Signs of change at a South Philly Vietnamese restaurant

Here is an excerpt from Craig LaBan's online chat of Nov. 9, 2016:

Craig LaBan: I went with my daughter to Fifth and Chestnut to witness the big rally on Independence Mall this week. We followed the line to Fourth Street, turned south, and kept walking till Washington Avenue, then west to the end of the line at . . . 11th Street!? Realizing we weren't going to make it inside the gates to the mall, the number of great restaurants we'd passed along the way were tugging at our hunger strings. The various grills on South Street (cheesesteaks, kebabs, and otherwise), the Famous Fourth Street Deli, Southwark (cocktails for me!), Hungry Pigeon, and then we were in the midst of Washington Avenue's all-star roster of banh mi, taco, and pho shops. So we crossed to Nam Phuong and had dinner. It was my first time there in a long time, certainly since before a change in ownership a few years ago. But it was still very, very good.

Reader: I just saw the sign for the new Venezuelan restaurant next to Don Quixote at Fourth and South. Do you know if it's related to Sazon on Girard?

C.L.: I saw that sign as well heading down Fourth Street on our trip to the back of the rally line. No idea who's behind it . . .. Michael Klein also has no intel quite yet on Puyero, the Venezuelan coming to Fourth Street, but stay tuned.

Reader: Do you ever get to Brooklyn? Had an unbelievable roast pork sandwich there made by a guy from South Philly who just opened his own shop - Fedoroff's Roast Pork. The guy in line next to me said it was better than DiNic's and I had to agree.

C.L.: I love eating in Brooklyn. Did a piece there a few years ago, but would like to go back again. I've heard good things about Fedoroff's from others, and the DiNic's reference is tall praise. . . . But I can still remember the crackle of roasted skin and the herbaceous, garlicky savor of the Roman-style roast pork from the Porchetta stand at Smorgasburg. Would love to go back.

Reader: Can you give me a top three of the must-have dry-aged steaks in the city?

C.L.: I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, but check out these: the rib eye at Barclay Prime (had a great revisit there recently, much improved); the big $90-plus splurge at a.kitchen cooked over the live coals; and the cowboy steak at Bank & Bourbon, which is so much better than a hotel restaurant like that needs to be. One more - the T-bone at Wm. Mulherin's.

Reader: Could you name some of your favorite liquid or mostly liquid foods around town? Trying to cheer up my friend who just got wisdom teeth out.

C.L: Nothing better than a good congee for breakfast and a Chinatown adventure. Try an early meal of rice porridge at Ting Wong or M Kee! At Ting Wong, the roast duck congee is special.

Reader: Is removing the tasting menu to focus on a la carte a sign that Serpico is in trouble?

C.L.: I think it's more that not enough people were ordering the tasting menu to sustain it. That made no sense, financially or from a kitchen labor perspective, to prepare two separate menus every night. In the end, though I loved Serpico's tasting, I think it may be a smart move to focus and simply make that a la carte menu as good as it can be. Serpico, was busy every time I visited in the last few months. No idea if that's up to expectations by Starr World standards.