Banh Mi

Good morning!

Last night I was a bit hungry at around four in the evening,  so I went to pursue the Banh Mi at the local Vietnamese restaurant, Pho Hiep and Grill.
This cafe is in a strip mall near my house, the same strip mall where I get my hair done, often, and where I go to the supermarket.  Theo and I used to eat at the "pho" from time to time, and would have eaten there more often had he been not so dedicated as a meat and  potatoes guy.  But now they have put the Banh Mi on the menu, which he would have appreciated.

The restaurant is pretty; as you go in the door you are confronted with a waterfall running down a tall panel of embossed glass.  There are quite a few table, neat and clean wood, with dark wood chairs. All the dishes used are white. Pho, if you get that, is served in huge half-sphere white bowls.  With nearly any meal you get a little dish of hot sauce and a little dish of sauce with carrot and jicama in it, with a sweetish water-vinegar sauce.

The Banh Mi is the "Vietnamese Sandwich," which is a pretty standard sandwich on a French baguette, using whatever kind of meat you choose (I had the ham/sausage one) plus the usual graceful Vietnamese garnish of grated carrots and herbs. There was absolutely no dressing on the sandwich of any sort, and it tasted pretty good that way.

The menu said that if I ate the sandwich in the restaurant it would come with chicken broth plus a side of chicken salad.  What more could you want? I ate the hot clear soup.  I nibbled the refreshing Vietnamese chicken salad, which is shredded chicken plus shredded cabbage and other leaves and carrots and herbs with the lightest imaginable dressing of vinegar, perhaps, and water.  It was sprinkled with sauteed green onion slices and peanuts.  Very delicious.

The Banh Mi waited in state on its white plate. It was on a narrow French baguette cut in two, with plenty of ham and so forth.  I could only eat half, and could only eat half of the salad too.  SO, when I finish this I am going to go to the refrigerator and have my lunch, which I brought home at five o'clock last night.  Oh, and I had a fresh lemonade too, with the thinnest slice of green lime in it. Everything was just perfect.  YAZZYBEL