Hanoi House

Southern Vietnamese cooking — sweeter, heaped with herbs — is what most New Yorkers know. Hanoi House cooks the north: clearer, more austere flavors, a pho meant to taste of beef and bone rather than a garden. The room sits a few steps down from St. Marks Place, past a small bar, and it is dim and relaxed in a way that suits a long bowl of soup.

Order the Hanoi-style pho, a beef broth simmered for a day and finished only with cilantro, scallion and red onion, with oxtail, brisket or filet, and bone marrow if you want it richer. Bún chả Hà Nội — grilled pork shoulder and betel-wrapped meatballs in a smoky-sweet broth, with rice noodles and crab spring rolls — is the city's dish and the other must. A papaya and pig-ear salad makes a good start.