Thai Son Restaurant

Named for a peak in northern Vietnam, Thai Son offers more than 130 dishes. Start with golden fried spring rolls (the vegetarian version is even tastier than its peppery meat counterpart) or fresh so nuoc dua, green mussels in a light coconut-curry sauce. Then you’re ready for a steaming bowl of meaty pho. If you’re feeling restless, get the sugarcane-marinated shrimp, tom nuong vi, to grill at the table, and wrap with herbs and lettuce in rice paper. Or try the zingy ech xao xa ot, frog legs in lemongrass sauce—they really do taste like chicken, albeit stringy chicken—along with a tart xi muoi (plum soda). Then you can say you’ve been to the mountaintop.