Saturday, February 27, 2010

Pho Wars in Little Vietnam

Ok, so nobody really calls it Little Vietnam (yet), but Sam Dolnick, one of our favorite NY Times writers, who often covers the under-the-radar Bronx, has a piece that is sure to incite some debate.

At the nexus of Bronx Southeast Asian gastronomy located at 193rd Street and Jerome Avenue, a pho war is brewing. We'd like to hear from anyone with an opinion in the case of Pho Saigon versus Com Tam Ninh Kieu.
Photo Courtesy of Librado Romero/NY Times

As for the ole BD, we visited the now defunct Pho Mien Tay last summer and were very impressed. (We were actually going to follow up on a tip about a place called World of Taste Seafood, but it had been replaced by Pho Mien Tay). When we returned earlier this fall, we found Pho Mien Tay closed and vacant, but saw an alternative across the street, Com Tam Ninh Kieu. To be honest, we liked PMT much better. CTNK had way too much tripe in its pho, and the Banh Mi I got was not as tasty.

Well it seems that the location of PMT is now up and running as a new Vietnamese eatery called Pho Saigon. ErLu hasn't visited Pho Saigon yet, so we are unable to render a verdict in this Indochinese imbroglio. For those of you who have indulged, please share your reactions and reviews in the comments section. Let's get to the bottom of this for Sam's sake.

~ErLu

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great article. I lookforward to deciding for myself. Freat use of this site to promote bx business through knowledge.

Gregory

Anonymous said...

I had the same experience. I used to go PMT quite often and found the food very good: fresh and well prepared. I was saddened when it closed (due to the paucity of good food in that neighborhood), but I did try the new place across the street and found it lacking. Hopefully the restaurant that moved into PMT's old digs will be just as good as its former occupants.

Anonymous said...

from the beginning it has been a war...I heard that the original owners of the first restaurant sold the place to one of the cooks,but also had an interest in the new place across the street which the cook did not know when she bought.

Because she wasn't Vietnamese, all the regulars stopped coming to her and started going to the new place.She told me all of this and was very sad and bitter because she felt that she had been taken advantage of.

I heard it right from her mouth.