Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
It’s been almost five years since I surveyed the city’s banh mi. Back then, when the availability of these miraculous products of French Indochinese colonization were mostly limited to opposite ends of Little Saigon, I fantasized an ideal world where the economical and delicious sandwiches could be had in every neighborhood. Since then little has changed, with the exception of Ravenswood’s Nhu Lan Bakery, which now sets the city standard and makes a sandwich worth risking your life for, and the occasional appearance of Ba Le sandwiches at Farmstand.
The bread is key. Since Bon Bon’s comes from Nhu Lan, half the battle should be won–I’ve never had a Nhu Lan sandwich whose oven-warmed crust wasn’t crackly crisp and whose crumb wasn’t lighter than air. But Vietnamese baguettes have a short shelf life, and by the time they’re passed over the counters at Bon Bon they’ve gone soft and spongy. But short of baking their own bread, I’m not sure what those folks could be expected to do about that.
