My favorite heroes are the fruits of colonialism. France once made Vietnam its personal playground, and after Frenchmen went oui oui oiu, all the way home, they left behind predilections for stiff coffee and crusty baguettes.
Crafty locals replicated the bread with rice and wheat flour, producing a crispy crust and cashmere-soft insides. Banh mi—as the sandwiches are dubbed—are equally fashioned from contrasts: Baguettes are painted with rich butter, filled with pâté and anise-imbued baked pork (or any animal that moos, clucks or breathes water), topped with cool pickled radishes and carrots, copious cilantro and spicy chiles. The banh mi is a tongue TKO that’s now doled out everywhere from the meatpacking district to Little India.
Still, I prefer biking to Sunset Park’s brightly lit southern storefront. Ba Xuyên’s setup is pleasingly simple, as well as illiterate-friendly: Eight toasted sandwich offerings are displayed via color transparencies, à la Burger King. My knees weaken for the No. 3, the shredded pork ($3). It offers tender, torn pork bits, a sandwich that could slide into a menu of a southern smokehouse. But the real whopper is the No. 4: the meatball ($3).
This is no rehashed Italian hero: Soft golf balls of pork and onion are topped with fresh ground pepper, then dressed with a dash of fish sauce. Order it extra-spicy (Ba Xuyên stints on jalapeños and chili sauce), then quench the burn with a fresh jackfruit milkshake ($2.50). They’ll occupy your stomach far better than the French did ’nam. (Joshua M. Bernstein)
4222 8th Ave. (at 42nd St.) Sunset Park, B’klyn, 718-633-6601.
