Co Ba Restaurant - Vietnam on 9th Avenue

[weinoo]

From the same guy(s) who brought you Nam, O Mai, Tet and Cyclo...if at first...

Once again, trying to elevate what passes for Vietnamese food in Manhattan. And mostly succeeding based on my first visit. Just wish it was closer to my neighborhood.

And offering tasty banh mi, which I don't think they've offered before.

110 9th Ave. (17th & 18th)

[Emily_R]

So glad to hear about this -- thanks for posting. I miss Cyclo!

[weinoo]

In this week's Village Voice, Sarah DiGregorio reviews Co Ba, and likes it at least as much as I did...

Co Ba's long, enticing menu comprises small snacks, banh mi sandwiches, noodles, clay pot meals, and beef three ways, a dish that gets its own paragraph.

She also liked Tet, another of the owner's now shuttered restaurants, which was on Avenue A and was a favorite of mine. This dude certainly has a nice touch with Vietnamese food.

[Jammin]

Excited to finally have a banh mi source within walking distance of my apartment, I walked down to Co Ba for lunch on Friday and grabbed a Banh Mi Thit (Assorted cold cuts w/ grilled honey plum‐glazed pork) and a Banh Mi Thit Kho (pork belly braised in coconut juice). Both sandwiches were perfectly decent but nothing really earthshaking. The pork in the Banh Mi Thit did have a nice smoky flavor which I liked a lot, but I didn't care much for the bean sprouts in the Kho. The bread was perhaps the weakest point - after finishing my 2 halves, my jaw was well and truly sore.

All in all, though, I'm happy to have a place to get my fix when I'm too lazy to trek down to Chinatown.