I hesitate to mention this for fear that it will get too popular and be ruined by overexposure… but I just can’t resist sharing this beautiful jewel with everyone. What I am talking about is probably the best food deal in town - the Bahn Mi sandwich.

The Bahn Mi is a Vietnamese concoction with French influence. A French baguette is cut open and loaded with things such as barbequed pork, chicken, pork meatballs or pate along with shredded carrots, cucumber, rice wine vinegar, chili sauce and (the icing on the cake) fresh cilantro sprigs. My favorite is the barbequed pork which is so unbelievably good that I think about it long after I’ve eaten the last bite.

One of the best things about the Bahn Mi is where it can be found. This and other Vietnamese street food goes largely unnoticed by the general eating public because to get it you usually have to venture into a little grungy shop in or near Chinatown stacked with videos and CDs of young doe-eyed Vietnamese pop stars, past the clerk reading his Vietnamese paper, to a separate counter off to the side. There a few women are hurriedly preparing Bahn Mis along with coconut rice wrapped in banana leaf, pickled vegetables, sweets made of rice and tapioca pearls and other things wrapped in plastic wrap that I couldn’t figure out. A sandwich and some whacky drink made from gourd, grass jelly, or whatever is only a few dollars. And you won’t forget it. Bahn Mi sandwiches are so good, if you haven’t had one in a while they will beckon to you from across town or across the sea.

If Bahn Mis are any indication, I need to make more of an effort to explore the breadth and depth of Vietnamese cooking. With its’ French influence (remember colonialism?) Vietnam is probably full of amazing food with both bright and spicy flavors done with a refinement that French cooking has pursued for centuries. Find a Bahn Mi and see what I mean.