Van Đa

Van Đa owner, Ms. Yen Ngo explains, “this restaurant is a story of my journey in food, modern in spirit, but anchored by my heritage.” Yen was trained as a chef and worked in fine dining restaurants in Washington D.C., Santa Fe, and San Francisco before settling in New York.

“We’re going to have dishes I grew up with and loved as a child,” Yen Ngo notes. “Specific recipes I never see here in the States: authentic, but clean vibrant-flavored elements of Vietnamese cuisine.

Bartender, Andrew Pisano, is an alumn of The Fat Radish, Alta Calidad, and Brucie. Andrew’s career path has been focused on hospitality since his first job as a dishwasher back as a freshman in high school. Even back then at young age, he quickly moved up to the front of the house and management. 

“I’ve always had this sense of joy and accomplishment seeing guests enjoy their dining experience. At Van Da we tried to create a cocktail menu that compliments the food that Hannah is making. I wanted to include some ingredients familiar to Vietnamese cuisine, but that wasn’t an exclusive rule. The focus is on bright, clean flavors — sweet, sour, spicy, herbaceous — and vivid colors. There’s something for all tastes, from light and fresh to smokey and booze-forward."