A new—and not so new—Vietnamese American restaurant stands in the warm glow of neon lights at the corner of Eldert Street and Wilson Avenue. Run by married couple Chris Taha and Jenny Baker, Money Cat offers an assortment of classic Vietnamese dishes, including steaming bowls of pho and banh mi sandwiches. 

The restaurant had been open just a month when the pandemic shut it down for over a year, but since reopening it has been garnering more and more traffic despite mainly being advertised by word of mouth.  

Money Cat is inspired by Taha and Baker’s experiences with Vietnamese food on the West Coast, where Taha says pho spots were as common as bodegas are in New York. The couple has fond memories of late-night noodles and spaces where diverse groups of people would come together to share delicious food.