Huynh, 912 St. Emanuel St., Houston, TX

Close to the top of any "best of" list I could ever imagine for Houston, food-related or otherwise, Huynh (pronounced "win" or "hwin") is one of the best places to enjoy Vietnamese food in Houston, a city which is itself possibly the best place in America to sample this amazing, deeply underrated cuisine. I hadn't really eaten much Vietnamese (well, much that was truly worthy of the name) before I moved to Houston, and I've been desperately craving it since I've left. Luckily, just across the river in Pennsylvania (but wait, that's another story)…

If you happen to be in Houston, there are plenty of decent-to-great Vietnamese spots in Midtown and in the Bellaire area. And even the so-so, pricey spots outside these two key zones (I'm thinking places like Miss Saigon in the Village and Mo Mong in the Montrose here) will at least serve you something solid, even while they pry a few-too-many bills out of your wallet. You can even get a respectable (and, occasionally, great) meal out of a dive like Hollywood Vietnamese on Montrose Ave. But if you want something extraordinary, I strongly recommend crossing 59 and bringing a date to Huynh.

And, yes, this is definitely a meal worth dining in for. The take-out is fast and first-rate, but Huynh has great atmosphere, think main category Asia Modern, sub-category Slightly Harried. At night the lighting is beyond dim (hence the quality of these photos), but romantic enough if your partner enjoys poking around with chopsticks at pork bits of uncertain provenance while bathed in the glare of wall sconces. If they don't, well, that's your loss and theirs.





There are some things one nearly always need check out when finding a choice new Vietnamese spot, and I'm pleased to report that Huynh doesn't drop the ball on any of the classics. Both Cha Gio and Goi Cuon are excellent here, in particular the crispy Cha Gio, which have an-almost delicate crispness and avoid the greasiness of some of their lunch counter competition. The herbs and lettuces here are always nicely fresh as well, a truly essential part of a superior Vietnamese meal. There's nothing worse than withered romaine leaves and limp cilantro laying sadly near your Pho to remind one of how important the crisp greenery is to this cuisine, so rooted in contrasts.

Other familiar favorites like the rice vermicelli Bun noodle bowls and of course, Pho, are well-executed, sticking close to the classic model. Nice touches are the addition of a char-grilled shrimp noodle bowl, not often seen, and a substantial set of Pho options, including the ever-present squiggly meatball as well as flank, brisket, tendon, and tripe. But if you're craving a noodle soup as heartening as Pho, I encourage you to try Bun Bo Hue, a specialty of the owners' home region, Hue.



Thick with fat noodles and various uncertain bits of pork and beef, colored and umami-fied with pig's blood, this is not, as they say, for the faint of heart. But those familiar with the squeakier types of Pho, as well as all indiscriminate lovers of pork product should find much to delight here. The flavor of the broth is deeper and subtler than Pho, less heavily spiced and more warming. Pho is traditionally a breakfast food, eaten on the street while in transit to work. This is more of a chilly night, after dark kind of soup, with thick rice noodles reminiscent of Udon. The raw accompaniments are more wintry, too, crunchy shredded cabbage and carrot and bean sprout. Even stranger for western palates but also excellent is Bun Ming Vit, a similar combination, but with duck on the bone and large pieces of bamboo shoot.



Good to the last drop.



Worth investigating at Huynh is nearly anything off the grill. There is no place where Western and Vietnamese tastes combine so effortlessly (barring possibly Banh Mi) as in the rice-based comfort dishes, Com Dia. Anything accompanied by a "Huynh favorite" smiley on the menu is strongly recommended, but the Phoenix chicken, short ribs, and anything based on grilled pork are all extra-strongly recommended. The short ribs strike an excellent balance of charred and tender, and come with a perfect fried egg nestled on top. "Phoenix chicken" is in fact Cornish hen with fried egg, a nicely spiced bird I can only describe as extra-succulent and juicy within a thoroughly crispy layer of skin.



Very few places can entrance me to stuff myself to the point of pain and then even consider, let alone actually order, dessert. But our waitress was extremely persuasive. Thus, we ended up with a mango smoothie (frapped and not-too-sweet) and Che 3 (or Ba) Mau, "three colors of beans," which is somewhere between a parfait, rice pudding and a more standard Asian red bean dessert. Highly recommended.

If you're in the Houston downtown area, it's well worth your while to swing down St. Emanuel and check out Huynh, within spitting distance of the George R. Brown Convention Center and Discovery Green. And unlike many great Viet spots in Houston, they actually have a website, with full lunch and dinner menus.

SANGRIA 7.22.11

We're enduring a rough heatwave in the Northeast at the moment. Which reminds us of Houston. Which reminds us of… Sangria! Our perennial favorite for a day when everyone's off and it's just too damn hot to go outside. For more than blueberries. And, so :

Sangria 7.22.11

Gather :

1 cup lightly crushed blueberries & 2 sliced yellow peaches, macerated briefly with a little bit of sugar (a couple tablespoons will do)

Add :

1 bottle dry but not-too-dry Spanish red wine (we used Altos del Cuco, see below)
1/2 cup brandy (of mediocre quality or slightly better, it's not yet time to whip out the Henny)
1 sliced orange (we used valencias)
juice of 1 orange (ditto valencia)
1 sliced lemon (sliced real thin to avoid the odd over-tart glass)
1/2 cup sugar (or more, to taste)

Chill in the fridge for a few hours, then scoop a bit of fruit and pour a bit of sangria into stemmed red-wine glasses, or goblets, or whatever works best. Then add ice & club soda to taste.

On the Selection of Fruit :

We picked some blueberries from the bushes at our house and used some nicely room-ripened Jersey peaches but we would like to note that this DOES NOT MAKE US BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE. They were merely at hand. Whatever should do nicely. If you have a plethora of gooseberries, too, or whatever, this will likely work. I think the peaches are the key element - soft enough that you have to slice them slowly and evenly for fear of mashing them.

The oranges should be plump but not too juice heavy. Of moderate ripeness.

On the Selection of Wine :

In The Foods and Wines of Spain, one of the classic English-language Spanish cookbooks, Penelope Casas recommends when making a red sangria to use "a dry, full-bodied red wine, preferably of Spanish import from Valencia or Valdepeñas," and I see no reason to contradict this. I would add only that a wine following that description from southern Italy or South America or Australia would work almost as well (if not as authentically), and that the key phrase here is "dry," not "full-bodied." The latter is mainly a reminder that you don't want some acid-heavy, puckeringly dry big red for your sangria. What you should avoid, though (and I've been as guilty of this as anyone), is picking a sweet red for your sangria. This seems to be the pattern most often repeated by home sangria-makers here and it's a key one to avoid. After all, you're adding nothing that isn't sweet (fruit, sugar, eau de vie, brandy) to the wine to make it sangria. Why choose a sweet wine? It'll only make the whole experience a cloying one.

At any rate, we picked Altos Del Cuco, a monastrell/syrah/tempranillo mix that drifts towards the dry side of what is usually a more even-tempered combo. At around $10 and under a bottle, it's about the perfect price point for a batch of sangria. If you spend $15 US or more on a bottle for sangria (outside of extremely bourgie districts), you're spending to much. Altos Del Cuco is a clean, dry (but not acerbically so) red with enough notes of fruit to make for an excellent batch. There's a fairly decent review here.