(This venue is closed.) You won't find another banh mi like it in New York.
Not at Banh Mi Saigon Bakery, my favorite Vietnamese sandwich shop in the city, and not even in Ho Chi Minh City itself (though to be sure, during my visit sandwiches were generally far from my mind). The baguette, usually brittle, is here more supple than most; julienned pickled cucumber, carrot, and daikon are supplanted by cucumber relish and pickled red onions; a spicy, sometimes fish-flavored mayo is replaced by honey mustard aioli; and in place of the most common mainstay, pork (roast, grilled, in meatballs, as pate, sometimes alone but generally in combination), you'll find moist, fleshy hunks of catfish.
At $7, Baoguette's spicy catfish banh mi is about twice the price of a more traditional version, but after your first taste, you won't give it a second thought, unless your friends ask to share.
Baoguette
61 Lexington Ave. (25th-26th)
212-518-4089
Closed Sunday
www.Baoguette.com
