Vietnamese Deli Part I
I like picnics, but don’t often go on one. When I decided to organize a small picnic last weekend, I headed to Chinatown—natch—to pick up eats at a Vietnamese deli.
Many readers will recognize the rubberbanded item above as a Vietnamese-deli staple.
A Banh Mi, also known as a Vietnamese baguette sandwich.
Different vegetable and meat fillings are usually available, including pork, chicken, ham, and tofu respectively.
I chose grilled pork.
While the meat choices vary, a Banh Mi typically has the standard cilantro, cucumber, daikon, carrot, and jalapeno filling (along with a mayonnaise and/or pate spread).
I picked these Shrimp Rolls because of the (promise of) shrimp.
I think they’re prepared like crepes.
Huh, right? Where’s the shrimp and what’s up with the veggies?
I got suckered, I tell ya. The rolls had half-pieces of shrimp on top, and a mostly carrot and daikon filling.
This is more like it. The shrimp, I mean. (Can you tell the sun disappeared behind clouds at this point?)
More carrots and daikon, only these were crunchy.
Poached shrimp.
A Rice Noodle Special takeaway.
Starring eggroll and grilled pork.
Garnished with crushed peanuts and green onions (and cilantro).
Grilled pork which was almost-jerky tender.
Eggroll pieces that had lost their crunch; this didn’t matter too much.
The vermicelli rice noodles buried under everything (that actually had a layer of shredded lettuce beneath it).
A dollop of Sriracha atop carrots and cucumbers.
Fish sauce (which was tasty and not as scary as it may sound).
* Part II will be dessert because is a picnic truly a picnic without it?
That sandwich looks so much more appealing than the p & j I brought for lunch today.
Ooooooo. You’ve out done yourself. This is so unfair. I’ve craved one of those sandwiches since I first read about them–and the nearest Vietnamese place is an hour away. Wish I could go this picnic.
Ha! I just had a Vietnamese sandwich recently too! I got a vegetarian kind with flavored vermicelli (?) noodles and fried tofu. (Along with the cilantro and pickled radish and carrots of course.) I always pick out the peppers.
Ah! I always love the texture of the baguette, crispy and chewy. The shrimp rolls don’t look like the traditional Vietnamese crepes which are usually filled with ground meat and shrimp without any vegetable and served with blanched bean sprout and fish sauce. Rice noodle dish, my all-time favorite, I wish I could have that for lunch today.
Stefanie: This sandwich is great when you’re in a meat and veggies or meat and tofu kind of mood. (Although I do love peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches. Extra peanut butter, please.)
Victoria: I hope you get to try one! Another great thing about a Banh Mi, besides its taste, texture, and freshness, is the price—one usually costs $2.25 to $2.75 in my Chinatown.
Lian: Oh, I’ve never had one with vermicelli noodles! I always pick out the jalapeno peppers, too. They’re too hot for me to handle.
Chau: I normally get the rice rolls filled with ground pork (that are sometimes accompanied by ham/pork loaf slices) but thought I’d try these ones after seeing the shrimp. I think you must be familiar with Banh Xeo, another Vietnamese crepe I like.
You know what’s also really good is the egg baguette. So yummy…*drool* They make the eggs scrambled, and fluffy, with black pepper and mayonnaise. Though after you eat that, you probably shouldn’t have any more eggs for the day. (I heard that one or two eggs a day is the max or else your cholesterol will go through the roof.)
Lian: Oh, dang, then that means I’ve had many a high-cholesterol day. I’ve never seen an egg baguette available anywhere around here.
Your egg baguette sounds so yummy! I love scrambled eggs (it’s my favorite way to eat eggs).
One of my cousins told me about it. Well, she doesn’t eat meat but since we went to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner one night with the family, she asked them if they could make it for her. Her reasoning; “Well, they have baguettes. They have egg. [They have those pickled carrots and daikon radish things]. They have all the ingredients to make it!”
But I only recently tried it when another vegetarian cousin and I missed our movie showing, so to kill time till the next one started, we went to get a baguette. And it was deliiiiiicious!
Also, in Pasadena, there is a place called The Cobbler Factory that makes an amazing peach/apple pie a la mode. Scaldingly hot pie with cold deliciously balancing vanilla ice cream. The people who work there are really nice too. It’s a family-run business.