Truly Cheap Eats: Discovery of the Weekend--There's A Banh Mí Place On Christopher!

Note to self: Don't always walk down the same side of the street.

For whatever reason I usually walk on the north side of Christopher Street west of Bleecker, past the Lucille Lortel, McNulty's Tea and Coffee Co., etc. But yesterday, I had to walk down the south side of Christopher Street to meet a friend, and lo, what did I discover? A banh mí/pho shop, kind of hilariously named Baoguette/Pho Sure. It's part of a mini-chain, and apparently this branch has been there for a year (even though it's not on the website?? Perhaps we were misinformed?).

I was immediately hungry.

So, my friend and I popped in and we split their classic straight-up pork banh mí ($6). Perfectly refreshing and delicious, this is my new go-to cheap eat in the West Village. While my favorite version of Vietnamese sandwich bliss remains Banh Mí Saigon Bakery (I still need to go check out their new home), Baoguette's slightly different approach makes the comparison sort of apples and oranges: Where Saigon uses green papaya salad encased in some weird but wonderful mystery meat to top their perfectly-spiced pork, Baoguette uses crunchy marinated daikon, some aromatic herbs, and a kickin' spicy sauce (the medium-spicy had quite the bite--and that's sayin' a lot for me). The pork is fairly different, but still wonderfully flavorful.

I was happy, and apparently my friend was too--he went back for dinner! It sure does pay to walk off the beaten path...