A small new Vietnamese shop opened up in Hell's Kitchen recently called Saigon 9 West. They have crepes, banh mi, and other small plates. It feels very much like you just walked into a family friend's kitchen, as it's a very small operation and they prepare everything after you order it.
We got one order of summer rolls to split ($4). The summer rolls had rice noodles, basil, mint, scallions, shrimp and pork wrapped in rice paper, accompanied with a "special sauce." These were pretty good - a decent portion size, a tasty sauce, freshly made. They weren't on the same level as some of the other summer rolls we've had (like the ones at Tank, our gold standard for most Vietnamese food), but they were good.
We also split a traditional banh mi sandwich ($6), which consisted of cold cut meats and pate, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, and cilantro on a toasted roll.
Similar to the summer rolls, the banh mi was fine but definitely not the best we've had. The banh mi in Chinatown and some other spots in the city (as well as the ones we had from Ba Le in Chicago at Thanksgiving that we will someday get around to writing about) are much better, but this was on par with or superior to most of the other ones in Midtown West/South. (I think we have tried everywhere that serves banh mi except for maybe one place in the area, and a lot of them are just okay.) One thing that A noted was that the pate didn't have much flavor. One thing he looks forward to is the mineral-type flavor that comes with it.
Generally, our feeling about Saigon 9 West was that it was good, but not great. But it's nice to have another casual Vietnamese place in the neighborhood. I was reading in some article predicting 2013 trends that Vietnamese cuisine may spread and grow in the US like Thai food did, and maybe this (and the recent opening of Pho 66) is a sign of that. I love how clean and tasty Vietnamese food is, and I would love to have more choices!
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