THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Mai House Restaurant Review
186 Franklin St. (Hudson & Greenwich Sts.) 
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New York, NY 10013
212-431-0606
 Restaurateur Drew Nieporent, with Mai House, adds the food of Vietnam to his international stable (he has Mexican, French and Japanese spots nearby). The TriBeCa space features designs by the chef and food by the architect. It’s not as odd as it sounds; they’re in fact the same person. Saigon-born partner Michael Huynh trained as an architect before pursuing a culinary career. He brings architectural precision to the city’s most inventive Vietnamese food---delivered in a spacious, sultry dining room featuring dangling lamps and silk panels on a lotus motif. From a kitchen visible through a wood lattice wall come playful riffs on Vietnamese classics: crisp spring rolls filled with mixed wild mushrooms, red snapper in a traditional sweet-spicy-sour sauce served in fried filet chunks dramatically piled around a crisp golden carcass. Caramel chicken, another standard, is presented here in its claypot vessel with quail eggs, ginger and chilies. Dessert, generally more fusion than the rest of the menu, includes an odd but terribly compelling sweet pandan panna cotta topped with savory curry gelée.
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