Hy Vong Vietnamese Cuisine
3458 S.W. Eighth St., Miami, 305/446-3674, Hyvong.com
Now in its 26th year in the heart of Little Havana, Hy Vong has become one of South Florida's most cherished restaurants in spite of a number of quirks that would have put lesser spots out of business ages ago. For one, it can take forever to get a table on a busy night. Once you do, the wait to place an order can seem interminable. With just 36 seats, diners sit so closely to one another they have no choice but to strike up conversations. Also, the simple descriptions on the menu don't begin to do justice to the preparations. Co-owners Kathy Manning and Tung Nguyen run the tiny place, with Manning taking customers' orders and Nguyen (see Best Chef) cooking them. While getting your food requires infinite patience, the wait is worth every second. The "hearty" soup made with chicken, beef, pork, shrimp and clear noodles could help you live to be 100. But the calamari and pork rolling cakes stand out among the list of appetizers. The entrées are priced in the $11 to $16 range, and you won't believe you're not paying twice as much after massaging your insides with the crisp snapper in a fresh mango sauce. No meal is complete without the sweet Vietnamese coffee that drips into a cup at your table. Hy Vong began as an anomaly: a Vietnamese restaurant on Calle Ocho. All these years later, this is a café no one who loves great food should miss.
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