The Best Around - Woof of the Week #16
Thanks for the Woof-furries even if they weren't so great
Welcome to Woof of the Week!
Alright lift on three. 1, 2, 3 - there we go. Ok slowly, slowly, to the left, WATCH the back of the couch, don’t knock over the vase. What? I can’t hear you. Ok, put it down, put it down. You want to move the vase? No way, that thing is ancient. I’m not gonna risk breaking that thing by moving it, we’ll just have to move the couch around it. Yes it’s possible just trust me… ok, ready, 1, 2, 3, there we go alright alright, slowly - ok. Ok, yeah the vase just fell.
Welcome to Woof of the Week where I write about the things that made me say “Woof” the longest each week. Whether it’s international news, or just something that happened to a friend of a friend - it’ll be featured here.
And don’t forget - you can always submit a Woof!
Woofs are collected anonymously so even your most secret Woofs are safe to send. And if you’d just like to submit dog pictures you can send those too!
Now without further ado -
What Makes a Banh Mi?
**Apologies in advance if you get hungry after reading this **
Last weekend I visited my friends Jordan and Erin in New York City. The plan was for me to travel to Chinatown with my family first, and then I’d hop on a train uptown to meet my friends. I offered to pick up lunch to which Jordan replied:
What sandwich are you getting?
No discussion of type of cuisine, no discussion of where I would be getting the sandwich, because Jordan knew that if I had one day in New York City I would be getting my favorite sandwich1: the BBQ Pork Banh Mi (aka the #1) from Bánh Mì Saigon on the border of Little Italy and Chinatown.
The Bánh Mì is a Vietnamese Sandwich that has a plethora of ingredients that all mesh together in a satisfying way. I constantly talk about how much I love Bánh Mì’s, and specifically how much I love this Bánh Mì. While we ate lunch, Jordan recounted a story that when we were eating Bánh Mì’s after a film shoot in Houston, all I did was talk about the Bánh Mì from New York City. (Record number of times one can use Bánh Mì in one paragraph.)
But before we get to the sandwich, its contents, and how my favorite meal could be a Woof, I have to share a story from my childhood:
Growing up I was an extremely picky eater, which did not bode well for a Chinese kid who’s extended family owned multiple Chinese banquet restaurants across New York. Even though Chinese cuisine is known for its… adventurous sensibilities, everything that I was afraid to eat while growing up, upon further reflection, didn’t come close to being that out there. Peking Duck, Beef and Peppers in Black Bean Sauce, Pan Fried Noodles. These were the dishes that were around when I was at family events.2 And all I ate was white rice3 and Sprite. To this day, the combination of the two is an instant appetite killer for me.
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Not only would I avoid Chinese food, I wouldn’t even eat American food. I was a pseudo vegetarian growing up, avoiding most meats unless it was presented in extremely processed & shaped forms, like hot dogs and chicken nuggets. Hamburgers? Too brown. Chili? Grooosss. An Italian Cold Sub? Fuggedaboutit!
As I grew older, I slowly started to eat more Americanized food, meat snuck into my sandwiches, and by extension hamburgers snuck their way in there as well, but most Chinese, and by extension any Asian, cuisine I was still hesitant to try. But the first step of me getting over my fear of eating Asian food changed when I spent a week in Louisville, Kentucky.
Yes, really.
In sixth grade, my extended family and I all went to Louisville for the wedding of my cousin Suzie, who I had never met. And while we were there Suzie’s father, my uncle Charlie (who I had never met) treated us to dinner at his restaurant, Golden Buddha, multiple times.
Golden Buddha is your classic American-Chinese takeout spot. Yelp reviews for the restaurant say that it’s been a staple of the Okolona community for almost 40 years. There’s plenty of parking and your expected Americanized Chinese fare - Sweet and Sour Chicken, Crab Rangoons, Chop Suey. But during our visit, just for our family, Uncle Charlie would have the staff make more authentic Chinese cuisine for us. What did they make? I don’t remember because all I ate was white rice and Sprite.
What I do remember was that by the third night I HAD to eat something, anything else. I couldn’t do it, I was being pushed to a breaking point I had never experienced before. No amount of scolding from my parents, teasing from my cousins, or gentle coercion from my Grandma had ever accomplished what white rice and Sprite, my once savior, had finally done. I was ready to try a new food.
The night I chose to do that, Uncle Charlie’s wife, my “Kao Mow” (aunt in Cantonese) worked with the kitchen staff to make us Vietnamese food for dinner, since she is Vietnamese. And in this simple act, I was presented with the food that changed it all:
The Vietnamese Spring Roll or Cha Giò.
(You were expecting me to write Bánh Mì weren’t you?)
I’d love to tell you that I could describe my reaction to eating my first spring roll, but honestly, I think I was so happy to have found something I liked that all I do remember was eating a lot of them. Like, that-was-my-entire-dinner, a lot of them. After our Louisville trip, my parents, sensing an opportunity to broaden our cultural palate, took my siblings and I to a Vietnamese restaurant the next time we were in Chinatown, NYC and suddenly I was eating lots more. Pho with Tripe, Grilled Pork with Vermicelli (or Bún Thịt Nướng) and of course Bánh Mì’s from Bánh Mì Saigon (There I wrote it 😉 ).
This NY Eater Write-up sums up their origin and history best, so I won’t go into too much detail about the establishment. But I always found it funny when bringing my friends from high school there to try the sandwich: A group of (mostly) white suburban New Jersey teens (and me) all walking past a counter selling jewelry and a huge fish tank to order what I was saying was the best sandwich ever. And I don’t think it ever disappointed anyone.
The #1 (The BBQ Pork) is comprised of these ingredients - according to the NY Eater Write-Up:
Crusty demi-baguette stuffed with shredded and pickled daikon and carrots, julienned cucumber, a sprig of cilantro… [and] a combination of barbecue pork done in-house and a rubbery pâté, something like bland bologna that made newcomers to the genre scratch their heads.
I do remember being put off by the sandwich upon first looking at it. And I don’t remember what it was like to first eat it. But now I would die for this sandwich. I have asked (read: made) my mom and other relatives lug these from NYC into New Jersey for early lunch at family gatherings. I have braved a hurricane for this sandwich. And throughout my whole life I would constantly tell people that Bánh Mì Saigon was the only place that made Bánh Mì’s right.
I’ve spent the majority of my adult life looking for a place that makes Bánh Mì’s that stack up to the #1. If I’ve gone to a place that has a Bánh Mì on the menu, I will order it, even if it means I have two meals. I have ordered the “Buy Two Get One Free” Bánh Mì deal from Bánh Mì Che Chali in Garden Grove, California, which has the second largest Vietnamese population in America. In Houston, which has the third largest Vietnamese population in America, I’ve had Bánh Mì’s where the baguette was seasoned to be more like Texas toast. I have even had the vegan Bánh Mì from *shudder* Mendocino Farms here in Los Angeles.
And nothing is like the #1 from Bánh Mì Saigon.
But after so much trial and error, I did notice that more and more BBQ pork Bánh Mì’s were like the three that I had in Garden Grove. And that the ones in Houston, aside from the Texas toast, were more similar to the ones I had at the Bánh Mì shop behind my college in Boston, than the #1. And what I’ve slowly come to realize is that the sandwich that I used to take so much pride in was just like the vegan Banh Mi from Mendocino farms: Not Authentic.
Woooof.
I can not tell you the amount of times I’ve gotten BBQ pork from a place that is touted to sell the best Bánh Mì’s in the area only to be disappointed. But each disappointment was met with that realization - that I’ve been disappointed with the same pork each time. And don’t get me wrong, it was tasty. It just wasn’t what I wanted, or what I was expecting. And thus I touted it as “not authentic”.
I used to take a lot of pride in thinking that I knew of the authentic store, tucked away behind the jewelry counter in Chinatown, NYC. But looking back, what did I have to justify this knowledge at all? I’m not Vietnamese!
And yet, my whole life I would tell this story about how the best Bánh Mì, the only place that does it right, is this place that, what I now understand, isn’t the traditional BBQ pork that would be in the sandwich. What an odd display of self-righteousness and cultural ignorance I’ve put on for my adult life.
In writing this article, my Dad was the one who gave me the name of my uncle’s restaurant. Prior to Yelping the restaurant, in my memory, it wasn’t a Chinese take out place; it was a Vietnamese restaurant, a treat for the Chinese family that was so used to dining out on Cantonese cuisine.
So when I looked at the Yelp page, and saw that it was a Chinese takeout place with no mention of Vietnamese food on the menu, I was a little heartbroken. This memory I so fondly recalled was also built up on a foundation of inauthenticity.
I scrolled through reviews looking for any sign that they had once served Vietnamese food. But what I found, instead, among the classic Yelp fare of one star reviews, were several mentions about how Golden Buddha was an institution in the area. And again yes, they are a Chinese takeout place. A place whose specialties are the common focus of critique by Chinese people - “It’s not authentic”
But Golden Buddha had and has, it seems, loyal customers. It seems there’s an aura around it, making it one of those places that people drive by and exclaim “Oh I keep meaning to go to that place! It’s been there forever!” And, most importantly, people commenting that their dishes, while sharing the same name as dishes from other places, taste different, and they taste good.
There is a delineation between best and authentic. Both can be subjective, but usually “best” is defined by its subjectiveness, where the subjectiveness as it applies to something being “authentic” is based on regional specificities. And while we praise authenticity in our media, in our politicians, and how and who prepares our cuisine, there is a joy to eating something that’s the best in your memories, even if it isn’t quite the most authentic thing it could be.
So next time you’re in New York City, stop by Bánh Mì Saigon. And next time you’re in Louisville, Kentucky, drive out to Okolona for Golden Buddha. If you tell both places that Evan sent you, they’ll have no idea who you’re talking about. But you’ll be getting some gooood food.
Special thanks to my Mom, Dad, and cousin/roommate Ryan for answering questions about my childhood.
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Honorable Mentions
Too many things happen in a week to just talk about one Woof! Here are some of the other things that made me say Woof this week:
Airport Etiquette
I think airports are one of those things where as a child you’re more amazed and excited about the prospect of being on a plane than you are unaware of the conditions that surround you. Also granted, people around my age started flying post 9/11 where there was a whole new attitude when it came to air travel. Gone are the days of dressing up to go on a flight. Everyone’s just in sweats. And also just the absolute worst.
One particular family that I not only had the pleasure of being stuck behind in TSA but then also was privileged enough to sit next to while waiting for our flight, held up my line for some time, as they slowly unpacked a full N64 and Atari system from their bag after claiming they didn’t know they had to remove electronics from their bag before screening.
Then when we all finally made it to our gate, I witnessed one of the women from the party get a yogurt parfait for her niece (?) and proceed to spill the granola on the floor, not once but thrice. Here’s a blurry picture I got of the scene:
Her family chastised her for dropping all that food on the ground. But no one made any motion to clean it up. In fact, they just kept brushing off granola that spilled onto the chair onto the ground.
I’m sorry that this Woof is just me complaining. Sometimes that’s all a Woof is. You look at a situation, and you truly can do nothing else except throw up your arms and say Woof.
Oh yeah and they didn’t wear masks correctly in the airport.
Woof!
Good Vision
Not to dive too deeply into this, but in New Jersey I spent a lot of time at doctor offices. GP’s, specialists, and of course the eye doctor. Going to the eye doctor is always a drag because my vision always gets a little bit worse, and then I tell them I don’t want them to dilate my eyes because I’m scared to drive back home. (Last time I drove TO the eye doctor’s someone was driving the opposite direction, in my lane, aka TOWARDS ME, in the middle of the day. I’m still scarred!)
However, this time, after many scheduling mishaps, I managed to get to the eye doctor’s AND had the glasses saleswoman adjust my glasses for me. I had never gotten my glasses adjusted so well! They struck the balance of staying in a good spot, while not being too tight.
Then when I arrived back in Los Angeles this week I bent my glasses by stretching on my bed, not realizing my hand was pushing down on my glasses and into my pillow.
If you see me in person and wonder why my glasses might look even more crooked than they normally do, now you know why.
Quote of the Week
Every week I’ll dive back into my Apple Notes where I write down quotes that I’ve heard from friends, Romans, and countrymen in real life, unless otherwise noted.
This week’s quote is from 2019:
Does there have to be a story for everything?
Yes because if there wasn’t I wouldn’t be writing this newsletter at 2AM PST.
That’s all folks!
Thanks for reading this week’s edition of Woof of the Week! Leave a comment because I’d love to hear your thoughts! Some questions I have for you -
Have you had the #1 from Bánh Mì Saigon?
Have I convinced you to get the #1 from Bánh Mì Saigon?
Have you the heart to bring me the #1 from Bánh Mì Saigon?
See you on the next one!
Submit Your Woof!
Got a Woof you want to share? Click below to submit your Woof.
Woofs can be submitted anonymously so even your most secret Woofs are safe to send. And if you’d just like to submit dog pictures you can send those too!
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Upon further reflection, this also might be my last meal request.
There were also a ton of seafood dishes and I still don’t eat seafood ~sorry~
A fun story I usually tell: One time in my heyday of not eating anything, a cousin brought her then boyfriend to a family gathering. He was a “cool” Asian guy, and tried to convince me to eat some food. I wouldn’t budge, and just stuck with my white rice. I’ll never forget what he told me: “Hey man, I get it, that’s cool. I used to be like you. You know what makes white rice better? A spoonful of peanut butter!” Thank God my cousin broke up with that guy.