(This venue is closed.) Several varieties of the sandwiches called banh mi are on offer at Tu Quynh, but I always get hung up on the elaborate spread of Vietnamese treats. Limiting myself to just one, or perhaps two, is the problem.
Take these cured pork mini-sausages (10 to a half-pound package; $5). The meat is nothing special, but that garlic-and-pepper touch makes a tantalizing impression. Would be a great bar snack.
On another visit, around dessert time, I ultimately settled on a trio of glutinous rice balls filled with mung bean paste (one is shown in cutaway view), swamped in coconut milk, and topped with sesame seeds of varied toastiness ($1.50). Probably very tasty at room temperature, but the lady at the counter obligingly warmed them up before I carried them off to the park.
Tu Quynh Center
230 Grand St. (Elizabeth St.-Bowery)
212-966-6878
Also, next to the Flushing Main Street library - where you can get them for free - these guys offer up the cheapest assortment of Vietnamese CDs in town. I think you can get three for 10 bucks or something like that. I've been tempted.
P.
Posted by: Polecat | August 23, 2007 at 08:59 PM
Is this the place on Broome near Elizabeth? If not, it looks a lot like it -- and that venue is alive and kicking.
Posted by: gw | November 16, 2007 at 05:05 PM
Different place; you're thinking of Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich (once Viet-Nam Banh Mi So 1):
http://www.eatingintranslation.com/2005/10/vietnam_banh_mi.html
But you're right about the display case; Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich carries lots of nice snacks, too.
Posted by: Dave Cook | November 16, 2007 at 08:58 PM