-house, so might as well as try all the possible noodles they have worked so hard on. But the noodles weren’t for soaking up anything in this case.

@digga

This is how we had the dish in Hanoi so maybe they want to recreate the experience for people who have had it at the source?

Looks like it’s cooked at the table in Hanoi, either simmered or grilled. The reason given for the burner was to wilt the herbs – a hot cast iron pan would have accomplished that.

In any case, my point was that if one dish is going to take up the entire table space, where will the rest of the food go.

[erica1]

"So crabby!! So snaily!!! I love those descriptors!!

Sounds good except for the waiting on line bit. Thank you.

[small_h]

I am not a fan of lines, but the weather was good and I had people to chat with. And a phone. Lines are a lot easier to deal with these days.