Asian Sandwiches

You can take the girl out of Asia, but you can't take the Asia out of the girl. Only in New York City can you find such a plethora of foreign flavor combinations that are making the until recently lesser known street foods of Southeast Asia accessible to just about everyone.

Lately I've been on such a sandwich kick, and here are a few of my finds:

I stopped by Xie Xie (pronounced shuh shuh), last week to try my hand at this new trend. All the sandwiches looked great and I couldn't decide which one to get, so I asked the owner, Angelo Sosa, who was behind the counter making the sandwiches, which his favorite was. He guided me in the right direction with the shredded braised chicken sandwich with smoked egg salad, cilantro, and picked onions.

The chicken was slow cooked to perfection and retained a ton of its juices, so it naturally went well with the generous amount of pickled vegetables. I love it when a good sandwich contrasts both flavors and textures--the deep, rich flavor of slow cooked meat with the vibrant and sour crunch of picked vegetables.

My friend had the Vietnamese bbq beef sandwich with basil mayo and carrot kimchee. While tasty, it wasn't as rich in flavor as the chicken was; the beef was a little dry and the carrots weren't really kimchee-d at all, but the basil mayo was a nice touch.

I would love to go back and try the Asian Lobster roll with kewpie mayo and tarragon crispy shallots, but I was a little short on change the first time around. The sandwich I got was $8.50--a little pricey but in my opinion, worth it.

Sosa also stocks up on some unusual beers and will recommend some combinations for you. My boyfriend tried the Lighthouse Ale with the "100 year old" Ice Cream Sandwich--a thick block of vanilla ice cream surrounding black caramel in between two thin and chewy chocolate cookies. Yum.

Xie Xie
645 9th Ave at 45th St
New York, NY 10036


More recently, I went on a Banh Mi excursion with my friend Adam. He took me to Baoguette/Pho Sure on Christopher Street. While there seemed to be a lot of tasty and authentic options on the menu, many of which I had just had in Vietnam, my choice was easy--classic, please.I think I had a banh mi sandwich every day in Vietnam, yet it still hasn't deterred me from eating some more. All the ingredients and flavors were spot on, and it definitely had a kick to it--Adam had already warned me that "medium" spicy actually means really hot, so I went with the mild and it was still spicy, but not in an overwhelming way. And at $5, it was pretty cheap for the size--I couldn't finish. Definitely not the dollar I paid in Vietnam, but in NYC it's a great price. I did have one major qualm though--their ingredient distribution is way off! Distribution is key!! They stacked all the components of the sandwich horizontally in the roll instead of vertically, which meant that I could only ever get a bite with everything on it in the middle of the sandwich, and to get to the middle I would have to have two very uneven bites on the sides first--all picked vegetable/cilantro or all pork. Banh mi is really a revelation because of the combination of components in between the bread, and doesn't work as much for me when the ingredients are separated. For someone who takes sandwich making very seriously, this was a big no-no. But alas, if you're not so much of a stickler, I would say go for it anyways. It was still substantially satisfying at the end of the day. I will have to keep exploring, though.

Baoguette/Pho Sure
Various locations
NYC


Nosher