An Choi

At this Vietnamese street-eats spot, owner Tuan Bui has added items like beef carpaccio and prawn crackers, a grilled-tofu bánh mì, and desserts such as a coconut-caramel flan. This is on top of salads, Vietnamese sandwiches in the traditional style (the chicken-liver pâté and five-spice pork is made in-house) and one in the not-so-traditional style (made with barbecued pork from a hole-in-the-wall butcher in Chinatown; see it in our slideshow). One best bet at the enduringly great Lower East Side restaurant is its pho bo dac biet, which goes all-in on beef with oxtail and nearly raw slivers of flank, plus a bonanza of other cuts in texture-supplying supporting roles. (It should be mentioned, too, that An Choi’s bun bo hue nails a nifty balance of fat and body, thanks to lots of brisket and an array of alternatingly fatty and loaflike pork products.)