Vong's New (Old) Menu

Just before the holidays, I was craving Vong’s original dishes–I mean the ones from back when the restaurant first opened, in 1992–so I went to the restaurant and asked the kitchen to prepare them for me. I was overwhelmed by how new and fresh and delicious they tasted! I decided then and there that we had to bring the whole menu back. And even though we were already doing the $24 lunch and $35 four-course dinner, I decided to bring back 1992 prices on the a la carte menu too.

Of course, those dishes also brought back a flood of memories. I opened Vong in 1992, a year after opening JoJo, to fuse my French cuisine with the Thai dishes I came to love while cooking in Asia. (Hence its original proposed name: “Far East.”) Florence Fabricant, the New York Times food writer, was the one who suggested “Vong” instead. (Thanks, Florence.)

To create a space reminiscent of Bangkok’s gilded temples, I installed teak floors, painted the ceiling gold, and covered a wall with a collage of my maps, articles, and souvenirs from Thailand. More recently, we added Eames chairs tinted red, the color of good fortune.

One of my favorite “original” dishes actually debuted in 1993. During our first year, we realized that every table ordered a selection of appetizers, so we put together a tasting plate of our signature starters.

Here’s the order in which I like to eat them:
Start with the Peekytoe crab spring rolls. There’s so much crab in the thin wrapper, this is more like a crab cake. I love the contrast between the hot, crisp roll and the cool lettuce, mint, and cilantro that you wrap it in.

A thin coating of coconut mousse and panko crumbs keeps the shrimp in our crunchy shrimp “satay” super-moist. Our raw tuna and avocado summer rolls are so refreshing, as is the lobster wrapped in a paper-thin sheet of daikon radish. The accompanying rosemary ginger vinaigrette was one of my first fusion experiments, blending French herbs and Asian aromatics. I still love this combination today. The roasted quail, marinated in a sweet soy sauce and five-spice marinade, pairs well with the salad of watercress, sliced red cabbage, and slivers of crunchy fried leeks.

Of the entrees, the shrimp with Thai herbs remains one of my favorites. Be sure to enjoy each bite with the garnish on top and the creamy, spiced sauce below.

My interpretation of Vietnamese pho includes seared steak and a roasted marrow bone, both of which add a deep richness to the aromatic ginger broth. But my favorite dish is still the chicken and coconut soup. It was the first thing I ate when I arrived in Thailand years ago, and I continued to eat it after many long days of cooking. This soup was one of the reasons I decided to open a restaurant like Vong.
The desserts are why I like to linger over a meal here.
When you take a bite of the caramelized pineapple, you first get a hint of fruity tartness, then comes the cooling sweetness of vanilla coconut sorbet. Of course, we have our signature warm chocolate cake here, but we also have a bitter chocolate tart with oranges and candied ginger, which offset the molten chocolate richness perfectly. Finally, one of my favorite desserts is the coconut caramel custard with delicate lime cookies. The custard may look simple, but it’s amazingly silky and flavorful. The best part about returning to our 1992 menu and prices?

Vong’s original chefs will be preparing the dishes. Pierre Schutz, who started cooking for me in 1985 and opened Vong, is still running the kitchen. Eric Hubert, our pastry chef who opened Vong and recently returned, is as great as ever. (He always rolls his puff pastry by hand, something I truly admire.)
With their help, I’m making the old new again at Vong. I hope to see many old and new friends there.