(This venue is closed.) Doing a number on Vietnamese street food.
The stencils on the walls, common throughout Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, are phone numbers for Vietnamese handymen. (If you have a generous long-distance plan, feel free to give a call, but to build their new, snug backyard patio, An Choi's owners wisely relied on local labor.) Also common in Vietnam, but little celebrated in New York: pho ga (below; $9), a fragrant rendition of the long-simmered chicken noodle soup. The herb plate includes not only lime, Thai basil, and jalapeño but also culantro, cilantro's stronger-scented but lesser-known cousin. (It's not clearly visible below, but at the restaurant you'll recognize the "saw-leaf herb" immediately.) A bowl of pho, also available in beef ($9.50), is generous but not massive.
At first, the banh mi ($6.50 to $8) make a more sparing impression, but fillings like engagingly chewy headcheese (in the first sandwich below) and luxuriant crisp roast pig (below that) are top-notch and gratifying. Small plates like cool salad rolls with shrimp and pork (not shown; $5), crispy crab and pork rolls ($5.50), and a cabbage and tofu salad (not shown; $6.50) — with prawn crackers that snap, crackle, and pop in the dressing — are also prepared with precision.
Vietnamese coffee (not shown; $2.50) is available iced but better hot; dripped into the cup atop a seam of condensed milk, it's a fine stand-in for dessert. How you stir things up is up to you.
An Choi
85 Orchard St. (Broome-Grand Sts.)
212-991-9880
