Discovering Bistrot Ha The Most Hyped Restaurant in NYC for 2026

There is something about rooting for the underdog. I remember watching the U.S. version of Iron Chef many, many years ago when Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis faced Mario (anche io) Batali and Rachael Ray.

Although I cannot remember what Rachael said verbatim, it was something to the effect of, “I’m a mutt, going against purebreds. They have all gone to culinary school and I have not. I have nothing to lose.” I rooted for Rachel, the underdog.

Although they are NOT mutts, it could be argued that Sadie Mae Burns Ha and Anthony Ha were underdogs when they began their restaurant journey that led to Ha’s Snack Bar and Bistrot Ha.

Their humble journey from washing dishes (Anthony) and working as a line cook (Sadie Mae) at Mission Chinese in 2015, to moving on to other restaurants such as Frenchette, to riding street vending carts during the pandemic, making banh mis and grilling quail on the streets of NYC for blocks of individuals lined-up, to traveling the world and selling out their pop-ups allowed them to refine their craft and expand their culinary vision.

This foundation, combined with their vision of Vietnamese, has led them to now owning (in my opinion) the hottest and NYC’s most talked about Bistro(t) in 2026.

This wife and husband team have taken their “every dish contains fish sauce” motto/philosophy and are turning out some of the most flavorful dishes around. Today, it is nearly impossible to read or watch individuals talking about the hottest restaurants in NYC where the Ha’s are not mentioned. As a food geek, I had to see for myself if the hype was real. Spoiler alert, it was/is!

For our visit, Bistrot Ha had been opened a little over a month. I had heard that reservations are gone within seconds of going live. I can confirm that as a minute after I booked, RESY stated there wasn’t any availability.

There wasn’t a website at the time we visited, and I had read that the menu changes regularly, therefore I checked the hashtag bistrotha and bistroha for those who forgot to put the “t” at the end of bistrot on Instagram for some guidance. This helped us tremendously to get a feel of what to expect and how much to order.

We had 9:00 pm reservations for 2 bar seats on a Thursday night. It was freezing (-10 C) and the restaurant was only a 12-minute walk from our LES hotel, therefore we decided to hoof it in cold/snowy/frozen sidewalk conditions.

Upon arriving right on time, the vibe was that of your non-fuss, easy going, good vibe music, neighborhood bistro. A quick view of the chalkboard with two specials, a gigantic ribeye or pork chop with shrimp paste and clams caught my eye before we were seated at the two closest bar seats next to the kitchen with a clear view of all the action. A thorough look over the menu for a few minutes and it was go time!

We had a couple of aperitifs and ordered a bottle of Matassa ‘French Disco’ Cinsault; however, this was all about the food. A tasty natty wine, but again, this is about the food.

Our first dish was Fried Yuba with Shrimp and Sweet Nuoc Mam. A perfect dish to start with. The texture of shrimp paste was soft and airy, while the soybean wraps were nice and crispy. As simple as it seems. The dish balances crunchiness, softness, sweetness and spiciness in each bite. Without the Thai chili, this dish may not have worked for me. It is that heat of the chili mixed with the sweetness that makes this such a great dish.

Second up, Tuna Carpaccio with Pickled Peppers & Lime Leaf. This was our metaphoric vitamin B-12 shot to the arm. Take a good piece of fish, serve it with some acidity, fat, fresh herbs, bright peppers, and voila. Simple, yet flavorful and extremely light. A great dish to throw in the line-up if you’ve got a huge bone-in pork chop on the way and are trying to save some room for dessert as well.

Third-up, Leeks Vinaigrette with Maggi and Marinated Mussels. I have always had a love hate relationship with leeks. There are times when I have ordered grilled leeks and it felt like I had dental floss stuck between each of my teeth after eating it and there are times when they are perfectly cooked and the sweetness just melts in your mouth like butter. This was closer to the latter.

The leeks are not too hard, or too soft, but rather fork tender. The sauce gribiche (sauce made from hard boiled eggs) in which the leeks sat on had the consistency of cottage cheese. The big difference being that cottage cheese is flavorless and the gribiche sauce had a depth of rich flavor from the eggs and bright flavors from the herbs. Add a slight brininess from the muscles, some tanginess from the vinaigrette and this dish just works.

Fourth-up, Omelette With Curry and Escargot. I expected this dish to look like a French omelet, nevertheless it was more in the style of a Spanish tortilla covered with a curry sauce and snails.

The eggs were cooked perfectly, not fully overcooked with a soft middle consistency throughout it. The curry sauce is not overpowering, it was smoky and perfectly salted, which I imagine comes from the fish sauce.

The escargot top, the perfect amount to eat one nutty and earthy snail with each bit of egg and curry was delightful. Although the dish looked heavy on appearance, it was in fact not overwhelmingly rich. It is rich, just not “hangtown fry” from San Francisco’s Tadich Grill, rich.

The dish came with a side of white rice, which was perfect for mixing with some of the extra curry sauce flowing off the omelet.

Fifth-Up, Pork Chop with Shrimp Paste and Clams. In Catalunya there are dishes mar y montaña which translate to sea and mountain. In the U.S. we have surf and turf, however the turf is usually red meat. This dish was right up my alley. When chef Anthony dropped off this dish and said, “good luck” he was not kidding.

The pork chop itself was not visible because of the number of clams and sauce covering it. After removing the clams from the shells, it was time to dig into this huge, thick cut, thick sliced piece of perfectly cooked meat.

The pungent, funky saltiness of the shrimp paste, combined with the savory tender pork and clams was mar and montaña perfection. An absolute umami explosion to the palate. As much as we wanted to finish this dish, it was just too much for us if we wanted to try a dessert. In our defense, we only left behind two small slices.

Lastly, Ice Cream Bombe Under Torched Meringue. This seemed to be the popular dessert of the restaurant. Because of my corner bar seat, I could see them making quite a few of these throughout our meal. The dessert looks big, however the light and airy meringue takes up most of the dish and the bright and citrusy key lime ice cream shot us up again as though we had taken our second metaphoric vitamin B-12 shot of the night.

A great meal to say the least. Disclaimer, being married to a Vietnamese woman, nothing ever tastes as good as what a Vietnamese's mother cooks. Doesn’t matter what it is, the answer is always, “This is really good, but my mom makes the best!” Almost every Vietnamese individual will tell you their mom makes the best pho, BBH, etc. My wife and all her friends moms, according to them, are the best cooks, period.

Eating at Bistro Ha might have been the first time my wife was so completely impressed and did not bring up her mother’s cooking once, comparing “this to “that”.  I wondered if that was because what Bistro Ha is doing is Vietnamese, but perhaps not Vietnamese, if that makes any sense. They have taken the classic ingredients and fused them with other cultures in nontraditional, genius ways.

Therefore, I asked her if our meal at Bistro Ha was better Vietnamese than her mother’s cooking, to which she replied, “Well, it’s completely different from what many Vietnamese are accustomed to eating at home.” I proceeded with, “OK, but can we agree that what we ate tonight was probably more complex but just as flavorful as your mom’s cooking?” to which she replied, “Sir, my Vietnameseness will not permit me to make a statement like that!” A clear satirical reference to Dave Chappelle’s comment from his brilliant Jury Selection skit 20 odd years ago. I took it as a “YES”.

Things happen for a reason. Some of the world's best restaurants have great and unique stories of how they and why they came about. Had the factory that Supinya Junsuta worked at not burned down, there might not have been Jay Fai. Had Bittor Arginzoniz had electricity in the family house growing up, there might not have been Etxebarri. Had El Cellar de Can Roca's pastry chef, Damon Allsap not fallen from a third story balcony and been hospitalized for months, Jordi Roca might not have become the world’s best pastry chef.

Many years from now, we might be saying if Sadie Mae Burns not asked Anthony Ha for a hair tie at Mission Chinese, Ha’s Snackbar and Bistro Ha might not be open today.

I now understand why the Ha’s names are mentioned when it comes to the hottest food scene in NYC. These two chefs are absolutely killing it and have earned the praise for their delicious food. Thank you for such a memorable meal.

Next Article: Is In-N-Out the most overrated burger/meal in America.