banh me, banh my

Reading: banh me, banh my

banh me, banh my

Classic banh mi from Street Hero at the Charleston Farmer’s Market

While picking up our weekly veg at the Charleston Farmer’s Market the other day, we stopped by Street Hero for a second breakfast of banh mi. The iconic Vietnamese anytime, anywhere sandwich was the perfect mid-morning nosh for the hubby and me. These days, there’s no distinction for us between weekdays and weekends; the call of the Gravy Baby can be as early as 5:00 am, and so by 6:00 we’re ravenously hungry even though no person in their right mind would be up brunching at that hour. It’s only natural, then, that we eat like hobbits.

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We had a lovely chat with the owner, Jason, who told us he was inspired to bring banh mi to Charleston after his time living in Washington, DC and hanging out in the Asian enclaves of Northern Virginia. I’m no stranger to those neighborhoods myself, having fallen in love — hard — with a little Korean place called Yechon. It was nice to meet a kindred spirit who’d actually taken his love of banh mi and come home to make it down South. Having spent time both working and re-visiting Vietnam, I’d call these banh mi pretty close to the real deal, especially the classic version I had with Vietnamese pate.

As a sidenote, it’s so nice to see the proliferation of Asian food here in my home state. I can still vividly remember my childhood days and packing my mom and dad’s homemade dumplings for lunch, only to be ridiculed/mocked/gawked at because I didn’t have a white bread sandwich and bologna like everyone else.

Oh, to be a kid today. I’d make my mom pack a banh mi every day.