I had lunch near home today at Baoguette/Pho Sure, which is located at 120 Christopher St in the West Village.  They are listed in our Honorary Street Food category, which are storefronts with little or no seating serving what is generally considered to be street food in their home country.

Today’s Lunch is a sloppy bao ($7), and since I have no self control, I also ordered a chicken summer roll ($6).

A sloppy bao is basically a cross between banh mi and sloppy joe – spicy ground beef in a red curry sauce with jalapenos, cilantro and basil.  The sandwich is topped with jullienned mango, which offsets the spiciness of the meat perfectly. This was a great sandwich!

One thing they do differently here is to take the bread out of the top of the roll, effectively hollowing it out.  This leaves more room for the meat and mango fillings, and also makes it neater to eat.  Great idea!

For the chicken summer rolls, there were two, which were cut in half, making four large pieces.  This could have been a lunch by itself for someone with a smaller appetite than me.  With the sloppy bao, this was a big lunch.

The chicken rolls had thin rice noodles, bean sprouts, mint leaves and chicken wrapped tightly inside cellophane rice wrappers.  The rolls came with ground peanuts and a peanut dipping sauce.

The chicken summer rolls were leafy and delicious.  The mint leaves and rice noodles gave them a very fresh taste, and the peanut dipping sauce added even more deliciousness.

Today’s Lunch was very enjoyable.  The sloppy bao was spicy, meaty and even a little sweet and fruity with the julienned mango.  The chicken summer rolls were tasty and significantly lighter than the sandwich.

We definitely recommend Baoguette/Pho Sure for some delicious Honorary Street Food.

I happened to be near home for lunch and decided to go back to Baoguette/Pho Sure at 120 Christopher Street (between Bleecker and Bedford), a member of our Honorary Street Food category.

Last time I had a Classic Banh Mi sandwich that was tasty, but a little messy.  For Today’s Lunch, I decided to go for the Spicy Catfish Banh Mi ($7).

This banh mi was somewhat different from the classic banh mi, in that it didn’t have pate, pickled daikon or carrots.  What it did have was plenty of catfish on a baguette with cucumber relish, pickled red onions, fresh cilantro (including stalks) and a sriracha honey mustard sauce.

Sometimes catfish can be very fishy tasting, but this sandwich was not overly fishy tasting at all.  I don’t have catfish all that often, but this was some of the mildest catfish I can remember.  Perhaps the sauce it was cooked in helped.

The cucumber relish gave the sandwich a crunchy and refreshing sweetness that nicely offset the bite of the pickled red onions and sriracha honey mustard sauce. The cilantro also came through pretty strongly, since the stalks were included as well as the leaves.

You can get the sandwich mild, medium or hot, and I asked for medium.  The hot comes with jalapeno in addition to the sriracha sauce, and the mild doesn’t have sriracha sauce or jalapenos.  There was some heat in the medium, but I would have enjoyed more.  Next time I’ll go for the spicy.

The bread was really good too.  They take some of the soft insides out of the baguette and lightly toast it before putting the filling in.  This gives the baguette a crunchiness, and also makes the sandwich less bready.

I really enjoyed Today’s Lunch, and would definitely get it again.  As far as value, banh mi can be had for around$4 in Chinatown, but I was in the West Village where $7 is considered a decent price for lunch.  I would like to try their pho too one day.

Check out the Baoguette website and full menu here.  The Christopher St location is not listed on their website, but all the locations are included on the takeout menu I got from there.

I was in the West Village around lunch today and remembered that Baoguette/Pho Sure has a location at 120 Christopher Street (between Bleecker and Bedford).

With the weather being cold and windy, an Honorary Street Food lunch seemed like a good idea – that is, a storefront or small restaurant with few or no tables that serve what is commonly considered street food in their country of origin.

The pho was tempting, but I decided to go with banh mi instead.  Today’s Lunch is the Classic Banh Mi ($6) from Baoguette/Pho Sure in the West Village.

The Classic Banh Mi had pate, pork, pickled daikon & carrots, cucumber and cilantro.  The first bite tasted of cilantro and pate, and was wonderful.  Growing up on chopped liver, I got into pate pretty easily, and did not have to develop a taste for it.

Subsequent bites on the banh mi emphasized the pickled daikon and carrots.  The sandwich was juicy, although it was a little bit messy.

The bread was just right, crunchy on the outside but soft inside.

Today’s Lunch gets an 8 out of 10.  Even though banh mi can be had for $3-$4 in Chinatown, I was in the West Village, and $6 is considered a decent price for lunch.  Next time I will probably go for the pho, but I was happy with the classic banh mi sandwich at Baoguette.

It’s been a while since I had banh mi for lunch, so I headed over to Baoguette in Murray Hill at 61 Lexington Ave between 25th & 26th St.  Last time, at the West Village location, I had the Classic Baoguette and wanted to try something new.  Today’s Lunch was the BBQ chicken sandwich.

The Baoguette on Christopher Street that I went to last time had around 6 or 7 tables and some counter seats, but this one in Murray Hill only had about 10 stools at a counter and no tables – a true Honorary Street Food establishment.

This banh mi had shredded carrot, whole cilantro stalks, pickled daikon, sliced cucumber, and garlic aioli.  The BBQ chicken was mainly pieces of dark meat with a light BBQ flavor – tasty, but certainly not heavily marinated or sauced. The bread was nice, with a light crunch on the outside and soft on the inside.  It got a little crushed on my trip back to the office, but that didn’t affect the taste, only the photo above.

Maybe it’s my New York upbringing, but I would have liked more meat on the sandwich.  I grew up on Jewish deli, where the pastrami and corned beef sandwiches are huge.  Meat in Asian meals is often more of a complement than the main course, and that was the case here.  Everything tasted good, but the bites were mainly carrots and cilantro with some chicken included.  The heat level was good – when I asked for medium spicy, it was definitely spicy.

All in all, Today’s Lunch was an 8 out of 10.  The food was good, but there was a little too much cilantro (several whole stalks) and not enough chicken, but the heat was spot on.

I’ll certainly go back and try some other things, especially since I live near the Baoguette/Pho Sure on Christopher Street.  Their soups may be up next, if I can get back there while there’s still a chill in the air.

Today’s Lunch is the Classic Banh Mi from the Baoguette in the West Village, located at 120 Christopher Street (between Bleecker and Bedford).  Baoguette is in our Honorary Street Food category, which are storefronts or small restaurants with few or no tables that serve what is commonly considered street food in their country of origin.

The Classic Banh Mi had pate, pork, pickled daikon & carrots, cucumber and cilantro.  The first bite tasted of cilantro and pate, and was wonderful.  Subsequent bites emphasized the pickled daikon and carrots.  The sandwich was juicy and a bit messy.  The bread was just right, crunchy on the outside but soft inside.

All-in-all, an excellent choice for Today’s Lunch, and at $6, it was a pretty good deal.  We know banh mi can be had for $3-$4 in Chinatown, but in the West Village and Midtown, it’s a good deal.

The long-awaited Financial District outpost of Baoguette is now open at 9 Maiden Lane, between Broadway and Nassau Street.  For those of you familiar with the area, it’s in the former Klatch coffee space.

Although Baoguette is a storefront rather than a food truck or street cart, it is included in New York Street Food under Honorary Street Food, which are small storefronts with little or no seating that serve what is generally considered to be street food in their home country.  Banh mi, mmmm!

Thank you Eater NY for the opening tipoff.

Baoguette

There are great places to get street food that are not trucks or carts.  I’m starting a new section called Honorary Street Food for storefronts with little or no seating that serve food considered to be street food.    We want to support all street food vendors, whether they serve from a truck, a cart, or a tiny storefront.

Please send me your favorites so they can be included here.