Banh xeo rice crepe with shrimp, chicken and sprouts

Photograph: Roxana Marroquin678.

With Tet, restaurateur Stephen Duong brings his sleek middlebrow Vietnamese restaurant formula—witness Nam in Tribeca and Chelsea’s O Mai—to a congested stretch of Avenue A. The loungey spot, located above a raucous basement watering hole, features an upbeat pop music soundtrack (the better to drown out the roar from below), a backlit sake bar and white tablecloths bathed in optimal first-date mood lighting. Vietnamese standards—from spring rolls to pho—are beautifully presented, moderately priced and delivered with good-natured efficiency by the waiter, who effortlessly does double duty as host. Nicely burnished barbecued quail comes with the same fiery house-made pickles served with the classic banh xeo, an oversize golden rice crêpe filled with a toothsome mix of shrimp, chicken and sprouts. Though a roasted duck main course was too fatty and chewy, peanut-topped sirloin and sausages—beef two ways over a bed of cool rice noodles (bo lui)—were perfectly charred and deliciously spiced. The Southeast Asian sweets, including warm coconut tapioca pudding full of exotic fruits, such as sweet jackfruit and lychee-like palm seeds, won’t weigh you down if you plan on following dessert with an East Village bar crawl.