A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I went down to Chinatown for some Vietnamese food, my style. He's partial to this restaurant close to the subway, while there's this place that I like that has pretty good vegetarian and seafood fare in addition to the regular meat options, but which is a little bit of a trek, especially with the unpredictable rain during the Fall.
We went to my favorite Vietnamese place in C-town called Pho Viet Huong on 73 Mulberry St. (N, R, Q, J, M, Z and 6 trains to Canal St.)
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For appetizers, I usually order a shrimp summer roll, however, this being fall, we decided to get salt and pepper calamari. The squid rings were lightly floured and and fried crisp while maintaining the tenderness of the meat. A mixture of spices including chopped chili peppers was then tossed with the fried calamari. A lot of restaurants overcook the calamari, however, we got ours perfectly cooked, with a good spice and heat.
We ordered two different entrees for our meal. One was a vegetarian dish called Fresh Gluten with Hot Peppers and Lemongrass. The good thing about New York City is that I get to meet a lot of people with a wide range of interests, and this allows me to explore an even wider range of cuisines and dishes that I myself would normally not try out. Such is the case with this dish.
Gluten is favorite meat substitute used in vegetarian/vegan diets and it is a protein product obtained from the endosperm of some grains including wheat and rye. The gluten in this dish tastes and has the consistency of real meat, but it's not. :-) The combination with bell peppers and lemongrass makes for a very aromatic and tasty dish. Definitely one of my vegetarian favorites (even though I'm not vegetarian!).
The second entree we ordered is Yellow Curry Shrimp with String Beans. This seems pretty self-explanatory. However, the yellow curried shrimp at this place (relative to the other Vietnamese places I have been to in NYC and elsewhere) is pretty good. The curry brings out a sweetness in the shrimp that I can't describe. The accompanying string beans were also perfectly cooked, crisp and not soggy.
We went to my favorite Vietnamese place in C-town called Pho Viet Huong on 73 Mulberry St. (N, R, Q, J, M, Z and 6 trains to Canal St.)
View Larger Map
For appetizers, I usually order a shrimp summer roll, however, this being fall, we decided to get salt and pepper calamari. The squid rings were lightly floured and and fried crisp while maintaining the tenderness of the meat. A mixture of spices including chopped chili peppers was then tossed with the fried calamari. A lot of restaurants overcook the calamari, however, we got ours perfectly cooked, with a good spice and heat. 
We ordered two different entrees for our meal. One was a vegetarian dish called Fresh Gluten with Hot Peppers and Lemongrass. The good thing about New York City is that I get to meet a lot of people with a wide range of interests, and this allows me to explore an even wider range of cuisines and dishes that I myself would normally not try out. Such is the case with this dish. Gluten is favorite meat substitute used in vegetarian/vegan diets and it is a protein product obtained from the endosperm of some grains including wheat and rye. The gluten in this dish tastes and has the consistency of real meat, but it's not. :-) The combination with bell peppers and lemongrass makes for a very aromatic and tasty dish. Definitely one of my vegetarian favorites (even though I'm not vegetarian!).
The second entree we ordered is Yellow Curry Shrimp with String Beans. This seems pretty self-explanatory. However, the yellow curried shrimp at this place (relative to the other Vietnamese places I have been to in NYC and elsewhere) is pretty good. The curry brings out a sweetness in the shrimp that I can't describe. The accompanying string beans were also perfectly cooked, crisp and not soggy. 
To wash things down, my friend ordered the Salty Plum drink, which basically pureed (or mashed up) salty plum with soda water. The drink comes in a tall glass with the mushy salty plum on the bottom topped with ice cubes. You then have to pour soda/carbonated water into the glass and then stir to mix the soda water and the plums. I have never had this drink before, and I doubt I will ever order it on my own. He had me taste it, and all I can say is that it is really sour and salty. (The photos in this post were taken by Daman's iPhone.)
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