NYC's Bistrot Ha Praised for Neon Flavors

- Bistrot Ha is the larger, more ambitious follow-up to the 24-seat Ha's Snack Bar, both run by chefs Anthony Ha and Sadie Mae Burns. Located on the Lower East Side at 137 Eldridge Street, it features a 45-seat dining room and a full kitchen, a significant expansion from the original's induction burner setup. - The chefs' culinary approach is a "turbocharged take on Franco-Vietnamese cooking," a style they honed through their popular pop-up, Ha's Đặc Biệt, for six years before opening a permanent location. This fusion is evident in dishes like snails in tamarind butter and pâté chaud with vermicelli. - A signature element of their cooking is the liberal use of fish sauce, which is featured in nearly every dish, from martinis to the check itself, which reportedly has "There's fish sauce in everything" printed on it. - The larger kitchen at Bistrot Ha allows for menu items that were impossible at the smaller snack bar, such as beef Wellington and proper french fries. However, the menu is known to change frequently, with dishes appearing and disappearing from the chalkboard daily. - Helen Rosner's review highlighted dishes such as braised leeks in a chunky sauce gribiche and a pho-spiced French-onion soup. Other critics have praised offal-centric creations like schnitzel-fried brains and pig's foot terrine. - Before establishing their brick-and-mortar restaurants, Ha and Burns gained a significant following with their pop-up, which had a residency in Paris and was praised by *The New York Times*. - Securing a table at Bistrot Ha is notoriously difficult, with reservations disappearing almost instantly. The restaurant does, however, reserve bar seats for walk-ins, though this often involves a lengthy wait.