http://www.balesandwich.com/

I finally live in a city where Bahn Mi is sold again. Hurrah!

That said I have mixed feelings about this particular bahn mi shop. They have a very wide range of take away items, and if you were so inclined you can actually buy all the components that you need to make bahn mi at home here, from the bread to the pickled veggies and paté and a selection of “meats”. I say “meat” because their selection is restricted to sausagified and forced meats, and that seems to include the “meats” they use on their sandwiches. You know. The kind of meat that comes molded into a tube shape.

We tried three different sandwiches, the lemongrass pork, Vietnamese pork, and pork shrimp cake. We like pork. The sandwiches all tasted slightly alike, and it was a good thing they got my order wrong by forgetting to take the jalapenos out, because all the sandwiches really needed SOMETHING to alleviate the blandness. I paid extra on all three sandwiches for a scanty layer of tasteless paté.

Ok so maybe I don’t have mixed feelings about this place. Maybe I don’t like it at all. But at least it was cheap and had free icy water. I wish I could say I’m eager to give it another shot but I think I’ll just walk up the road and eat at Pho Lily instead. They have bahn mi too and I bet it’s better.

Verdict: So overrated.

Schmoops and I are on a mission to discover at least one great restaurant in Chicago every weekend, and so far we are on a ROLL.

We went to Chicago Q a couple of weeks ago and it completely changed Schmoops’ mind about pickles. He is OK with pickles on burgers etc but has never understood how some people can just eat pickles by themselves. Well now he does, and he has joined our ranks, scarfing down at least half the bowl of complimentary bread and butter pickles they laid out for us. I really like the complimentary bbq chips and pickles, which are useful if you’re dining alone (or you’re trying to save some money) and only get one main course, it lends variety to the meal.

We had a full rack of St. Louis style ribs for our main course, which we chose over the baby backs for the sole reason that they cost 2 dollars less. Plus most of the stuff we looked up online about the great St. Louis vs baby back debate made it sound like St. Louis ribs are better. They take longer to cook, but since we’re eating out, who cares. The ribs come with four sauces, which is fantastic. The ribs were delicious and succulent even  eaten plain, which is notable.

Our side dishes were somewhat disappointing. I ate my first fried green tomato and didn’t think much of it. The crust was definitely fried very well, but the flavor of the tomato itself was nothing special. The bacon cheddar hush puppies were a letdown, although the chipotle mayo sauce they came with was good. The hush puppies themselves didn’t have a great texture, they were too dense. There wasn’t much bacon cheddar flavor to them either. We chose poblano corn bread to go with our ribs, and that was pretty good. Probably should have gotten honey butter corn bread instead, since the small dollop of honey butter on top of the corn bread was the best part.

We will definitely come back here though, and try some different side dishes with our delectable ribs and pickles. Service was great, and when our server noticed how much we liked the pickles and chips he packed some extra for us to take home. I accidentally heated up the potato chips in the oven the next day and they were even better than they were the night before.

Verdict: Good stuff.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pho-Lily/178121252237558

http://www.yelp.com/biz/pho-lily-chicago

At the time of this review Pho Lily has four stars on Yelp, but I devoutly believe they deserve five. I think that Pho Lily is a poor victim of the Subway Proximity Syndrome, whereby people searching out good Vietnamese food hop on the Red Line, get off at Argyle, and walk into the first decent pho joint they see — the far inferior Tank Noodle, which as of now has about seven times as many reviews as Pho Lily on Yelp. Tank Noodle is … adequate … but if people would walk two more minutes up Broadway they would discover something fantastic.

The decor is nicer, the prices for the same dishes are 1-2 dollars lower. The pho broth is tastier and the meats are too. Plus there was so much more meat to go around. At Tank Noodle I had to hoard my meats to make them last through the bowl of pho, at Pho Lily I actually couldn’t finish all the (freaking delicious char broiled) pork that came with my vermicelli noodles. And that nuoc cham sauce that goes over the vermicelli was the best I’ve ever had. I was impressed with the quality of the tendon at Tank Noodle, but Pho Lily’s was just as good.

The best part of the meal was something I ordered by mistake. We wanted to try their Bahn Mi, so I ordered something that was in the Bahn Mi section of the menu … that turned out not to be Bahn Mi, but was even better, because apparently that is possible. It was Banh Mi Bo Kho: vietnamese beef stew with bread. I’ve often complained that the french rolls Vietnamese restaurants typically use for Bahn Mi cut my mouth up even as I gobble them up, but this roll of bread suffered from a serious case of perfection.

Seriously, Schmoops and I have spent time fantasizing about the perfect roll of french bread before and this was it. A paper thin layer of crispy crackly crust enveloping uniformly fluffy white softness, that holds its own in taste and texture even when dipped into hot flavorful liquids. It was even served warm, which is a courtesy some much pricier restaurants fail to afford their guests. I dipped that bread into that stew, redolent of beef with the sweetness and tanginess of tomato and god knows what magical Vietnamese spices, and that was the last thing I remember before I discovered I had licked the bowl clean. Don’t even get me started on those delicious juicy meatballs in the stew.

And the whole meal cost less than $20.

Verdict: Heaven.