Finding Vietnam in Dorchester: Boston’s Best Banh Mi?

There are some corners of Boston that I don’t often explore – they lie like stark question marks on MBTA maps with line colors and station names that are as exotic as Tosci’s curry apple ice cream.

So when the literal fork in the road came up as Lipoff (of Chowhound contributor fame) steered the wheel of his Peugeot one Saturday afternooon, I decided to go with a bit of gritty urban color over a sweet suburban afternoon. Dorchester it was.

Banh mi is like a cultural and historical study packaged as a sandwich and wrapped in French bread colonialism. It typically contains some kind of protein – cold cuts, pork pate, BBQ beef, sardines, etc. – along with slivered cucumbers, bean sprouts, pickled carrots, daikon, cilantro, fish paste, chili peppers, and mayo, all on a halved crusty French baguette.

It’s also dirt cheap. At New Saigon in Chinatown, I remember they were around $3. At Ban Le in Dorchester, Lipoff’s first stop (after we feverishly consulted our respective smartphones for recs for the best), they were a mere two dollars and three quarters. In deliciousness per dollar terms, that’s a mathematically impossible to reproduce ratio.

Basil seed drink - looks like millions of fish eggs...

There was no seating inside, just a glass-paneled counter, dry goods packed high in cardboard boxes, and a somewhat-suspect looking hot buffet. Lipoff decided to throw in a basil seed drink, and the woman behind the counter composed our meal in slow, deceptively simple strokes – a smear of yellow (butter? mayo?), cilantro, beef, a squirt of sauce, the usual accoutrements. Then she wrapped it in wax paper, secured it in a red rubber band, and sent us on our merry way.

We hunkered down in the car and whipped out our cameras.

Lipoff is as equally excitable as I am about food, and even more enthusiastic. We are equally complementary as dinner partners as cultural self-descriptions: he is an egg, and I am a banana.

The consensus on the Ban Le: friggin’ delicious.

The crusty French bread enveloped fresh, crunchy vegetables, deepened by the slighty-sweet chew of BBQ beef and laced with a zip of spice and cilantro. Warming  up the beef and the bread a bit would have made it even better, but even so, orgasmic in how every element and flavor – sweet, salty, savory, crunchy, soft, spicy – worked together.

Ban Le banh mi, sitting pretty

I left a bunch of crumbs in the car.

So how do you get to sandwich nirvana?

If you take the Ashmont-bound Red Line train to Fields Corner, you’ll be dropped off in a neighborhood that seems rather unlikely. Due to a highly concentration of Vietnamese, walk up and down the street to see nothing but restaurants full of pho-slurping locals and groceries stocked with glutinous rice snacks and chili paste.

“How does this place exist?” I asked in awe. My wonder was confirmed when I saw a rare sight: a pay phone in 2010.

Since my iPhone was stolen, I kind of wish these were still around.

geological cross section of sardine banh mi

Then it was off to King Do to try another round of banh mi. We decided to give sardine a try, since it was neither pork nor shellfish (Lipoff is kosher) and it seemed like the most exotic option.

Less success. The sardines were cold, mushy, flat, and tasted like they came straight from the tin. Extra cilantro perked things up a bit, but things just weren’t quite as crunchy or revelatory as our last sandwich. I blame part of it on poor selection – clearly, sardine might not have been the best choice.

Finally, the last stop was a bit of warm liquid to soothe our wind-battered souls. A big bowl of pho had to cure Bostonian ills. Pho 2000 served us a decent, gargantuan bowl of soup that I quickly laced with plenty of Sriracha, basil leaves, and lime juice.

a platter of accessories

surface tension

After toying with the cameras a bit more, I buttoned up my jacket and hit the cold winds again. How had I lived for so long without knowing the wonders of east-meets-west fast food? Hopefully, you don’t do the same.

For students, keep in mind this is truly dirt cheap: two giant sandwiches plus an enormous bowl of pho came out to less than $7 per person.

Where’s your favorite banh mi?

Photos courtesy of Lipoff’s much better camera

Find it!

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Banh Mi Ban Le

1052 Dorchester Ave
(between St William St & Pearl St)
Dorchester, MA 02125
(617) 265-7171

King Do Baguette and Pastry

1225 Dorchester Ave
(between Greenmount St & Dewar St)
Dorchester, MA 02125

Pho 2000

198 Adams Street
Dorchester, MA 02122
(617) 436-1908