Duc Huong Sandwiches

Duc Huong Sandwiches

All sorrows are less with bread. ” ~Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote

 

 

6825 Stockton Blvd Ste 200, Sacramento, CA 95823. (916) 428-1188.

Years ago, I got hooked on banh mi at New Paris Bakery on Stockton Blvd. It was cheap, tasty, fresh...and cheap...oh wait, did I already mention that? When New Paris closed, I was devastated. You see, they made the best baguettes in town. Their bread was the perfect amount of crunchy on the outside and was soft as a cloud inside. I gave up banh mi for awhile after they shuttered their doors. Eh, I didn't need all those carbs, right? Eventually though, I began to miss my sandwiches and got talked into going to Huong Lan. Turned out that they serve up a delicious banh mi and the bread there was good (though not great). It satiated my banh mi cravings...that is until recently. Awhile back, I noticed that their sandwiches had got slightly smaller and the bread wasn't quite as tasty (sometimes even stale). So I started looking around and came across Duc Huong across the street. The banh mi there are comparable (fresh veggies and tender meat), the shop is clean and the staff is super nice. There's been a few times that I wished that they could put in a little more meat and slap on a wee bit more mayo...but those thoughts are tossed aside once I bite into the bread. Oh, the bread! The bread is delish and has the most wonderful aroma! It's almost like the bread that I used to get at New Paris Bakery. Light and airy with a delicate glossy, crunchy exterior. Even better news, is that they sell their baguettes as well as these fantastic sandwich rolls. They have sesame and wheat usually up front in the cases but if you order at the counter, they have freshly baked garlic rolls. Buy the garlic rolls! They're quite big (think roughly the size of a mini-Nerf football) and are only 4 for a $1. They're great for making sandwiches at home (which is what I do since I can stuff as much filling as I want in them) or for just noshing on with some soft cheese or pate. If you don't see them on the bread rack right behind the cashier, just ask; they'll bring out some fresh out of the oven ones from the back.

Currently: $1.75 small banh mi, $3.00 full-sized banh mi.
Baguettes $1.00, Rolls 4/$1.
Cash only.

Huong Lan Sandwiches

Huong Lan Sandwiches

6930 65th Street Suite 109, Sacramento, CA 95823. (916) 429-9999. (Located around the corner from the SF Market)

There's a certain self-satisfaction and smugness to getting all your Christmas shopping done two weeks early. Yep, that's right folks...you heard me correctly--I'm done TWO WEEKS early. It took me 37 years to get to that point, but this year I'm finished with plenty of time to spare. No sitting in holiday traffic, having to pushing my way through throngs of people at the mall or getting elbowed at the register this year for me. All my shopping is done...barring a few gifts on their way via UPS. It's a great feeling. All I have left to do between now and Christmas is to pour myself a big glass of wine, bake a few cookies and watch "Elf," a half dozen times. (I love it when Will Ferrell hisses, "You stink...you smell like beef and cheese, you don't smell like Santa!") Anyhow, my holiday shopping's done so you know what that means...my pocketbook is e-m-p-t-y...but no worries. That's what Huong Lan Sandwiches is for. For $2.75 you can grab one of their yummy banh mi sandwiches. They're sooooo good. If you've never had a banh mi before, the best way to describe it is that it's kind of like a Vietnamese sub sandwich. Huong Lan uses a fresh crunchy baguette slathered with a house mayo mix which they stuff with your choice of meat, julienned pickled daikon and carrots, some cilantro, onion and top it with a few sliced jalapeños. The meat choices range from bbq grilled pork, steamed pork, chicken, pâté, sardines and there's even a vegetarian choice. The sandwiches are super filling and delicious. A combo of sweet, tangy, salty, crunchy and spicy...perfect for lunch, dinner or anytime in between. The set up at Huong Lan is pretty simple. When you walk in there's tables to the left. If you want table service sit down. If you want takeout, walk to the back right corner and place your order at the counter. There's a giant illuminated picture menu above, for easy reference. Just tell the cashier what number sandwich you'd like to order, pay for your purchase and wait. They'll call your order out when it's ready. Just think- with all the money you save, you'll be rollin' in the green just in time for the new year.

* Tip: Bring cash (there's a minimum purchase amount for credit/debit purchases)

Charbroiled Pork Vermicelli (Bun Thit Nuong)

Charbroiled Pork Vermicelli (Bun Thit Nuong)

When I was in my first year of college every Tuesday and Thursday my classmates and I had a 3 1/2 hour break between Design and Art History, the break nestling in nicely right over lunch time. A few of the girls who grew up there wanted to introduce the rest of us to the best Vietnamese restaurant in the city. Vietnamese? A small town girl like me had never had Vietnamese. What was I in for?

I ordered a bowl of vermicelli with BBQ pork on top and it came with a small bowl of orange liquid with strips of carrots and bits of red chili's floating in it. "What's this?" I asked my classmates. "Mostly fish sauce" said one of the girls. Ewwwwwwww. Fish sauce? (This was obviously before my culinary days) I was squeamish and decided to eat my bowl of noodles and meat without it. Everyone ranted and raved about how GREEEEEAT the food was and it was sooooo delcious and "Mmmmmmm this is the best Vietnamese I've ever HAAAAD."

I really didn't see the greatness. It was so bland. I was eating plain ol' rice noodles with a few pieces of pork on top. What was wrong with these people?

One of the ladies noticed my full bowl of Vietnamese dipping sauce sitting untouched. "Aren't you going to add that to your vermicelli?" she asked. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh......I guess" as I half heartedly poured the tiniest amount over my noodles. Skeptically I took a bite.

WOW. The flavor had completely changed and gone from bland and boring to FANTASTIC! I dumped the entire bowl of dipping sauce over my bowl of vermicelli and greedily slurped up noodles. So delicious. Just like the rest of them, I couldn't get enough. We ended up eating there almost every Tuesday and Thursday for months on end. I even had one friend who would go all by herself just to get her hands on that sweet, sweet Vietnamese taste. The bowls of vermicelli came in small, medium and large and a medium bowl was big enough to satisfy our needs. My friend that went in by herself couldn't get enough so she began ordering large bowls. She even confessed to me one evening that sometimes she ordered a large order AS WELL AS a small bowl. FOR HERSELF. "They do take out you know" she informed me.

I too love the sweet, sweet Vietnamese taste. It's a combination of sour, sweet, spicy, garlic and delicious all rolled into one. I've been making it at home for a year and a half now and have tweaked the recipe down to a science. I haven't seen my college friend for over 6 years but I'll bet she'd love me for this one ;)

*Recipe inspired by Oiishi Eats
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Serves 4


BBQ Pork:
1 - 1/2 lb pork shoulder, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
4 tbsp oil
Pepper

400g vermicelli noodles (these can be found in the International aisle of the grocery store or at an Asian supermarket)
1 cup lettuce, thinly sliced
1 cup bean sprouts
Chopped peanuts
Cilantro (optional)

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce:
This can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for over a month. It's also delicious for dipping spring rolls.

3-1/2 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup warm water
2 tbsp lime juice
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
5 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp chili-garlic sauce or ½ tsp minced chili (or more, depending on your tastes)
Thinly sliced carrot (optional)


Mix together all pork marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Thinly slice the pork and toss in the marinade. Mix together and place in fridge to marinate for at least 20 minutes.

In a resealable jar, add all the Vietnamese dipping sauce ingredients and shake well. Place in the fridge.

To soak your vermicelli noodles, most people put them in a large bowl and cover them with warm tap water and let them sit for 30 minutes. I'm not most people. I find that covering them with boiling water and letting them sit for 5-10 minutes works just as well. I get more instant gratification that way :) They don't get mushy or gluey or anything, but prepare them how you like and drain.

Once the pork has marinated, turn the oven on to broil. Place a rack on a cookie sheet, and lay the strips of pork across the rack. Place in the oven and broil for 6-10 minutes. This is really dependent on your oven, how far from the broiler the pork is and how thickly you've sliced your pork. Just keep your eye on them. Once they look brown and a little crispy around the edges they're done.

To assemble your bowl, place a couple tablespoons of bean sprouts and a couple tablespoons of lettuce in the bottom. Top with a good amount of noodles (about 1/4 of what you've prepared) and strips of pork on top. Garnish with peanuts (and cilantro if you like.) Before you eat, pour on some Vietnamese dipping sauce and get ready to slurp.


Click here for printable version of Charbroiled Pork Vermicelli.
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THE RESULTS?
Do you really have to ask how much we love this meal? It's painfully obvious that I adore this dish and my husband is just as enthusiastic about it as I am. Our toddler likes digging in and eating it with her hands as well. Oh I've said it before about the Charbroiled Pork Sandwiches, but I'll say it again: The marinade for the pork is WONDERFUL.

This meal is delicious and inexpensive. Not only do we save money by making this ourselves at home instead of eating out, but since we already have a big bottle of fish sauce in our fridge it's incredibly cheap to make. I would take a wild guess and say it's under 5 dollars.


For more inexpensive meal ideas, visit Erin at $5 Dinners.

Vietnamese Crispy Chow Mein with Beef Stir-Fry

Vietnamese Crispy Chow Mein with Beef Stir-Fry

I've ordered this dish a couple times from our favorite Vietnamese restaurant, but it is so HUGE that I can never even eat half of it by myself. My husband is too busy eating bun and spring rolls to help me devour my plate, so it's not very often that I get to enjoy this dish. I was super excited to discover Wandering Chopsticks recipe for this great dish and that I could make it at home. This one is definitely worth trying.


Recipe from Wandering Chopsticks
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Serves 4

1 lb beef sirloin steak, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp corn starch

1 tsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp black pepper

6 baby bok choy, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 red pepper, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
1 cup mushrooms, sliced

2 bundles of fresh chow mein egg noodles

In a bowl combine the garlic, oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, cornstarch sugar and black pepper and stir until it is thoroughly mixed. Thinly slice the beef and add it to the bowl of marinade. Mix so that the meat is entirely covered with marinade, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge while you chop veggies and cook the egg noodles.

Chop all veggies and have them ready to go.

In a large frying pan turned to medium-high heat, add a few tbsp of oil. Separate the bundles of chow mein noodles. When the pan is nice and hot, add the noodles. Let get brown and crispy on one side and then flip and let the other side crisp up as well. This is supposed to hold together like a pancake, but mine totally didn't. It still tasted great, but just know that you aren't screwing anything up if yours doesn't hold together either. Just try to flip it once as best you can, keeping it in a "pancake" form. Once browned on both sides, slide onto a plate.

In the same hot frying pan, add a bit more oil as well as the sliced onions. Saute for a couple of minutes until they are softened, then add the meat and marinade to the pan. Keep sauteing until the meat gets browned and then add 1/2 cup of water to create the gravy. It will thicken up nicely as it cooks because of the cornstarch. Then add the rest of your veggies, reserving the bok choy until the end. Let cook until the gravy is thickened and the veggies are softened. In the last couple minutes of cooking time, add the bok choy.

Serve the beef stir-fry over the plate of crispy noodles.


Click here for printable version of Vietnamese Crispy Chow Mein with Beef Stir-Fry
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THE RESULTS?
Wonderful. Exactly like the restaurant's. Actually....probably better than the restaurant! Whatever our restaurant does to their noodles, the gravy makes the noodles in the center get super-soggified, so of course my favorite part is the outsides with all the crispy noodles. Maybe it was the brand of egg noodles I used or Wandering Chopsticks techniques, but the noodles in this recipe don't get super soggy in the middle...they just get nice and soft like a normal noodle. So you get to enjoy both worlds: crispy on the outside and nice and noodley on the inside.

Vietnamese Charbroiled Pork Sandwiches

Vietnamese Charbroiled Pork Sandwiches

I am downright in love with Vietnamese food, so when my International Food Club (called the Secret-Secret Geography Club) suggested doing Vietnam as September's country of choice I was ecstatic.

As much as I love Bun (Vietnamese vermicelli) I went on the lookout for some Vietnamese recipes I had never tried and stumbled across Wandering Chopsticks. She had so many delicious looking recipes to choose from it was hard to know where to begin. After much deliberating, I finally decided to go with Banh Mi Thit Heo Nuong (Vietnamese Charbroiled Pork Sandwiches).
This summer I discovered a great recipe for Bun Thit Nuong (Charbroiled Pork Vermicelli) and knew that the marinade for the pork was absolutely incredible, so I didn't use Wandering Chopsticks recipe for that. I've changed the pork recipe so much from the original it really isn't the same anymore, but I did originally discover it at Oishii Eats

*Recipe for sandwiches adapted from Wandering Chopsticks
*Recipe for pork inspired by Oishii Eats
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Serves 6



*The night before you want to enjoy these sandwiches, prepare the pork and let it marinade as well as the pickled carrot/daikon.

Pork:
2 lb pork shoulder, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
4 tbsp oil
Pepper

Combine all marinade ingredients in a bowl along with the thinly sliced pork. Cover and let sit over night.

Pickled Carrot and Daikon:
1/2 carrot, julienned
1/2 small daikon, julienned
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 white vinegar

In a shallow bowl, place the carrot and daikon. Sprinkle with sugar and salt and pour over vinegar. Let sit for about 15 minutes then pour all ingredients into a jar or resealable container and pour enough water in to cover everything. Put in the fridge overnight.

Sandwiches:
Cucumber, julienned
Cilantro
Mayo
French Baguette (I used 2 big long bagettes, cut into 6 pieces so each piece was roughly 6 inches long)

On a medium high grill cook the marinated pork until cooked all the way through, turning once. Remove from grill. You can also place the pork on a baking sheet on a rack and place in the oven on Broil. It should take only about 4 minutes to cook since the meat is sliced thinly, but keep an eye on it.

Assemble sandwiches by smearing a small amount of mayo on one side of the bread. Top with charbroiled pork. Broil in the oven for 3-5 minutes until bread is slightly toasted and the meat is warmed through. Add drained pickled carrots and daikon, as well as cucumber and cilantro. It took many steps to get here, but you are finally able to savor and enjoy!

Click here for printable version of Vietnamese Charbroiled Pork Sandwiches
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THE RESULTS?
Oh my word. Excellent. Incredibly excellent. The marinade on the pork is one of my favorites and it is so flavorful. Everything comes together so nicely, and while there are a lot of steps to making this sandwich I can definitely say it's WORTH IT! I will add this to our favorite recipes and definitely make again. Even though I had never had one of these sandwiches before, a couple other members of the group had, and they exclaimed these were better than ones they ate at a Vietnamese market (or at least just as good :) 5 stars!!

Pho Xe Lua

Pho Xe Lua

5331 Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95820, (916) 451-8838

I took my hyper-critical Asian mom to Pho Xe Lua during her recent visit and was pretty pleased with the establishment. PXL touts itself as an "authentic asian cuisine" restaurant, but in my opinion their forte is their Vietnamese dishes. The restaurant is squirreled away next to a Budget Inn and not much to look at from the outside but is quite surprisingly expansive inside. Upon walking in, you'll think you've mistakenly wandered into some sort of enchanted Asian Wonderland. The foyer is done up with a river rock encrusted wall where a serene waterfall cascades, then to your left you'll encounter a large gilded ox with a little jockey perched on its back. Not sure what its significance is, but I found it to be charming and a bit humorous. Despite my determination to "act grownup," I couldn't quell the desire to reach out and pet the shiny ox. So I did and got both a dirty look and a sharp whack from moms. Ouch!

During our visit, I found the staff to be quite attentive and friendly. Many of the waitresses were greeting arriving customers by name and seemed to know their standing orders. Pretty impressive in my book, for a place that's only been open for about a month. One of the two waitresses we had was quite patient and spent about ten minutes discussing ingredients with my mom. Also, when asked about smoking (my mom lives in a state that has yet to go smoke-free), the waitress helpfully advised that there was a little shaded nook outside with an ashtray stand where my mom could indulge in her nasty cancersticks.

As for our lunch, I opted for the bun tom nuong (charbroiled shrimp over vermicelli noodles). It was prepared perfectly both in taste and in aesthetics. The serving was quite huge and despite being ravenous, I only ended up finishing about half of it. My mom opted for the pho tai (a beef noodle soup with slices of rare steak that you toss in) along with some goi cuon tom (shrimp summer rolls). I think her eyes were bigger than her stomach, because she barely put a dent in her soup despite happily slurping away for a half hour and she ended up taking the summer rolls home. The pho at PXL comes with the obligatory bean sprouts, cilantro, hot peppers and lemon. Also, the necessary condiments are placed on each table, so you don't have to flag anyone down to get some sriracha. I appreciated this small touch as I don't like anyone or anything to come between me and my sriracha.

After dabbling in the sampling of Vietnamese food for the last several months (thanks to a Yelper friend who turned me on to it), I can understand now why Anthony Bourdain, when asked which food he enjoyed the most out of all the countries he visited during his Cooks Tour, replied, "almost everything I ate in Vietnam." The ingredients are fresh, there's a nice balance of contrasting flavors, and a minimal use of oil ... making the dishes quite healthy. PXL does a great job of sticking to this and hopefully it won't be a flash in the pan, as I hope to continue to patronize the joint. Especially since it's open 7 days a week from 8am-10pm... perfect for a bowl of pho for breakfast on a hungover Sunday morning or a late summer dinner when the sun goes down. Also, the prices are reasonable ( $5-$7 for most dishes). But most importantly, it passed the mom test.

Pho Bac Hoa Viet

Pho Bac Hoa Viet

1827 Broadway, Sacramento, CA 95818, (916) 443-7888

Having a day off to sloth & since I was craving a bowl of hot soup due to the rainy weather, I decided to pop into the Pho Bac Hoa Viet on Broadway for a little sumethin' sumethin'. I wasn't sure what to expect as the reviews on Yelp for this establishment veered from one end of the spectrum to the other. Maybe I caught the PBHV on an off day, because I thought the food was pretty good as well as the service.

The gentleman that was manning the front was a bit gruff at first, but he warmed up instantly when I punctuated my order with a "please," a "thank you" and a smile. He even took the time to engage me in some small talk as I kicked it on the bench waiting for my order, which I thought was nice.

I decided to try something different this pho-go-round and requested the #12. Awesome choice! The raw bits of steak were fun to drop in the broth and watch cook and were quite tasty! I actually preferred it over the pho ga that I had been ordering since I recently began partaking in pho. The only thing I would change is maybe that the pho base have more flavor (as in added spices, not spiciness)...it was pretty mild.

The other desk attendant, a young lady, was very friendly and even took the initiative to check on my order even though it had only been placed about 5 minutes before. Bonus points for her.

Waiting for my take-away, gave me a chance to take in the kitschy Asian-tropics surroundings which was... uh, colorful? :) Next time, I'll have to try dining in to get the full Pho Bac Hoa Viet experience.

PBHV made a pretty good first impression on me and hopefully will stay a staple on my list of yummy Sac Asian eateries.