Rangoon - Chelsea — Restaurant in New York

I had a good feeling about this place when I spied SVU legend BD Wong walking past it right before I went in - it was like the pop culture gods had signed off on the adventure. I came here with my Skipper for dinner last night, after Rangoon popped up on my radar recently. It's probably a little edgier ethnic-wise than I typically go for, but there seemed to be enough safe options on the menu, coupled with some positive online buzz.

We both loved the interior, which is deceptively vast with lots of passageways and nooks and crannies. We were seated in probably the most "normal" area in the room directly accessing the front door, but we had a view of a very cool outside backyard section, and there was a cozy party table downstairs near the restroom (which required a few turns/narrow hallways but with plenty of convenient signage to highlight the way). It's a little claustrophobic in there when you have someone sitting at the tables near you (my chum had to get out on my side to avoid having to make contact with our dining neighbors), but in NYC that's largely par for the course. It helped that we got a cool corner table with a large shared curved seat to share.

I ended up doubling down on the spicy beef. We split the Keema Paratha app, which was spicy beef in Indian-style flatbread. Very tasty and empanada-ish though for a dish that I think was $15, I think they should have had a third piece. The beef was very well-seasoned, and in a unique way that you don't get at more mainstream establishments. I mistakenly assumed Indian style flatbread would basically be some variation of Naan, which it definitely is not - it's not as thick and crunchy as most empanadas I've encountered, but if you're looking for something literally flat and airy, this is not it.

For my entree, I went with the Spicy Masala Beef ($28ish), which as you'd expect was eerily similar to the app. It actually reminded me of a childhood dish my mom used to make with hamburger and potatoes, but obviously on a much edgier scale. Loved the inclusion of the potatoes though, a rare exception to my texture-based rules. It was also a generous helping, and I probably left a few legit bites left on the plate because I was stuffed, a phenomenon that does not occur often.

The service was pretty decent. It was a LITTLE sluggish at the beginning (we probably had to wait five more minutes than needed to order), but it wasn't egregious. And arguably that mild issue was more than made up for with the diligent filling of the water glasses - our waiter was constantly over at our table topping us off, even though we had a bottle at the table to DIY it. I have one chum in particular who can easily consume over 50 ounces of water at a sit-down meal, and she would have been in ecstasy at this place.

Very solid experience. I can't say I came out of here slack-jawed, mesmerized by the meal, but it was really good and for a trendy NYC neighborhood,...

I have few good things to say about my time living in San Francisco, but one positive thing I can say is that I wasn't exactly hurting for quality Burmese food out there.

Out here in NYC? Beggars can't be choosers, I suppose. I came to NYC a few months before the city's only Burmese restaurant in Manhattan succumbed to the horrors of the Q line extension, but no matter how much I tried to patronize the place before it went out of business, I couldn't get past how mediocre the food was. Hmmm, maybe the Q wasn't the reason it folded?

Anyway, since then, I've only found a handful of Burmese restaurants in the city, and they've all been various shades of a-okay. I was so hoping Rangoon would buck the trend, but had apprehensions given its overpriced Chelsea location. Those apprehensions were more or less justified.

Here's the good:

Spicy Balachaung Shrimp: Larger than expected and appropriately spicy. In fact, it could've burned anymore, but I understand they have to accommodate weaker stomachs too.

BFC Burmese Fried Chicken ("Kyetthar Kyaw"): Perfectly crisp and juicy, though more seasoning in the batter would've been nice.

Lemongrass Fish Noodle Soup ("Mohinga") - One of Burma's national dishes, and done surprisingly well at Rangoon. Lots of thin rice noodles in a piping hot, thick, fish broth. The onion fritter was a bit weird, but nonetheless complemented the other flavors.

Side of Crispy Paratha: A fab carb enhancement, perfectly fried and surprisingly large.

The eh:

Side of Burmese Egg Curry ("Bae Oo Achin Hinn"): For $9, I'm not complaining too much because of the hefty portion, but this tomato-based curry was just really bland. Props for giving lots of egg, though.

The bad:

Tea Leaf Salad ("Lahpet Thoke"): Like every other basic Betty, Burmese tea leaf salad is my favorite dish of the cuisine. I've had it more times than I can count. Upon my first bite of Rangoon's, my initial thought was, "Why is it so bland?" That thought prevailed for the rest of the dish. In the end, we concluded that the disappointment stemmed from making the salad purely vegan (thus, no fish or shrimp sauce) and a lack of pungency in the fermented tea leaves (plus, lack of leaves in general). The rest of the salad was fine, but when you shortchange the flavor core that much, you get a mouth experience blander than unsalted potatoes.

And so continues the quest for amazing tea leaf...

My friend's food came out luke warm. It was the veggie curry, and it was watery, bland and not hot enough in places. It was like it had been heated up from cold inconsistently. My food was the pork noodles and they were nice enough, but not worth what came next. When we asked politely to send the food back because it was not hot, the waiter said the plate was warm so the food must be warm. He then interrupted the meal of the diners next to us to ask them to stick their finger in the meal and say whether it was warm or not...! He said my friend was lying. I've never seen anything like it in my life... The way he spoke to my friend was unacceptable - he was attempting to humiliate her, using other diners to join in, and suggesting she was lying (she wasn't - I tried her food!). I complained to the supervisor that evening, who was, to his credit, incredibly apologetic. The waiter stood in the background staring at me whilst I did it, which I found very aggressive. Then on my way out, I said to the waiter that how he had spoken to my friend was unacceptable, and he shouldn't speak to people like that. He then became incredible aggressive and said my friend is lying, I was lying and that it was disrespectful because we wanted a free meal! To be clear, at this point, I had paid for my own (mediocre) food and our drinks, and my friend just wanted to leave - she hadn't eaten anything at all. I barely ate my own food because of the upset at what had happened. My friend was worried he was going to hit me as he became so aggressive and came right in my face (also I am a small 5ft female, so hardly threatening myself...). Other diners were staring and clearly disturbed. I'm sure it also ruined the atmosphere and their experience. Never seen anything like this in my life, hope I never do again. This waiter is a serious liability to this otherwise cute restaurant which could have potential. I hope the management consider this...