Thái Sơn

Chinatown’s Baxter Street is lined with Vietnamese restaurants, and if you find yourself there, it can be hard to know what to choose. So let’s make this easy. For pho, go to Nha Trang One. For everything else, head to Thái Sơn.

Despite the name, this place is Vietnamese, not Thai, and we recommend coming with a few people to order a feast to share. Get the bánh hỏi bò lụi (grilled beef lettuce wraps), gỏi tôm (shrimp salad), bò lúc lắc (marinated steak cubs), cá kho tộ (fish braised in a clay pot), canh chua tôm (sweet and sour tamarind soup with shrimp), and rau muống xào tỏi (stir fried water spinach with garlic).

If you’re on jury duty, this place is right around the corner. And if you think you can endure a lunch with a bunch of people you randomly got thrown in a room with to perform civic duty, gather a crew and take advantage of that two-hour lunch break.

photo credit: David A. Lee