Hog Wild at Mai House

Come the stroke of ten, Drew Nieporent & Michael Bao Huynh’s latest riff on Modern Vietnamese, suddenly becomes a downright deal with a new 10 After 10 PM menu.
While Michael’s dinnertime fare successfully elevates regional Vietnamese to a plane of elegance, the 10 After 10 PM brings
it right back to its “down & dirty” beginnings in the markets of
Saigon.  Blissfully peppered with wild game, pork and hog, not one of these late-night plates exceeds ten dollars: BBQ quail with sticky rice, corn & coconut fritters, lemon grass short ribs and pork buns.  But the true tour de force here is the “Mai Burger”, Bao’s exotic take on the patty; beef marinated in a fish stock & sugar mixture, then piled high with a pickled
assemblage of daikon, carrots, cilantro, and mint.  Lest we not forget the homemade bun – an irresistibly sweet, condensed milk-laced dough baked by Pax at Tribeca’s Provence (bun take-out joint).  Replete with a supremely hot habanero mayonnaise, this spicy version gives haute hamburgers of late a run for their money.

Mai House
186 Franklin Street (between Hudson & Greenwich Sts.)
212.431.0606 
Restaurant Girl’s Review

Until we eat again,
Restaurant Girl
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