There aren’t many places I go to fulfill my Vietnamese food cravings. My two usual suspects are Pho Bang on Mott Street for pho, bun and bbq meat over rice and Banh Mi So #1 on Broome street for banh mi, fresh coconut water and freshly prepared dumplings and noodles to take home. I’ve visited a few other spots over the last couple of months that I’ll be writing about but I’ll start with one of my new favorites, Baoguette Cafe on St. Marks Place.
The Baoguette mini chain of three cafe like spots are run by husband and wife restauranteurs Michael Bao and Thao Nguyen. As the name suggests all of the Baoguette’s focus heavily on the ever so popular Vietnamese banh mi sandwich. The chain offers twists on the traditional sandwich by offering fillings such as spicy catfish and sloppy Bao (there take on the sloppy Joe sandwich) amongst others. The classic is of course represented here as well and is a good deal at $5.
Because I’ve worked my through most of the sandwiches I decided to try something different and being that the cafe is really tiny and was relatively empty I decided to eat there instead of taking it out. The typical Vietnamese condiments are placed at each end of the long communal table that takes up most of the space and the walls are adorned with posters of banh mi carts, I assume in Saigon.
I went with the barbecued chicken bun. Bun refers to the vermicelli rice noodles that make up the majority of the dish. The bowl also contains lettuce leaves, slices of cucumber, fresh herbs and roasted peanuts. It is topped off with barbecued chicken and served with a small cup of nouc cham (a sweet and sour fish sauce). I usually douse my bun in Sriracha hot sauce, add a little nouc cham as well as pickled jalapeno slices if they’re available and mix the whole thing up.
I can say with a real confidence that the Bun at Baouguette cafe is out of this world. It’s kind of tough to screw up rice noodles, lettuce and cucumber so where most Vietnamese restaurants either fail or succeed is based on how good their meat is and it’s pretty damn good here.
The top tier spots prepare their pork and chicken in such a way so that it remains most and flavorful inside but has a beautiful crunchy exterior that can only be achieved by allowing the meat to be cooked over an open flame. I can’t tell you how many “fake” Vietnamese restaurants that I’ve been to (mostly on the Upper East Side) that think they can get away with making this dish with grilled meats. They cannot and for me it’s usually a one bun and I’m done for those restaurants. I may trademark that “one bun and I’m done” thing so don’t steal it for me.
My one beef with the Bun at Baoguette Cafe is that it’s $9 which is understandable considering the prime East Village real estate that it sits on. The places in Chinatown don’t have to worry about that and therefore can give you an as good or better product for less money. Regardless of all that, I recommend that if you’re in the area and you need a Banh mi, pho or Bun fix to give Baoguette a try. It’s certainly worth it.
Baoguette Cafe -37 St. Mark’s Place (Between 2nd and 3rd Avenues), NY, 10003, (212) 380-1487
Filed under: Vietnamese Food Tagged: | Banh Mi, barbecued Chicken, Bun, Chinatown, East Village, fake Vietnamese restaurants, fresh coconut water, Michael Bao, nouc cham, open flame, Pho, Pho Bang, Saigon, sloppy Bao, sloppy joe, spicy catfish, Sriracha, St. Mark's Place, Thao Nguyen, Upper East Side, Vietnam Banh Mi So # 1, Vietnamese Food Cravings
