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Rangoon, One Of NYC's Only Strictly Burmese Restaurants, Opens In Brooklyn
By
Sai Mokhtari
Published Jul 31, 2020
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By
Sai Mokhtari
Published Jul 31, 2020
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As many business owners struggle to adapt to life during the pandemic, few have had a more tumultuous start than chef Myo Moe of Rangoon. Myo has been one of the very few purveyors of Burmese food in New York City since 2015, when she and her husband, cheerleader and front of house manager, Daniel Bendjy started the Rangoon Noodle Lab pop-up in Bushwick.
The two met years prior while working at Mercer Kitchen, and have always had their sights set on opening their own restaurant. They finally managed to do just that in early 2020, just as the pandemic hit New York City.
Myo and Daniel had spent nearly two years preparing Rangoon — located in Crown Heights, Brooklyn — for opening, meticulously piecing together their restaurant from the bones of an old run-down bodega. By March of 2020, they were finally in “soft open mode,” operating a few days a week with limited hours. They were fine tuning the kitchen, training employees and locking down their liquor license when COVID-19 swept the city, and business slowed down and became very unpredictable.
Daniel recalls, “the night before the city gave the (PAUSE) order, we were wrapping up and getting ready to go home and I remember saying to Myo, 'At least now our staff is ready and trained and we’ve accomplished that over the last month… at least we have that,' and the very next day, we were ordered to close and had to lay everyone off. There was no way we could carry the payroll." They haven’t been able to secure any government loans.
After spending years lovingly putting together her dream restaurant, Myo felt like she had been forced to start over. "I feel like I’m living in a nightmare," says Myo. "One moment it’s great and I’m excited about this beautiful restaurant… I have everything I’ve dreamt of, and the next moment, feel like I’d lost everything. I couldn’t function for like a week… I was just staying in bed, completely lost."
Inside Rangoon
Eventually, Myo crawled out of bed and she and Daniel took to restructuring the business. Myo reworked the menu to be more delivery friendly and lowered the prices. By mid-April, they managed to regroup and reopen as a delivery-only business with just the two of them on staff. "It’s been pretty strange having to reinvent the formula, but it’s a learning experience," says Bendjy, "Rangoon started with Myo doing the pop-up, and not being able to do table dining — and after all this work, we’re back to the pop-up! So we’ve gone all the way back to where we started. And in a way it’s interesting, forcing us back to the basics."
Rangoon is the one of the few strictly Burmese restaurants in the city, offering traditional Burmese dishes, homestyle cuisine and comfort foods with an elevated presentation, informed by Myo’s background in Western fine dining. "Burmese cuisine is super low key and simple — not as pungent compared to other Southeast Asian cuisines," she notes.
Tea leaf salad
"It is very dish driven," Bendjy says. "It’s hard to explain but it’s a little like Thai, a little like Indian, a little like Chinese, but it’s really its own. It’s not very well known so it's left to be discovered — and Myo’s dishes are in my opinion the most approachable for a western audience because she has a background in American fine dining."
Like its geographic and culinary neighbors, Burmese foods are often curry based, but are rarely spicy and flavors are often more subtle and widely ranging. The traditional Burmese curry starts with a base of sautéed onions, ginger, garlic, paprika and turmeric, and from there, dishes diverge into different directions. But it’s generally the main ingredients rather than the spices that define each dish. Some standout items on the menu include the fermented Tea Leaf Salad and the Lemongrass Fish Noodle Soup. Other popular dishes include the Sweet and Tangy Braised Pork, Onion Fritters, and the Shrimp Mango Salad.
Still the only two on staff, Myo and Daniel are keeping Rangoon open 6 days a week, and they recently began offering outdoor dining. "I want the whole dining experience — it’s not just about the kitchen and cooking, that’s the whole reason for Rangoon. Instead of doing a pop-up, I want to give this whole experience. People come in, sit down, it’s like welcoming them into our home.”
For Myo, the marriage between food and family, of cuisine and hospitality, is fundamental. She grew up in Burma in a family of 18 where each meal was like a restaurant service. All food was prepared in the outdoor kitchen where kids were not allowed. Myo remembers sneaking in as a child and cooking what she could in the still-hot coals. As she grew older, she was slowly brought into the family kitchen and allowed to help under the very strict supervision of her Aunt, though she was never permitted to cook. Now, after a lifetime of training in other people’s kitchens, Myo Moe is finally in charge and bringing the food she grew up with to New York City.
More outdoor seating will be added.
Rangoon is located at 500 Prospect Place in Brooklyn. Hours are Thursday - Sunday, 5 to 9 p.m.; rangoon.nyc
Rangoon Menu by Jen Carlson on Scribd
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Sai Mokhtari
Sai Mokhtari has photographed all things NYC for Gothamist since 2012 and is best known for her Subway Halloween series. She fuels herself with well-made sandwiches and conversations with strangers. Sai is also a family and event photographer at Citybird Photo.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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