PrintRaising the Bar: Banh Mi at Terroir?
"Perhaps there's a reason banh mi was spelled wrong."
[Photos: Tia Kim]
It seems the Banh Mi craze has finally reached Terroir, the tiny wine bar in the East Village that Ed reviewed early last year. This weekend, I was perusing the menu and saw the Bahn Mi Italiano with Pork Terrine, Mortadella, and Pickled Vegetables ($11). Besides the fact that banh mi was spelled wrong (it's banh, not bahn), I wasn't too annoyed. I've eaten stranger things. So as odd as it sounds, I ordered an Italian banh mi panino.
Terroir's banh mi is served on Sullivan Street Bakery flauto bread, which isn't authentic (this is an Italian banh mi after all), but crusty and chewy, it works great for a panino. The substitution of mortadella for the Vietnamese bologna/pork roll also worked, but their house-made terrine, which is nice on its own, lacked the wonderful funkiness of Vietnamese head cheese and pâté. In addition, the pickled vegetables (peppers, cucumbers, haricot verts) were tasty, but were milder and definitely not as plentiful as the pickled daikon and carrots normally found in a banh mi. Bibb lettuce provided some more vegetal matter, but I found it unnecessary and also a bit sandy. (It may have a been a bad day for prep, my salad of bibb lettuce was also sandy.) I would have liked more pickled vegetables instead.
Sorely missing, however, were two of my favorite ingredients in a Vietnamese sandwich, sweet barbecued pork and spicy fresh peppers. In fact, the heat element was completely nonexistent, and in general, so was the explosion of flavors (sour, sweet, spicy, and savory) I normally associate with a banh mi. That said, the Bahn Mi Italiano is a damn good sandwich, besides the sandy bibb lettuce; it's just not a banh mi. Perhaps there's a reason banh mi was spelled wrong.
Where Terroir shines though is in their impressive list of Rieslings. I ordered a Riesling at the beginning of the meal thinking it would be perfect with a spicy sandwich. Of course the panino didn't end up being spicy, but I requested a dry Riesling anyway. The waiter's suggestion of the Tasmanian Tamar Ridge, 2004 ($6 before 6pm) was just what I wanted, light with a slightly sharp sweetness at the end. No spicy sandwich needed. An Italian panino was enough.
Terroir
413 East 12th Street, New York NY 10009 (b/n 1st Ave and Ave A; map)
646-602-1300
wineisterroir.com
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7 Comments:
So basically it's a banh mi in name only but still good? I think I'd miss the spiciness. Still, good find. Thanks, Tia!
Adam Kuban at 1:10PM on 10/29/09
FAIL. The price point alone is a failure. I won't even go into other fails.
dgl440 at 2:20PM on 10/29/09
@Adam - Yeah, it's quite misleading when you see it on the menu. It should be called, "Banh Mi Not."
@dgl440 - I think they set themselves up for failure by calling it a "Banh Mi Italiano." Especially when they're in the East Village and Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches is a few blocks away.
Tia Kim at 2:48PM on 10/29/09
lol. "banh mi not." So classic! I agree, it is so not a bahn mi. Also, one of my biggest peeves is mis-spelled menu items. I love bahn mis and I must say, I will definitely not be trying an italian bahn mi.
sherrypie at 3:12PM on 10/29/09
Reminds me of a another wannabanh mi: the one at Blind Tiger Ale House.
Joe DiStefano at 8:19PM on 10/29/09
I've been seeing a number of these "fancified" (or re-interpreted) banh mis pop up, what with the growing popularity of Asian sandwiches - kind of like the sudden explosion of $11+ Cubanos that happened a few years ago. And just like that epidemic of Cuba-fauxs, I expect to be disappointed in 90% of them - either because they're identical to sandwiches one can get mere blocks away for half the price, or because they wander a bit too far in their attempts to re-interpret, and wind up missing out on what made the original idea so special to begin with.
But the real question is: is it worth $11? Given that from the looks of it there's only half the meat you might get at Nicky's or Baoguette, I'm tempted to say I'm not gonna bother finding out.
sanhedrin at 11:19AM on 10/30/09
@sherrypie - Misspelled menu items sometimes crack me up. Cellphone noodles instead of cellophane noodles was a recent good one.
@Joe DiStefano - That roll just seems so wrong.
@sanhedrin - Was is worth it? Not if you go expecting a banh mi. Definitely not.
Tia Kim at 1:58AM on 11/02/09