"BanhMi" news and stories

A look at the banh mi craze currently sweeping Gotham, with young Vietnamese chefs interpreting the classic sandwich in non-traditional ways.

Critic Frank Bruni visits Feast, a Houston restaurant whose British ex-pat chefs turn Texans on to the unexpected joys of offal.

Twenty-five percent of Newark, N.J.'s population is of Portuguese descent. Here's what they're eating.

Some bars and restaurants are storing their by-the-glass wines in kegs and serving them as though they're beer.

More about our beloved Momofuku Milk Bar; a writer weighs in on the tooth-bendingly sweet treats.

Joe and I already have beef about this (pun absolutely intended). The guy absolutely loves banh mi, the Vietnamese version of a hoagie -- a French roll stuffed with grilled meat (Vietnamese meatballs, grilled chicken, beef, pork, or other choice cuts of animal), julienned cucumbers, lightly pickled carrots and daikon, and a few condiments. I, on the other hand, am not fond of Vietnamese cuisine to begin with, and found the banh mi I tried at Pho 99 in Los Angeles to be a somewhat strange juxtaposition of cuisines. To be quite honest, it seems sort of plain for as much hype as it gets. I'd just rather eat those same ingredients, mixed with rice noodles, out of a bowl. Am I missing something, Joe??

I will concede to the fact that banh mi tend to be very inexpensive, though I find it hard to comprehend that Joe spent $12 on his at 5 Ninth. That's a lot of money for any sandwich, banh mi or otherwise.

Like many exotic delicacies, bánh mì hold a mysterious place in my mind that drives me to distraction, leading me to imagine such strange, dangerous missions as finding an all-night Vietnamese gangster deli. I've since given up that pipe dream, but I still harbor some obsessions about Vietnamese sandwiches. My longstanding theory that restaurants are incapable of creating good bánh mì was recently disproved when I enjoyed a spectacular one at Zak Pelaccio's restaurant 5 Ninth in Manhattan's meatpacking district.  More on that gustatory delight later, first some background.