New Tu Do Visited 10/23/2011 3.5 Forks

New Tu Do 102 Bowery St., New York, NY 10013

 Virginia and I were originally going to get pho at Pho Bang on  Mott Street but when VA got there she discovered they only had a B rating was wasn't down with eating there.  In all honesty, I know I probably should be grossed out by it, but I just always kind of assumed that many restaurants (and lord knows MOST restaurants in Chinatown) weren't all that clean.  But she did make a good point that if the dingy bodega across the street from her place can get an A, any place can get an A. 


Point taken.  So we started to walk the streets to Chinatown in search of a pho place that had an A and we stumbled upon New Tu Do on Bowery.  Not only did it have an A but it was filled with Asians inside, so we had to take that as two good signs that this place was good.  In typical Chinatown fashion, there is absolutely no decor to speak of, but I am not docking any forks for that.  I ordered the #14 which was the only pho option that didn't have tripe or tendon in it.  VA and I also split the fried spring rolls and these steamed crepes with bean sprouts on top.  In true Vietnamese fashion, all the food came out in a flash.  My bowl of pho was actually really huge and it was great that there was so much meat in it.  I also liked the fact that a lot of the meat was still raw and cooking in the hot broth, just the way I like it.  The actual broth itself was very flavorful and had all the right spices and flavor a pho should have such as onion, cilantro, and a small hint of cinnamon.  The size of the bowl was huge and there was more than I could finish.  The broth wasn't too oily which is always a good thing. I always kind of think in my mind that pho is a refreshing dish, when it's really not, but it does for some reason cleanse the palate for me.  Unfortunately, I was so full from the pho that I didn't have any room to try the other two dishes.  I was actually all set to take the rolls home and maybe snack on them later but VA mentioned that they weren't crispy and a bit soggy and even poked into one to show me. Indeed, her fork kind of sagged into the roll but it might have also been that we had been chatting for over 2 hours and the crispiness just wore off. 


All in all, this is a solid pho place (with an A rating to boot).  It's as close to 4 forks for a pho place that I can remember for this year but again I think because of the bad mood I was in, I didn't walk away thinking "damn, that was amazing."  But you know what was amazing was that our total bill for 2 phos, 2 appetizers and 2 drinks was $18/pp.  AND they took credit cards there.  Now that's amazing. 


photo credit: Yelp