La Dong
Vietnamese restaurant · Chelsea
11 E 17th St, New York, NY 10003
Highlights
Modern Vietnamese street food in Asian Colonial house setting
Modern Vietnamese street food in Asian Colonial house setting
"The selling point of this Vietnamese restaurant is its versatility. At La Dong, you can get a bánh mì for under $20, or you can have an ambitious, multi-course meal underneath a chandelier. If you’re opting for the latter, always order the fried branzino with a sticky fish sauce glaze and the wagyu pho." - willa moore, bryan kim, matt tervooren, will hartman
"A Union Square Vietnamese effort by the Thai Pranakhon team that serves items like “a clever riff on the Vietnamese turmeric crepe.”" - Melissa McCart
"After a meal at La Đồng, you’ll wonder if you’ve pulled off your first successful grift. This Vietnamese spot a few steps from Union Square has a split personality. It’s casual enough for an impromptu dinner, but the interior is decked out with glossy wood, love seats, and ornate tile. Mains start around $20, and most have some sort of top-shelf twist. One side of the menu covers “chef’s specials” like pâté with bone marrow, and the other features “classics” like phở, and bánh mì served with a side of house truffle soup. Try the wagyu pho with a profoundly beefy flavor, or get the whole fried branzino served over a glaze so sweet and sticky it could trap a wooly mammoth. It costs $36 and can easily feed two. photo credit: Bryan Kim" - Bryan Kim
"Inside Union Square, La Dong is serving some of the best pho in the city right now, with five pho varieties including pho gà and a dry duck pho served with broth on the side, earning strong praise from critics." - Melissa McCart
"Announced only on Resy, I went to La Dồng, a brand‑new Vietnamese restaurant at 11 East 17th Street, at Fifth Avenue, described as an “Asian colonial house” whose dining room includes a bright mural of a woman in a straw hat with jeweled tassels holding pink flowers, a bamboo‑walled bar, booths under stained wooden arches, lotus‑flower lampshades, mullioned windows glowing orange like a sunset, and an overall 19th‑century colonial impression. The chef is Pithayakorn Panapoi and the owners are Jaruwijit Jaruthiphayakhantha and Hathaichanog Setasathien, the latter responsible for the elaborate design (their earlier projects include Thai Villa and Pranakhon). The two‑sided menu is ambitious — 45 dishes in seven categories — and standout items include a pho Hà Nội ($21) that I consider one of the best in New York: a simple, spare, lightly seasoned broth with scallions and cilantro, notable fatty brisket, and broader, chewier rice noodles served with Thai bird chiles (with seeds) and vinegar; a crispy summer roll ($15) served as four in a lettuce thicket with a delicate shredded‑wheat‑like shell layered with shrimp, pork, crab, and mushrooms; bánh cuốn rice roll dumplings topped with shallots and served in a banana leaf; a bone marrow and pâté appetizer ($17) that I enjoyed but found short on toasts and somewhat masked by a cognac‑flavored gelée; and the best dish of the evening, a Hanoi‑style whole fish (cá chiên nước mắm), a turmeric‑ and dill‑flavored branzino ($39) served bright yellow and delicious wrapped in lettuce and herbs, with plenty left to take home. The shaking beef was less enjoyable — bouncy, slightly rubbery cubes in a sweet glaze with crushed peanuts — and the “classic” bánh mì I took home was warm, smeared with pâté and layered with a thick plank of sausage, lettuce, shredded carrot, and basil. Without a liquor license yet, their nonalcoholic offerings are notable, especially a tall iced coconut salt coffee from Huế that is not sweet, slightly bitter, and pairs nicely with many dishes." - Robert Sietsema
