JoJu

NYT Critic’s Pick

Asian, Southeast Asian, Vietnamese

$

Elmhurst

The first JoJu opened in 2011 on a crowded strip of Elmhurst, Queens, selling Vietnamese banh mi in wax-paper egg-roll bags off a menu in Chinese and English. Eight years later, a second JoJu appeared on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, with iPad kiosks and branded takeout boxes in lemongrass-green. The banh mi remain exemplary, if not wholly traditional, with classic pâté and quivery head cheese offered alongside Korean bulgogi. Twice-fried fries come heaped with pickled daikon and carrots, cilantro and jalapeño, and lashed with spicy mayo, a demi-glace of pork stock and the kind of bright-hot green sauce that anoints Peruvian roast chicken. The chef, Julie Wong, said, “I wanted to embrace Queens as a melting pot.”

By Ligaya Mishan