Bánh Mì Cô Út

I am not really a sandwich person.  I haven't ever been.  I did have one gas station in my hometown growing up that had bulkie bun sandwiches I liked, but besides that, sandwiches have been something I begrudgingly ate.  My family never went out to actual restaurants when I was growing up (like, ever), but we had a phase of going out on Saturday night to one of Subway or Del Taco.  I always voted against Subway. In grad school, every once in a while my group of grad student friends would splurge and go out for lunch, and I was always saddened when the sandwich shop was the destination of choice for the group.  Going out was a real splurge for me, and paying for a sandwich I didn't really want always made me grumpy.  So suffice to say, you'll never see me seeking out sandwiches of any kind (is a hot dog a sandwich?  Let's not get into that, and yes I adore hot dogs, although I'd prefer a corn dog or bunless generally).

But when I do have a sandwich, a banh mi is pretty high up there on the actually interesting list.  Is it because I like the fillings and find them novel as I didn't grow up with them?  Well, mostly. Do I still dislike the actual sandwich part, and find that particularly with bahn mi the bread is too hard and I discard half of it?  Also yes.  Still, I was sorta craving banh mi, and did a little research on where I should go.

Bánh Mì Cô Út is routinely cited as having the best bread in Manhattan for banh mi. Since that is the element that usually lets me down the most, I decided to optimize on my best shot of having bread I appreciated, and thus, Bánh Mì Cô Út it was.  They make their own bread fresh daily, and yes, it really does make a difference.

#1: Bánh Mì Cô Út Special. $11.10.

"Pork belly, boiled Vietnamese ham, fried Vietnamese ham, jambon, pork floss, pate, mayo, cucumber, cilantro, carrot & daikon."

I went straight for the one with ~everything. There were at least 7 kinds of pork in here: pate and floss, 3 kinds of luncheon meats, two kinds of more standard pork (although, yes, I know the description only lists 6 kinds).  

The pate was spread along the bread on one side, and it was a fairly thin layer, but it was good.  I love pate, so this was a highlight for me, as minimal as it was.  The pork floss was on the other end of all the meats, in the middle of the sandwich, adjacent to the veggies.  I love pork floss too, and this was also good, but again, give me more!  I sorta wished it was positioned differently though, as it got lost in the very center a bit.  These were my two favorite elements, no question.

Next were the three kinds of processed loaf meats.  I'm not sure what they all were, two were sorta pale cold cuts style (one was the boiled Vietnamese ham, the other probably the fried version?), the third was full of all the bits and pieces.  I liked all of these, as again, I just tend to like anything in the bologna/mortadella space, although the one with all the color variations, fat circles, and just kinda mystery bits was my least favorite of the three.

The regular sliced pork was fine, not too tough, but pretty boring (is this the jambon?).  The other had a slight colored crust on it and had a bit more flavor (maybe this was the belly?).  These were the least interesting to me.

Then, all the veggies. There was a generous amount of pickled shredded carrot and diakon which really helped offset the fattiness and saltiness of the meats, and a little cucumber. These all were about as expected, and played their parts well.  I don't really like cilantro, but I understand it has its place in here too.  I barely noticed any mayo, I would prefer more.  I also wanted some jalapeno.

And finally, the bread.  It was very good for banh mi bread. Super crispy/crusty, but quite soft inside.  Clearly very fresh. Better than average, no question.

Overall, this was a good bahn mi, and I enjoyed the adventure of trying everything in it.  I think my ideal would be just the boiled and fried Vietnamese ham loaves, 2x the pork floss, 3x the pate though.  3.5/5.

Banh Mi Lap Xuong Tuoi. $10.20.

"Vietnamese fresh pork sausage, mayo, cucumber, cilantro, carrot & daikon, and homemade soy bean sauce."

Since I was there, I also got my second choice, one with pork sausage, just to try a second item too.  Again some great fresh bread that was shockingly crispy yet soft, same attention paid to ratios of veggie to meat fillings - more veggies in this one, which worked with the more solid meatier sausage.  Alas, no pate nor pork floss in this one.

Banh Mi Nem Nuong: Inside.

The sausage was shockingly good.  Very juicy, but the aromatics were particularly impressive.  Just so well spiced.  

I'm not sure which of these sandwiches I liked more, as they were really quite different, but this was just as good as the first ... if not better. 3.5/5.