Vietnamese Pho with Jimmy Ly, Chef and Co-Owner of Madame Vô

Ten years ago there was almost nowhere in New York to get the Vietnamese food Jimmy Ly and Yen grew up eating. She had come from a big Vietnamese community in Mississippi by way of Houston; he was born and raised here, baking at his parents' Paris Sandwich in Chinatown. The first real conversation they had was about where you could get good Vietnamese food in this city. The answer was nowhere, so they got married and opened a restaurant.

Tiffany Pham sits down with Jimmy over the bowl that has just been named the best pho in Manhattan for 2026. He explains why it's Southern-style rather than Hanoi, and how the broth is his mother's recipe and Yen's mother's recipe argued into one: one was too sweet, one was too light. He talks about the 24 hours, which was never a gimmick. About the short rib, which came from the night Yen's mother carried a tray of them out at a family dinner while he and Yen were still dating, and he had never seen anything like it. "Like dinosaur ribs. It blew my mind."

His parents wanted a banker or a lawyer. He went into hospitality instead, and they have since retired because he asked them to. "Mom, we're okay. You don't have to do this anymore."

Asked who he's cooking for, he says: we cook as if we're making this for the people that we love.

Savor with Tiffany Pham, a Representation production, is a companion to the television docuseries premiering May 2027. Cinematography by: Kym Pham.

CHAPTERS
00:00 "So happy to see you", and the best pho in Manhattan
01:36 Ten years, and a love story that started with food
02:39 Paris Sandwich, and learning to bake in Chinatown
03:44 "Become a banker, become a lawyer"
04:11 Why Southern-style, not Hanoi
04:40 Merging his mother's recipe with Yen's mother's
05:14 The short rib: a tray of dinosaur ribs
06:48 On the copycats
08:05 Southern vs northern, and the noodles
09:30 The 24-hour broth
09:42 "Penicillin for the soul"
10:23 Bolder, more đậm đà
11:44 Who are you cooking for?
13:07 "You are coming into our home"
14:07 His parents, retired at last
15:03 The decal goes on the window

ABOUT MADAME VÔ
Madame Vô — madamevo.com

🎬 The Savor with Tiffany Pham docuseries premieres May 1, 2027
🌐 savortheuniverse.com

Creators and Guests

Host

Tiffany Pham

Host of Savor with Tiffany Pham. Founder of Savor the Universe and Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

JL

Guest

Jimmy Ly

Co-founder and chef of Madame Vo, the East Village restaurant he opened with his wife Yen in 2016.

What is Savor with Tiffany Pham?

Savor with Tiffany Pham is a Representation original podcast where host Tiffany Pham sits down with the most iconic chefs of today over the one dish that made them famous.

Each episode, Tiffany and her guest share their signature plate together, and while they eat, they get into everything behind it: the life, the dreams, the journey, and the moment a dish became a legacy. It's a conversation you can taste.

Season One premieres September 1, 2026. Follow now so you're at the table for the first course.

So happy to see you. So happy to see you
too Tiffany.

Yeah. And, um, yeah,

just I'm excited to spend time with you
and talk about this

dish, which is being honored as the best
pho in Manhattan for 2026.

So I'm such an honor to just say even hear
that. And just to, you know,

just for people to think that, yes,

Definitely well, you've earned it. I mean,
10 years here in the city and it's just

been phenomenal to see your rise and
everyone loving your dish so much.

And everyone, I mean, everyone, my mother,
it's her favorite Vietnamese restaurant.

Celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker and
now, you know, millions of users online

and critics.

When we look at everyone, what their
favorite pho is in the city, it was hands

down Madame Vô.

So that's I mean, I don't even know what
to say. I have no words.

But I just I'm just grateful. And just for
Vietnamese food and for people to think of

our restaurant that way really is it's
just such an inspiration.

And thank you guys. You know, no, of
course. Well, I'm excited to just dig in

more literally and figuratively.

but I'm excited for you to be able to
share the backstory of you and Yen and how

you came together and created this
incredible restaurant.

And eventually, I'd love to dig into the
pho itself. Of course.

You know, this September is going to be 10
years for us.

When we started the restaurant, I mean, me
and Yen, it was just the foundation of the

love for Vietnamese food, right?

Ten years ago, Vietnamese food in New York
was, the scene was very, very different.

There was not that much options for
Vietnamese food.

And me, born and raised in New York, Yen
came here for work.

So she went to school in Houston, she's
from Mississippi, from a huge Vietnamese

community.

So when she came to New York, she was
like, where's good Vietnamese food, right?

And that was a conversation that we both
had when we first initially met.

and it just manifested to opening up a
really great Vietnamese restaurant for

what we grew up eating and what we think
was authentic to us and so our love

story is really like revolves around food
and so we got married and we just

said let's just open this restaurant and
whatever happens happens yeah amazing

and you had this whole background in
restaurant yourself because of your

parents and your family, Paris Sandwich.

Paris Sandwich, yes. I was in Paris
Sandwich. I was baking. Just an

institution.

Yeah, I was baking. We were in Chinatown.
We were for almost 15 plus years there. My

dad was a chef

when I was growing up. He was a chef too.
So I learned from him. I learned from my

mom.

And so I was always around food, always
around the industry. And we absolutely

loved it. And

it was just my time to open up my own
restaurant, which was amazing.

I love it. Were they super supportive of
that?

Half and half. They wanted you to take on
the family business instead?

Yeah, very traditional, take on the family
business or become a banker, become a

lawyer.

It was very strict on education growing
up.

Any Asian family, I would say, would be
the same.

But I was very unconventional and I
decided to go the hospitality route

because this is

something I really love.

and you know we didn't know we never know
in life what would happen or where

life takes us but all I know is that
that's what I love and I just went for

it and now they must be so proud
absolutely they're they're so proud and

like like just like this award like no
words you know well okay awesome well

I'm super excited to dig into this of
course for you to tell us about it I

I mean, it's amazing. Look at this meat.
It's falling off the bone.

And the broth, you can tell it's been
simmering forever.

Can't wait to hear about it all.

Do you want to tell us about the fact that
this is Southern-style pho instead of

Hanoi pho?

Kind of bring us through that journey of
that decision. Yeah, of course.

So my madam, which is Yen, my wife, our
family, we're from Southern Vietnam as

well.

And my parents are, my mom is Southern
Vietnamese as well.

So that's why we went with that route. You
know, we grew up eating this.

This is all we knew. And it was very
authentic to our family.

And while making the broth, this recipe
was basically my mom's recipe and Yen's

mom together.

So before we were opening up the
restaurant, we were doing R&D.

We were trying to figure out, like, what
was a good match.

like one side was too sweet one side was a
little too light you know so I I think

let's bring the best of both worlds
because both our moms cook really well

so you know we figured out both recipes
and like you know me being a chef and me

being so just just wanted to explore and
just wanted just so curious of why they

did things a certain way and stuff and I
decided to mesh both recipes together

The short rib was something that I was new
to. So the short rib was basically

from Yen's mom. So Yen didn't like gung
and she didn't like, you know, all the

weird stuff. So she loved meat, you know.
And so Yen's mom, when I

remember we were dating at the time, she
made a pot of pho at the house and it

was a huge family gathering and she
brought out a tray of short ribs and my

mind was so blown I was like what is that
like for for me I was like I never

had that before you know my mom at home my
mom never did it she did very

traditional style you know with cuts like
sliced yeah and when my when her

when I went to her house they brought out
a whole tray of short ribs and it

was like dinosaur ribs like huge it blew
my mind and I said wow this is so

awesome and I had it for the first time
while we were dating and like it was

incredible and I said

okay so that's definitely an idea that we
need to do for our restaurant you know it

wasn't gimmicky

it wasn't like to get it wasn't to get
views it wasn't to you know for clout it

was really like

that's how we did it at home so and so all
the all the recipes and our full menu it's

just everything

that we had at home and that's that's our
menu today I love that and it continues to

be one of

the best and even though you've had a lot
of copycats I saw because I mean I I

can vouch that you were the first or at
least myself I experienced this here

yeah first time and and then I saw some
copycats sprout but for you to still be

recognized as the best that's really
gratifying no that that truly is and you

know it was it was such a you know distant
goal and travel right we were in

Florida I went to Mississippi to visit
family I went to Arizona and I'm looking

at all these pho restaurants and they're
all doing short rib right and it's

truly flattering it's truly flattering
it's like I don't need to get credit I

didn't invent this you know but I think
that I was given the opportunity and

platform because I'm in New York and and
we were exposed to so much media it

It really created this storm for the
Vietnamese community to see.

And I'm truly inspired and still respect.

I cook all the time, and I don't mind
eating pho at another restaurant.

I really do.

And everybody cooks differently, and we
can all learn from each other.

So I thought that was awesome.

Amazing. So beyond the short rib, well,
pleased again. Yeah.

But how about the noodles, the broth?

yeah from from in terms of so southern
style pho um from what i know it's a

little bit more complex

than northern style pho it's a little bit
on the sweeter side but still savory but

not just sweeter

a little bit more complex in terms of
spices and how we prepare it and how we

cook it yeah i feel

like northern style but it's more pure
bone broth and light ingredients and here

it's just packed

with so much flavor it's so bold and and
there's so many different cuts of meat and

not only that

the noodles that we use at our restaurant
are like we don't make our own noodles but

we we buy it and

but they're fresh noodles they're not like
the dry noodles that you yeah you know we

cook so we try

try to use fresh noodles where it has that
al dente when you when you that's so

important to

me it's so so important um i used the wide
noodles in the beginning because i

preferably like wider

noodles but um just the feedback we've
been getting from our clientele it's been

people are

just they just weren't used to it so i
stopped so i went back to the thinner

noodles and we just

went to the thinner noodles but when i
cook pho at home i like to do the wide

noodles yeah

The broth is simmered for 24 hours. That
was true. That wasn't a gimmick. Really,

truly, 24 hours.

You can taste it too.

Yeah, we try to get all the nutrients,
good bones. We're trying to get all that

flavor out.

So pho in my family growing up was just
penicillin for the soul, right?

You had it when you're sick. You had it
when you're hungover. You had it when

you're having a rough day.

it was just so so comforting despite we
use all the spices star anise cinnamon

cloves cardamom you know and we really
cook it through for 24 hours and it's

it's just so comforting it's just love
love in a bowl this is this is our

restaurant right here this defines our
restaurant I love that you can taste it

I mean it's amazing it's there's so much
texture and the room is incredible I

I wish everyone could smell what I'm
smelling and the noodles.

I love al dente, so I love the texture of
the noodles.

And it's just incredible. I love it. Thank
you.

And my broth, like I said, a lot of people
like it light, you know, southern style

light,

but my broth is a little bit more bolder.
It's complex. It's complex. It's bolder.

It's kind of, in Vietnamese, it's like đậm
đà, right?

You know how when you eat pho, you add
sriracha and everything just to enhance

it?

I feel like my goal was I didn't want
people to alter it too much.

This should just be a bonus. I agree. You
know what I mean?

I'm not a sauce girl, so actually, I love
that. Yeah, so that was it.

And it goes today with our menu, like very
đậm đà, very bold.

And we're truly proud of that because we
don't want to skimp on flavor yet.

we want to give you the best dish possible
with enhancing those flavors for you to

try.

Yeah, I love that.

It's really important to me, too, if
Vietnamese heritage on my end,

to have a broth that's very complex, that
has a lot of depth.

And now I appreciate it more than ever.

Now I'm regularly stepping out of
restaurants and being like,

it's just not enough depth, the bed broth.

But here I can say this has a lot of
depth. Thank you. Thank you so much.

So a final question to you is who would
you love to try your pho?

Who are you cooking this for?

There's so much inspiration from the women
in your life, for example, with the name

of the restaurant, where the recipes came
from.

Who are you cooking for?

That's a really great question.

I mean, we never know who's going to walk
through these doors, right?

We've met so many amazing people
throughout the years.

And it's been such a privilege to own this
establishment and have people come because

they want to try my food.

And that's such a great honor.

And we cook from the beginning, from the
first day until the very last day.

We cook as if we're making this for the
people that we love.

right and that's that's basically the
inspiration that i've always had and

always be true to

ourselves right be true coming from my
mom's kitchen you know growing up mom and

dad always

hosted all the time and i know i've been
talking about this all throughout my book

and everything

and that's why i'm in hospitality because
my parents uh really teach me that and

passed me

down the torch to show how to be
hospitable and so every single person that

comes in here and my

staff knows it it's like you're coming
into our home right and it doesn't matter

where in the

world they're from but we just want to
make sure that they're impressed by the

food and they have

a sense of comfort and they leave with
like wow that they never had vietnamese

food before or this

is their hundredth time eating vietnamese
food i want them to be like that was good

yeah you know

So that's who I'm cooking for.

Yeah, I'm cooking for people who genuinely
appreciate and love food and love.

Amazing.

Well, thank you so much again. Oh my God,
of course.

Awesome. Well, if you actually are hungry,
you should definitely dig in.

Yes, for sure. This is so good.

I didn't even eat this morning yet. I
literally woke up.

I had all these errands I had to run.

This is my first meal. Oh, good. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, how often do you eat at your
own restaurant?

Once a week. Oh, okay. Yeah. My parents
come out.

My parents, they let me do my own thing,
but my parents would always come out every

once

or once or two weeks.

They would come out and just like eat, you
know, and just like quality check.

You know how Asian parents are.

Yeah. Quality check. Yeah. I love it.

Are they still running

Paris Sandwich themselves? No, so my
parents retired

and ever since I opened up my restaurant,
I was like, Mom, Dad,

you guys should just retire. They're
getting old.

Also, I do babysitters.

Right? So they're helping me watch the
kids when I have work.

So they're doing great.

And, you know, restaurant life has just
been really stressful for them.

And just seeing them

go through all that throughout the years,
I was like, Mom, we're okay.

You don't have to do this anymore.

Yeah. Well, that's amazing you were able
to do that. Yeah.

My, I've got sharp nails. Let's see if
this can get it on. Oh, I got it. Oh,

yeah?

Okay, perfect.