Saigon Kitchen - Vietnamese Food in the FLX

I have recently become obsessed with Vietnamese cuisine, ever since I tried my first banh mi sandwich at the Crystal Lake Café at Americana Vineyards back in June, I’ve been on the search for where I can get more yummy Vietnamese food. I’m talking obsessed. I’ve been googling Banh Mi sandwich recipes, places that make them in upstate NY, and watching videos of food porn about them on YouTube. You could safe say that I have an addictive personality, because when I find something that I love, I am all in.

Yours truly about nom on the Pho. Apparently it took a lot of concentration o_0

When Jared told me he had discovered a Vietnamese restaurant in Ithaca, I knew I had to go. Saigon Kitchen, located in downtown Ithaca on State St., strikes me as a local’s hangout. Though it’s only located a few streets away from the more touristy Commons and down the hill from congested college town, this neighborhood was very residential and had a much more relaxed feel to it. On the walk from where we parked my car to the restaurant, I was taking in all of awesome street art and various patios & bars where the locals were gathered to grab a drink on a lovely Friday summer evening. There are definitely some more places I want to check out along State St. in the future.

Once we arrived at Saigon Kitchen, we were fortunate enough to be able to grab a table right away. (Random tip for trying to figure out whether a new restaurant will be any good: if it is packed and people are waiting at the door, the food is likely to be good. Empty restaurants at meal times are rarely a good sign.) For our appetizer we shared an order of the Lemongrass Marinated Skewers, which came with a side of delicious peanut sauce. Jared loved the peanut sauce so much he wanted to have a bowl of it.

For the entrée, we both ordered a very traditional Vietnamese dish, Pho –pronounced like “Fuh”- is a beef and noodle soup. This was not my first time having Pho, I would order it now and then from an old favorite, Wok With Me at Point Place in Henrietta while I was still taking grad classes, but it’s been well over a year since I’ve had some, so I went with the House Special (Doc Biet) and Jared had the Bo Vien (meatball) version.

Pho before the added extras.

The House Special included all of the cuts of meat that Saigon Kitchen offers for their Pho –rare eye round steak, tendon (which at first slightly freaked me out due to its gelatinous nature, but turned out to be really delicious!), meatballs, and brisket. Now if you’re wondering if a soup is going to fill you up for dinner, don’t worry, Pho comes in a very generous portion and includes noodles, Vietnamese basil, and crunchy sprouts (on a side note, I loveeee crunchy sprouts). You throw as little or as much of the basil & sprouts in along with sriracha –a Thai hot sauce for those not familiar with it- or this wonderful sweet & savory, slightly reminiscent of a balsamic glaze but with slightly more Asain flair(I have no idea what it is called, but I loved it), or a chili paste as you see fit. You can make Pho as spicy or savory as you want.

Crunchy sprouts & basil with the extra sauces in the background.

Something else I want to note on is how crazy fresh all of the food was! While spicy and bursting with flavor, it was not heavy at all and did not leave me with what I like to call “Chinese-food-regret.” Which is that icky feeling you get after mowing down half of a giant container of delivery General Tso chicken and fried rice hung over on a Sunday afternoon while watching reruns of Real Housewives of which ever city….not that I’ve ever done that before. Totally giving my college-self the side eye.

Cue mouthwatering joy a la Homer Simpson.

I highly recommend Saigon Kitchen as an alternative if you’re getting tired of your regular MSG ridden Chinese takeout or need a change of pace from your usual go-to Thai place. I will definitely be back to try some more dishes at Saigon Kitchen. Happy eating!

Mandy Eats Goes to Boston Part II

Where did we leave off in our Boston adventure...

 A late lunch of Thai Style Chicken Satays at Max Brenner, which wait for it.....is a restaurant dedicated to chocolate! We also had the chocolate fondu platter (which I was too bothered eating to take a picture of).

Prosciutto di Parma,Fresh Mozzarella, Basil, Balsamic Agrodolce

 Later Saturday night we headed out to the North End for some authentic Italian American cusine (complete with the Italian speaking grandpa's an all) at Bacco. Again I was too busy scarfing down the pure deliciousness that was our appetizer to remember to take a picture of it. We washed it down with a very lovely bottle of Oyster Bay Savignon Blanc, 2010.

Shrimp Carbonara with Roasted Garlic Cream, Fettuccine, Pancetta and Peas

For the main course, I ordered shrimp carbonara. It was divine. This was seriously the best meal I had in Boston.

 Since we apparently hadn't sufficiently stuffed ourselves silly enough at Bacco, we had to get some creamy gelato in hazelnut.

After walking off some of our meal and dessert, Courtney and I decided to play in the fountain, because it still felt like 90 out. It was so much fun seeing kids and adults alike, playing in the fountain.

On our walk home (soaking wet from the fountain, but very pleased with ourselves) I captured this picture of the Old State House. I just love how the old mingles so closely with the new & modern in Boston. Something about this makes me so happy and is one of the reasons why Boston is one of my favorite cities to visit. 

Sunday morning we took things easy (and thankfully the hot & humid weather finally broke!!) with brunch at Thortons, where I had the Eggs Mozzarella with an iced coffee. Again, I was too excited to eat to be bothered to take pictures until it was almost gone (are you sensing a theme here?).

After brunch we headed over to the Prudential Center for some shopping and to go to the observation deck of the Pru! This was one of my favorite experiences of Boston. I highly recommend it if you've never done it before. 

My favorite views from the SkyWalk Observatory.

After the SkyWalk, we grabbed a quick juice from Juice as we headed to the SoWa Market. I sipped on the # 8 option (lemon, lime, alkaline water, organic agave and cayenne).

At the SoWa Open Market, I had my very first food truck experience. You may be wondering, how on earth am I a food blogger and I've never been to a food truck before? Well dear readers, I live in the middle of no where. The Finger Lakes are beautiful and we have awesome fresh & local produce, but this is still basically the middle of no where, and I have to drive my car at least 15 minutes to go to the nearest grocery store. It isn't exactly an ideal atmosphere for food trucks to do business. So I was stoked when I saw food truck after food truck lined up at SoWa. It was a foodie's paradise on wheels. I chose Bon Me and their incredibly fresh how-did-this-come-out-of-a-truck-and-not-a-brick-and-mortor-restaurant rice bowl with chicken. Their Bon Me sandwich (lovely play on words for the traditional Bahn Me) looked super drool worthy as well, but alas, there's only so much I can eat in one sitting. My first food truck experience was an epic success in my book.

After SoWa, we headed to the beach (the name of the one we actually went to escapes me), but it was the perfect way to end our weekend. Stay classy Boston, I can't wait to see you again.

Mandy-Eats Goes to Boston Part I

Highlights of my trip to Boston a few weeks ago.

Friday

 Boston is a walking city. We walked everywhere. And this is one of my favorite things about Boston as well, everything seems to be only a 20 minute walk or T ride away. These are some scenes from our first night in as we walked to Joe's American Bar & Grill (I didn't capture any pictures of this meal).

Clockwise from the top left: The Boston skyline, Quincy Market's trees light up with thousands of twinkle lights, and the wharf right next the Joe's (where I had a regular mojito and the Ahi Tuna Salad.)

Saturday

 Brunch at Trident Booksellers and Cafe. This adorable brunch spot housed two of my favorite things: books and food. What more could you want really? I had the Apple Brie Omelette with rye toast and a side of bacon with an iced coffee.

 This was during that heat wave that most of the US experienced in mid July and I was pretty much melting during Friday and Saturday, along with this little guy at the Boston Public Garden. 

Gorgeous weeping willows offered some relief from the sun by the in the Public Garden. You can spy the swan boats paddling by. 

 The George Washington statue in the Public Garden.

Make Way For Ducklings by Nancy Schön in the Public Garden. I almost died from the cuteness going on here. 

Jared in front of the Massachusetts State House as seen from the Boston Common. 

Samuel Adams in front of Faneuil Hall (Fanny Hall as the locals say) at Quincy Market.

I hardly drink soda anymore, but this Diet Coke seriously hit the spot on that extremely muggy and hot afternoon. 

Boston Strong. Tourniquets tied around a fence in memory of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings from this past April. My friend that we stayed with in Boston, described to me what she experienced during that horrific day as she was a spectator only a few blocks away from the finish line herself. It literally gave me goose bumps despite it being 95 degrees outside. We passed the locations where the two bombs went off and I did not take pictures of them because it felt tasteless in a way, but the evidence of how Boston has banded together in the aftermath is amazing and uplifting.

I want to leave this post here and continue the rest of our visit through Saturday evening and Sunday for the next post.