We were in New York City for the opening party of a young artist we know. The gallery was blazing hot and not just from the warm weather we were having. The advant-garde art and the surging attendance of beautiful young people was fascinating but the heat and hunger lead us to seek out a cool place to eat.
We wandered down Eighth Avenue in Chelsea all the way to 19th Street and found nothing that really caught our eye. That strip was once a mecca of great restaurants but has gotten very tired. We decided to head west and try Ninth Avenue.
As you know on Ninth Avenue you can find almost any cuisine with many great restaurants on every block north of 42nd Street up into the 50's. But many great restaurants are now also opening on the lower parts of Ninth. We were very pleased to find this very appealing new Vietnamese restaurant on the North West corner of 19th and 9th. It is called Co Ba.
The menu covers two pages with a complete selection of Vietnamese delicacies. We never made it past the first page which holds an exciting array of small plates and a nice list of my beloved Banh Mi.
If you have not heard, Banh Mi is like Vietnamese hoagie sandwich. Made on a delicate baguette of wheat and rice flour that is filled with an exotic arrangement of fresh and cooked ingredients like thinly sliced pickled carrots and daikon, cucumbers, cilantro, chili peppers, pâté, mayonnaise and various meat fillings or tofu like include roasted or grilled pork, Vietnamese sausage, chicken, head cheese, ham or fish.
Banh Mi became a craze in NYC last year with Banh Mi joints popping up all over. See NY Mag article Another Bánh Mì in the Oven, Is the humble Vietnamese hoagie poised to become New York’s No. 1 sandwich? I love them and am always on the look out for a new variation to try.
The man behind Co Ba is Steven Duong a very creative Vietnam born restaurateur who has owned and many places in NY. A while back he left NY for Saigon and Hanoi to study street food, but now he is back to open Co Ba, which brings the street foods of Viet Nam to a level fine art. So we enjoyed two art shows that day.
We tried six of the small plates and two Banh Mis, every dish had distinctly delicious flavors and all were beautifully presented.
Washed it all down with some thirst quenching "33" Vietnamese beer. Could not have been better.
By the time we left the place was packed.
Read More Here:
Stephen Duong opens Co Ba in Chelsea serving Vietnamese street food inspired by sabbatical by Gael Green.
Co Ba: A New Vietnamese Eatery in Chelsea From a Pioneering Restaurateur by Sarah DiGregorio.
Things to do, places to see, with food and booze
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