Viet World Kitchen

Best Banh Mi in America? Is Cheap Banh Mi Good?

 
I’m sure you have an answer for those questions! Yesterday, Jordan Michelman’s blog post on the New York Times magazine site, declared that the best banh mi sandwich was in Seattle at Saigon Deli in the very Asian ID (International District). Along with that one, he also gave shout outs to these banh mi hotspots in the nation:

• Seattle: Saigon Deli (1237 South Jackson Street), Sun Bakery & Cafe (658 South Jackson Street)
• Portland: Best Baguette (8303 SE Powell Boulevard)
• New York: Baoguette (61 Lexington Ave, multiple Manhattan locations), Momofuku Ssäm Bar (207 Second Ave, Manhattan), Ba Xuyen (4222 Eighth Avenue, Brooklyn), Tan Thanh (5818 Seventh Avenue, Brooklyn)
• New Orleans: Dong Phuong Oriental Bakery (14207 Chef Menteur Highway)
• Atlanta: Lee’s Bakery (4005 Buford Highway NE), Quoc Huong (5150 Buford Highway NE)
• San Jose: Lee’s Sandwiches (260 East Santa Clara Street)
• Los Angeles: Nom Nom Truck
• San Francisco: Saigon Sandwich (560 Larkin Street)

Do note that on HuffingtonPost.com, the drunken chicken banh mi from Seattle’s Baguette Box was given the #8 spot for the  top 10 best new sandwiches in the United States. We all have opinions like we all have belly buttons, right?

Does banh mi have to be cheap food?
There were many things that stood out to me in Michelman’s story, but one popped the most. It’s something that grates on me because I hear it so much when Asian and non-Asian people talk about Asian food: Good Asian food has to be cheap Asian food. Michelman echoed that sentiment in this sentence:

While these sandwiches, usually found in bakeries and delis in Vietnamese neighborhoods, are endlessly customizable, they should always be inexpensive — beware the banh mi over $6.

Guide to Vietnamese Restaurant Menus

Have problems navigating a Vietnamese restaurant menu? You’re not alone. They are their own animals but are generally organized the same. There are more or less the same menu items – think of a Chinese restaurant menu. Instead of a "Pasta" section, there's a "Noodles" section. "Banh" are usually savory dumplings, crepes, and little morsels made with flours and starches.

Nevertheless, Vietnamese restaurant menus can confuse with English translations. As a Vietnamese speaker, I sometimes ask for clarification too!

Last year the folks over at Pho411.ca approached me to collaborate to help Vietnamese food lovers and Vietnamese restaurant owners. Sometimes there are typos and miscommunication that get in the way of good food. Pho411.ca and I put the following content together for those who may be unfamiliar with Vietnamese food terms. (Your Vietnamese language skills may be rusty!)

Also, for Vietnamese chefs and restaurant owners may benefit from having some kind of common vocabulary to use when describing Vietnamese dishes. The content in the pages below is not meant to be exhaustive, but rather a starting point. I hope the information broadens your understanding of Vietnamese food and allows you to explore it more deeply.

• Sections of a Menu: How a Vietnamese restaurant menu is organizes. What types of food do you usually see? What are they?
  
• Common Vietnamese Restaurant Dishes: English - Vietnamese names of common foods you'd find on a menu. Restaurants, delis, bakeries and pho shops offer mostly the same things. Use this as a guide.
• Cooking Methods, Seasonings, and Ingredients: If you don't recognize a dish, this page will  help you translate the menu descriptions.  How is something cooked? What kinds of seasonings or dipping sauce is served with it? What are the featured vegetables and fruits? From there you can imagine the flavors. Or, ask informed questions!

Have content to add or corrections? Add them here or better yet, go to Pho411.ca and use their convenient feedback form (scroll to bottom of page).

35 Years Later: Vietnamese Cajun Crayfish Craze

We are two days away from the 35th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, a major marker in modern history. Not only was it the date when South Vietnam succumbed to North Vietnam, but it also signaled American defeat in the Vietnam War. Vietnam was a tiny tropical country whose communist insurgency could not be contained and reigned in. The whole situation was a mess and resulted in tens of thousands of people fleeing on April 30, 1975.

I was six years old at that time and remember being extremely scared. That’s just from the perspective of a child. My parents, both in their 40s, were under far more stress. We were fortunate to have been able to leave by plane a week before Saigon totally collapsed. Many others had to escape by boat or were forced into reeducation camps and then found other routes to leave the country.

The Vietnamese refugees and immigrants who rebuilt their lives abroad have moved on. They’ve given birth to second (and maybe third) generations of hyphenated Vietnamese people. They’ve taken to eating banh mi filled with meatballs, slurping pho seasoned by Sriracha. 

From: Wikipedia.com

Then there’s the Vietnamese-cajun crayfish craze. What’s up with that? John T. Edge, one of my favorite food writers investigated the phenomenon. We chatted a few weeks ago and today, John T’s article appeared in the New York Times. He surveys the Vietnamese crayfish scene across the United States and yes – it’s a hyphenated American thing. Read:

• Vietnamese Immigrants Carry on a Cajun Food Tradition (John T. Edge, NYT, 4/28/10)
• Vietnamese crayfish restaurant slideshow

Also, check out “A Bit Crazy for Crustaceans” (LAT, 9/23/2008) by journalist My-Thuan Tran, a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. It’s about the Vietnamese crayfish craze and copycat restaurants in Orange County’s Little Saigon. 

Do you like Vietnamese crayfish boils? Why? What are your favorite spots?

Anyone know if the Vietnamese-cajun crayfish craze has hit Vietnam itself? How about in Australia where the lobster-size giant red claw crayfish?

Goodness, what a difference 35 years makes.

How to Cook Dried Bamboo Shoot (Mang Kho)

Several people have emailed asking about how to cook dried bamboo shoot. I looked up the familiar Asian ingredient in all my books but for some reason, dried bamboo shoot is seldom mentioned in Asian cookbooks. It is a terrific and standard ingredient sold at Chinese and Vietnamese markets. Dried bamboo shoot is shelved at Asian grocery stores alongside other dried foodstuffs, such as dried mushroom, seaweed, turnip, squid, beans, etc. In Vietnam, the shoots are simmered along with pork, duck, or chicken for a classic rice noodle soup called bun mang. Such preparations are traditionally saved for special occasions, such as the Lunar New Year – Tet Nguyen Dan. Since Tet is coming up (in 2010, it falls on Valentine's Day!), I cooked up a bunch of dried bamboo shoot today in preparation for the holiday cooking ahead.

What is the difference between fresh and dried bamboo shoot? Fresh has a crispness whereas dried has a meaty quality. Both have that musty bamboo funk but since bamboo shoot has to be cooked for a long time, the funk disappears. Bamboo shoot is called mang (“mahng”) in Vietnamese and dried bamboo shoot is mang kho (“mahng koh”). Dried bamboo shoots are not hard, but rather leathery. Once reconstituted and boiled until chewy-tender, dried bamboo shoots have a chewy-tenderness and pleasant sweetness that’s not found in fresh or canned bamboo. Whenever I cook dried bamboo shoot, I marvel at how it transforms its cooking broth into a perfumy brew. If you’ve had Japanese ramen noodle soup, chances are that you’ve had dried bamboo shoot (called menma) as a topping. 

Travel Tips to Vietnam: How to Feed Finicky Kids in Saigon (and still eat well)

There were great tips that people shared in response to the recent piece on travel tips to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). I also received some questions via email but one message this morning got me thinking about traveling to a foreign country with children, particularly those with special needs. Most people I know of have gone overseas when their children are either babies or in their late teens and older. The rationale being that it is easier to cater to their needs or they can take care of themselves.

Ellen posed this question:

We are going to Vietnam for the first time over the holidays and have been reading your website, which is marvelous. Sadly we will only be in Vietnam for just for a few days on the way back from Thailand -and only to Saigon/Mekong area. We are already planning a return visit dedicated just to Vietnam, we are that sure that we will like it.
 
We have two sons, 13 and 11. To say that they have white-bread palates is an understatement. The 11 year old also has autism, so that adds a layer of complexity to travel. I want them to eat local and as native as two Irish/German New Englanders can. Any suggestions? They are not seafood eaters. I want to keep them out of fast food! I have some ideas from your Saigon article, but any place you can think of that might satisfy culinarily-challenged kids would be great...  restaurants, grocery/food market items, types of foods,  etc would be welcome.

Hmmm… as adults, traveling to a foreign country presents both opportunities and challenges. Where to go and what to eat? How to eat safely? When you are traveling with children, particularly those who are finicky or are special needs children, special handling is required. Here are some suggestions and strategies for authentic eating in Vietnam:

Many thanks to Suzanne for sending this photo in!

Prep the kids in advance and start young! If possible, introduce them to Vietnamese classics, such a pho noodle soup before you leave your home country.  That way, they will not suffer culture shock upon arrival. (Ellen and her family will be in Thailand first so that is part of the advance preparation!) To illustrate, the photo above is of a 22-month-old toddler eating a bowl of homemade pho; it was sent in my his Vietnamese American mom, Suzanne (remember the post, Generation Gap: Why some Asian elders bug me?). Here's a tip from when I was a kid: If the bowl of pho is too hot for your child, add an ice cube to the bowl to cool it down. That's how I got trained!