DINNERS Saturday Night (Part 1)

We started out at Van-Da in alphabet city. It was a little storefront "Modern" Vietnamese. The area has not been re-gentrified, but the restaurants are all still packed, mostly with young kids (20's and 30's). My husband had read about it and we had been wanting to try it. It was a difficult reservation to secure, especially on a Saturday night. We invited friends and we arrived about 15 minutes early. We went to the bar to have a drink. The bar was small and beautiful. It was rounded, which is not an easy do, and it had a big bull nose on it. The bartender was a delight. We ordered drinks and then someone came over to tell us we could not sit at the EMPTY bar. The bar was for dinner service.........and we could go sit on 2 "time-out chairs" near the entrance. We told him that was not happening and we were going to be seated for dinner in 15 minutes. They said something along the lines of "well, you reservation is in 11 minutes". OK, so it was 11 minutes. Let us enjoy our drink. Unprofessional kids running a restaurant.

When our friends arrived 7 minutes later, they hustled us to our table in the basement where it was "cozy" and "loungey" (their words, not mine). It was a painted basement on the old LES where they tried to make the best of it. It was doable. The wine list was sad. We tasted 3 white wines and we went with a Rose' and a Red. We ordered the below food and we told them not to bring all of the dishes at once. So what do you think happened? The dishes kept arriving every 30 seconds. They all tasted the same. Nothing stood out. We are four good eaters and we all looked at each other. We stood up, paid the bill, and left. There was nothing outstanding about the place, the people, and worst of all, the food. (We heard New Yorker is writing them up......I can't wait to read that!) Then we went looking for a place to have dinner.....................TBC..........................

Grilled Corn w/scallion oil, brown butter, fish sauce $6 Julienned Green Papaya w/tuna, mango, shiso, thai chili vinaigrette $10 Lemongrass Beef Tartare w/thai chilies, peanuts, crispy rice crackers $14 Pho Short Rib Grilled Cheese w/caramelized onions, provolone, shot of pho broth $14

Ancient, Refined, Royal

Banh Beo (Steamed Rice in Ceramic) w/minced shrimp, scallion oil $8 Banh Bot Loc (Shrimp & PorkTapioca Dumplings) wrapped in banana leaves $9 Banh It Ram (Cripsy Mochi Dumplings) w/mung beans, crispy shallots $9 Banh Khot (Turmeric Griddle Cakes) w/wild mushrooms, coconut custard, cured egg yolk $14Grilled Corn w/scallion oil, brown butter, fish sauce $6