New Paris Bakery & Café
BBQ Pork Banh Mi
My husband has been wanting to try New Paris for a long time. Then Paul listed it as his favorite "under $10" place in the Foodies Roundtable. It had to be tried.
Stockton Boulevard is easily becoming my favorite ethnic eatery row. You can drive from Broadway south and find an incredible number of interesting-looking restaurants, holes in the wall, and even parking lot BBQ joints. Someone could do a whole series of reviews from one end to the other (without even looking at chain restaurants of course). You go from soul food to Mexican to South Asian in a span of just a mile or two, with plenty of intriguing grocery stores in between. But we were just focused on New Paris in the Pacific Rim Plaza, near 65th Street.
The plaza lives up to its name, with lots of tapioca shops, noodle and pho restaurants, and cell phone stores. New Paris is a large storefront with big glass windows. You order first, they bring your food, and then you pay (I think this is because you'll probably want to order more after the first round!). Banh mi is a Vietnamese specialty sandwich born of the French occupation of that country. Soft, fluffy French baguettes are split and layered with meat and pickled vegetables, including carrots and jalapenos, topped with fresh cilantro, and moistened with mayo. (Also, see my description of pho here, which some historians say is descended from the French soup pot au feu.) Pork is the main choice, whether barbecued, grilled, shredded with skin, meatballed, steamed, or made into headcheese. We chose the barbecued and grilled varieties first.
Grilled Pork Banh Mi
The grilled pork was the better of the two, with really good meaty flavor offset by the sour spiciness of the vegetables. I would easily have paid $5 or $6 for this sandwich but it was incredibly only $1.75!! The bun was just a bit crispy on top and held all the fillings well without getting soggy. My husband went for the ham and headcheese version next ($1.50), which was a little disappointing after the flavor possibilities we imagined. The ham was grayish. Stick with the grilled pork. There were also banh mi specials that were a big vague, but a printed menu lists carrot beef stew and curry chicken as options that I would like to try next.
We also got a really interesting aloe/citrus canned drink (from Thailand) that had yummy pieces of aloe pulp (better than you might expect) and picked up a buttery, flaky, fantastic croissant and a 2-foot baguette at the end, paying less than $10 for the whole lot. I'll bet that the 18 varieties of pho and 22 of bun (vermicelli bowls) on the menu are also worthy choices and well priced at $4.49 to $6.50 for huge portions. It's fast, flavorful, and like a quick trip to another country!
Comments
I really enjoy reading your columns about Sacramento. It sounds as if the dining possibilities are amazingling varied and the price range is remarkable. Tell me, what can you find in a tapioca shop? Your mom
Posted by: Margaret Martin | May 11, 2007 7:11 AM
i've recently added this place as my favorite sandwich shop, although i went looking for crepes. i can't get enough of the grilled chicken banh mi. and at that price it's hard to beat. i haven't ventured from the sandwich yet. one day.
Posted by: les t | June 29, 2007 7:32 PM