food stories.

I write.
I eat.
I write about what I eat.

theme by Conkers

 
Baoguette, East Village This story is long overdue. I’ve already been four times, which officially makes it my most repeated offense. If loving this banh mi is wrong, I don’t wanna be right. On my first visit, I ordered the “very spicy.” My motto is the hotter the better. It’s a bit of a pride thing. Growing up Indonesian, the inability to handle spice was seen as weakness. And honestly I hadn’t really met anything outside of Asia that was too spicy for me. My friend, Thai-born and Indonesian-raised Angel, coming from two cultures with some of the most spicy food on the planet, ordered “medium spicy,” prompting me to think that she maybe knew something I didn’t know. But seeing as it was also her first time, I brushed off my suspicions. Our number ones came and I took a bite. The complexity and contrast of flavors and textures was a wildly sense-heightening experience. The crisp of the radish, carrots, cilantro, cucumber and crust of the bread contrasted with the soft middle of the bread, and the juicy medley of pork. Similarly, the coolness of the veggies soothed the pleasurable pain from the jalapenos and sriracha. I was definitely feeling the heat, but it wasn’t too much, I thought it was perfect. “Wow, ‘very spicy’…they weren’t kidding,” I said as I turned to Angel, only to see that she had tears in her eyes, and was sniffling furiously, as she said “I think they switched ours” in between desperate gasps for cool air. Turns out they did switch them, and that the “very spicy” comes smothered with tiny Thai chilis. Just one of those little guys packs more heat than all the dudes in “The Departed” combined. It’s crazy hot. I ended up claiming what was rightfully mine and correcting our mismatched sandwiches. I ate my “very spicy” banh mi, and cried all the way through. Partly from the heat, partly from how delicious it was. Even through all that spice, the other ingredients harmoniously shone through. I’ve since learned that I can enjoy the unique punch of the Thai chilis without dying by ordering them on the side and then adding them to each bite at a leisurely pace. At the end with your bill, if you’re lucky, you get a tiny complimentary dollop of pandan ice cream, a nice little palette cleanser. My 4th time at Baoguette, I reluctantly strayed from my usual in the name of broadening my horizons and ordered the Sloppy Bao, which Grub Street named one of the top 101 sandwiches in NYC. Instead of the sumptous pork-party, it is filled with spicy ground beef, mango, and Thai basil, among other things. Not the worst thing I’ve ever had, but a huge disappointment. Stick to the classic. Trust me.

Baoguette, East Village

This story is long overdue. I’ve already been four times, which officially makes it my most repeated offense. If loving this banh mi is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.

On my first visit, I ordered the “very spicy.” My motto is the hotter the better. It’s a bit of a pride thing. Growing up Indonesian, the inability to handle spice was seen as weakness. And honestly I hadn’t really met anything outside of Asia that was too spicy for me. My friend, Thai-born and Indonesian-raised Angel, coming from two cultures with some of the most spicy food on the planet, ordered “medium spicy,” prompting me to think that she maybe knew something I didn’t know. But seeing as it was also her first time, I brushed off my suspicions.

Our number ones came and I took a bite. The complexity and contrast of flavors and textures was a wildly sense-heightening experience. The crisp of the radish, carrots, cilantro, cucumber and crust of the bread contrasted with the soft middle of the bread, and the juicy medley of pork. Similarly, the coolness of the veggies soothed the pleasurable pain from the jalapenos and sriracha. I was definitely feeling the heat, but it wasn’t too much, I thought it was perfect. “Wow, ‘very spicy’…they weren’t kidding,” I said as I turned to Angel, only to see that she had tears in her eyes, and was sniffling furiously, as she said “I think they switched ours” in between desperate gasps for cool air.

Turns out they did switch them, and that the “very spicy” comes smothered with tiny Thai chilis. Just one of those little guys packs more heat than all the dudes in “The Departed” combined. It’s crazy hot. I ended up claiming what was rightfully mine and correcting our mismatched sandwiches. I ate my “very spicy” banh mi, and cried all the way through. Partly from the heat, partly from how delicious it was. Even through all that spice, the other ingredients harmoniously shone through.

I’ve since learned that I can enjoy the unique punch of the Thai chilis without dying by ordering them on the side and then adding them to each bite at a leisurely pace.

At the end with your bill, if you’re lucky, you get a tiny complimentary dollop of pandan ice cream, a nice little palette cleanser.

My 4th time at Baoguette, I reluctantly strayed from my usual in the name of broadening my horizons and ordered the Sloppy Bao, which Grub Street named one of the top 101 sandwiches in NYC. Instead of the sumptous pork-party, it is filled with spicy ground beef, mango, and Thai basil, among other things. Not the worst thing I’ve ever had, but a huge disappointment. Stick to the classic. Trust me.

  archive