Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Tam Deli's lovely banh mi

andy and I spent an afternoon on the north end of Austin exploring. I’d heard tell of Tam Deli and darn near insisted we seek it out. That became much more of a hard sell after iphone lead us astray and we ended up on a dead-end, pot-hole ridden street surrounded by dilapidated trailers and stray dogs. luckily we doubled back and spotted it tucked away in a non-descript strip mall.

upon entering, we already knew what we were having pretty much. it was a nice surprise to see a rather lengthy menu of options that proved this wasn’t just a sandwich shop but more of an earnest Vietnamese café. we split 2 banh mi sammies, the lemongrass beef and the bbq pork, and couldn’t resist trying the shrimp and yam fritters.

the sandwiches were a bit smaller than I’m used, barely pushing 8 inches. but they definitely brought the goods. veggies did their crunchy, tangy trick…bread was crusty and chewy.



the juice and marinade from the lemongrass beef seeped into the bread and added a nice, moist complement to the asian mayo. hands down the bbq pork was the more perfect sandwich, which speaks to the quality of the meat considering all other ingredients were held constant. the texture was firm but not tough, the pieces were well chopped, in strips not logs, and the flavor was just charred enough.


although the fritters were unlike my great-grandma‘s hoe cakes and cornbread fritters in composition, I wasn’t disappointed. These non-pancakes were expertly fried; the crunchy nests of batter dotted with tiny chunks of yam and miniature shell-on shrimp.


the cheap and cheerful meal makes me lament it’s a bit of a haul to Tam Deli. but if that banh mi recipe from Bon Appetit that I stumbled upon tastes as awesome as it sounds, I won’t even have to leave the house for one…

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