Exploring Com Tam Ninh Kieu: A Culinary Journey in the Bronx

Hungry City: Com Tam Ninh Kieu in the Bronx
Consider the range: bun rieu like a deliquescing sunset, muddled with tomato, annatto, tamarind and fresh crab crushed, along with its shell, into an intense, briny slurry; beefy banh mi bo kho, close to a pot-au-feu and served with a hunk of baguette for sopping up; and bun bo Hue, loaded with lemon grass, beef, pork knuckles and cha lua (steamed pork roll)
but missing the traditional cubes of congealed pig’s blood, at least on my visits.
You could add a nest of bi, translucent strands of shredded pork skin, dusted with roasted rice powder
and larded with nubs of pork; or fried eggs crackling at the edges, with hard yolks; or a fluffy cake of shrimp mashed until approaching mousse and bundled in crispy bean-curd skin.
The specialty at Com Tam Ninh Kieu is broken rice, the lowliest rice, grains splintered in the milling process, shunted aside and sold cheap.
(Com tam is broken rice; Ninh Kieu is a waterfront district in Can Tho, in southern Vietnam, where the owner and chef, Sinh Lee, grew up.)
She urged us to add lime, and after we had squeezed in one wedge, she reached over and squeezed another, then dumped in two spoonfuls of chile.