Kitchen Cô Út

Being a Vietnamese who lives in a city where Vietnamese food is not great, I make it a point to seek Vietnamese restaurants on my travel. I am exceedingly pleased to find this joint in New York and visited twice in two days. Comfortable space, authentic taste, and friendly staff. Hủ tiếu Nam Vang and bánh canh cua are both excellent with full toppings. Hủ tiếu comes with thin slices of pork, liver and heart, two giant shrimps, and a quail egg, sprinkled with ground pork and chives. Bánh canh cua has thick soup with chunky bites of crab meat, pork knuckles, blood cake, and two giant shrimps. The boss lady and waitress even asked me which region of Vietnam I am from so they can recommend the right dishes. Will be back on my next New York trip!

This Vietnamese spot in Chinatown is truly a gem! I've been meaning to go here for a while, but only got the chance to recently. When I went on a chilly day, the place was packed and we had to wait for a bit before we got a seat (but it wasn't too bad). The interior is casual with lots of Vietnamese decor and music. Service is a bit slow (maybe because they were super busy) but very nice. We got their banh xeo, nem nuong platter, banh cuon, and pho. Everything was so well-priced for NYC, huge portions, and delicious. I absolutely loved every dish and don't think I could choose a favorite. I would recommend trying other Vietnamese dishes other than your standard pho and rice plates (that you can try at other Vietnamese restaurants in NYC) and to go for one of their more unique options like

Vietnamese restaurants specialize in beef noodle soup. I specifically ordered the spring roll rice noodle dry dish. We also ordered chicken separately. The chicken skewers were just a bit small. The coconut rice cake was too hard and didn't taste good. The amount of white bean porridge was too small. Too sweet

Tried the Bún Bò Huế here, and it was okay overall. The presentation was nice and the portion generous, but the flavor leaned on the mild side for a dish that’s usually known for its bold, spicy broth. The lemongrass and chili aroma were there, just not as deep or complex as expected. The beef slices and shank were tender, and the noodles had a good chew, which helped balance things out.

Long and his crew make pho very lovingly, the bo vien are well seasoned and springy and the tai just chewy enough and generously portioned. There isn’t enough rau thom and when asked for they only brought a small cup, and I think the bowl could do with more noodles. The noodles were also undercooked. Overall, a good bowl of pho that could be great with some changes. Special thanks to Mandy and Nhien for the service!