Salad Days

Sometimes it’s so hot here in the city, one doesn’t really feel like eating. Who are those nutjobs? There’s so much great stuff to eat right now!
Summer is the best time to buy fruit at the farmer’s market and blend them into smoothies. Don’t waste your money on stupid Starbucks and Jamba Juice, make that shit yourself. Save the dregs of your morning coffee and throw it into the freezer for a mocha milkshake later. Now is the time to buy tons of blueberries (Chances are they’re on sale and grown in New Jersey. Since they’re local, you don’t have to feel guilty about those Chilean bananas. They cancel each other out.) Freeze those babies for winter when the farmer’s market it only selling apples. As far as veggies, I’ve been pretty satiated with the sugar snap peas, but I’m really lusting for corn on the cob and tomatoes.
While I’m waiting, let's talk about one of my favorite salads that’s available and delicious all year round. When a chopped salad contains meat, is it a called a chopped meat salad? At New Saigon on 1st Ave. (bw East 3rd&4th St.), it’s the #27 Shredded Chicken Salad with Lime Juice. I’m not so lazy that I’ll have this salad delivered, but I will call the order in to pick up. When I’m tired after a day of sitting in front of the computer eating Doritos at the office, this salad seems healthy. It’s made of cabbage, carrot, iceberg, cilantro (and sometime parsley), red onion and chicken. I think the dressing is actually lemon rather than lime juice, but I only think that because the cooks garnish the salad with extra slices of lemon. It’s fresh, cheap and so much faster to have someone else do all that chopping!
When I need that salad, but I have company, I don’t take them to New Saigon because it’s a take out joint and verges on depressing. Instead, I’ll take them to Chinatown, as I did when my Godmother visited last month.
On the way to Nhå Hång (73 Mulberry St.), we passed a Hare Krishna parade on 5th Ave while catching up on the past fifteen years. Nhå Hång is even better when you have a large group because the food is consistently good so you can order a lot of dishes. It’s a little exotic for food adventurers, but safe enough for the picky. It’s also great when you have jury duty, they serve cheap ban mi sandwiches and lunch specials. The first and last time I went to the World Trade Center before 9/11, I had dinner at Nhå Hång with a bunch of friends. Marsha had an open studio art show on the 98th floor, and we went out for a big dinner afterwards. This was the first time I went to NH, but it certainly has not been the last. The salt and pepper calamari, #73 Goi gå xé phay (Viet Style Shredded Chicken Salad with Mint and Lime Leaves) and the 7 treasures ice (jello and beans is weird, but fun) are dishes I love ordering. The salad is especially good because they serve it with those crispy chips that stick to your tongue. They remind me of those pastel colored egg cartons.
Pho Bang (157 Mott between Broome & Grand) serves this same shredded chicken salad, but the atmosphere at NH is a little better and I don’t think that Pho Bang has lime leaves in their version of the dish. I’ll just have to go back there and refresh my memory and my palate with this terrific salad.