all words: Philippe Chetrit
all photos: Shauna Alexander
Banh Mi sounds like a Vietnamese prostitute soliciting a “walk on the beach” from an American tourist, “Bang me”. Which is AN explanation for why a Vietnamese sandwich has become super bowl, snack, fare for yuppies in Logan. Either way when I hear “bang me” I get effing hungry. Throw some pork in the mix and we are making babies.
In history books, it’s called colonization. In cook books, it’s called fusion. Thank god the French ransacked Vietnam and gave them the baguette. It’s probably the most important part of a good Banh Mi and the hardest to get right.
Monday night was the “Banh Mi Throwdown” at Ba Bay, where area restaurants competed for best Banh Mi in town, at least according to their judges (the panel included Amanda McClements, Tim Carman and RJ Cooper-ed). The line up featured Dino, Lyon Hall, Proof, PS 7’s and The Source AND was to benefit Taste of The Nation.
Though PS 7’s made the best Banh Mi baguette, Ba Bay’s sandwich was by far the tastiest thing I have put in my mouth since Sunday at Shake Shack. Their meat was tender and perfectly seasoned, they had the perfect ratio of spice to sweetness and probably the most mayo. My guess is that Ba Bay invited these cooks over, out Bang Me’d the competition then felt guilty so they gave the coveted Golden Baguette to Proof. No sweat. Who cares who wins. I found out what I needed to know. I now know, I need to take the Ba Bay Banh Mi out for a nice chicken dinner then get creepy in the back seat of my car without laying down a towel.
Ingredients:
Baguette
Thinly sliced pickled carrots and daikon
Cucumbers
Jalapeños
Cilantro
Chili peppers
Pâté
Mayonnaise
Various meat fillings like pork shoulder or chicken or steak
Previously in food porn:
- 5/15: NEXT WEEK: BYT + Art and Soul (FREE) Crab Boil Patio Happy Hour
- 5/9: James Beard Awards 2012-A Field Guide
- 5/7: Trucko de Mayo @ RFK Stadium
- 5/1: PHOTOS: Class Is In Session
- 4/23: This Saturday come to: CLASS IS IN SESSION - Amazing Food, Amazing Drinks, A Good Cause
- 4/19: European Eats: Provence & Parma
- 2/9: Valentine's Day is Made For Chocolates-A Handy DC/MD/VA Guide To Make The Most of It!
- 12/7: SILF: Sandwich I'd Like to F*ck
- 11/8: Diabetes Fighting WING + CUPCAKE Eating Contest @ DURKL
- 10/11: Taste Test: Station 4
God loves a cheerful giver.
this guy should probably write all your articles. Informative, and makes me want to go eat at BaBay
This competition is an embarrassment and an insult to Vietnamese cuisine. Why weren't any of the outstanding Vietnamese restaurants in Falls Church invited? The $3 banh mi from Song Que, for example, is 100x better than any of these poor imitations. Shame on Ba Bay for sponsoring this event and ignoring the little guys in favor of shiny, celebrity-owned theme parks to food.
@softcore
this was a Taste of the Nation event (for charity), so only participants in TotN were competed.
snob alert.
middle class Vietnamese want good Vietnamese foods don't go to Eden.This joint is for people like to eat cheap.Softcorelaundry should educate himself more with vietnamese foods by visiting others Vietnamese eating places around.Remember,good foods can't be cheap.
@getoveryourself: These restaurants were invited for their name recognition. That's fine; they sold more tickets as a result and the charity raised more money. Everyone wins. But they are not corporate sponsors and the event could have invited whomever it wanted. Why not invite an actual Vietnamese restaurant to a Vietnamese competition?
@lucien: Are you insane? Good food doesn't have to cost a lot. And are you telling me that the Mercedes, BMWs, Acuras, etc that are found all over the Eden Center aren't (upper) middle class? Show me a really expensive Vietnamese restaurant and I'll show you one that won't last.
170232 @lucien nguyen: ????
Middle Class or No Class, the best Banh Mi is from Ba Le at 3:00 am.
170240 @softcorelaundry.com: Actually GetOverYourself is 100% correct. All restaurants invited to compete in this event HAD to be Taste of the Nation participating restaurants. I was pretty bummed not to see Dickson's killer Banh Mi on the chopping block, but since they're not part of Taste, it made sense.
Here's the full list of participating restaurants, for further clarification.
http://strength.org/washington/restaurant_participants/
@Shauna: You're using circular logic. The restaurants were invited to participate in the charity's various events for marketing reasons. In other words, they were hand chosen to be participants. They didn't unilaterally decide to join Taste of the Nation. For instance, Graffiato is a participating restaurant. Has it even opened yet? No. Is it prematurely famous because it's run by a contestant on Top Chef? Absolutely. And I agree about Dickson's banh mi - it could have been included because (ding ding ding!) it's a participating restaurant. Check your list.
170248 @softcorelaundry.com: Do I smell an unsanctioned banh mi grudgematch coming on? Taking it to the streets would be all kinds of awesome. A couple years back, I was fortunate enough to go to New Orleans' Po-Boy Festival where this local Vietnamese bakery's Banh Mi ended up winning best po-boy in certain divisions. I'd love to see Mike Isabella try and hold his own against Falls Church's finest.
@j. vu: Yes. And we'll get Carla to judge.
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