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Just north of Bensonhurst is Bath Beach, a quiet residential neighborhood and perhaps the last place you'd expect to find killer crispy squid with garlic sauce. Sure, the strip under the el train has its fair share of Italian bakeries, but it's also dappled with Asian-owned beauty parlors and restaurants. Pho Tay Ho is one of these eateries, a popular spot that draws a diverse crowd and whose food bests much of what passes for Vietnamese in Manhattan's Chinatown. To be sure, it doesn't look like much: Chinese takeout–style images of food posted behind the counter are just about all that could pass for décor. No matter. Diners happily slurp bowls of superior pho, soup often eaten for breakfast in Vietnam. Its mellow, cloudy broth teems with rice noodles and all manner of beef parts, such as slippery, chewy tendon and circular slices of eye of round. Steamed chicken salad may sound like bad spa food, but it's fabulous, gussied up with herbs, pickled carrots, ground peanuts, and subtly sweet dressing. The menu is extensive, and, for the most part, gloriously inexpensive. Bun, a classic dish of meat or spring rolls over rice noodles and doused with tangy-sweet nuoc nam, is excellent—and this meal-in-a-bowl easily serves as a $5 dinner. — JJ Goode

Chicken salad, $4.50; bun cha gio, $5.25; crispy squid with garlic sauce, $8.50; pho with eye of round and tendon, $4.95