Midtown Lunch

A little over a month ago, we spotted the Paris Sandwich Banh Mi Truck making its rounds through Midtown. Although we were excited to have some new Banh Mi options in town, we were immediately hit with disappointment that there was no pork Banh Mi on the menu at all. What’s a Banh Mi without the pork?!

Despite pork being left off the menu, I recently caught up with the truck at 47th and Park, and after the bad things Lunch’er “vinegarhill” had to say about his Curry beef Banh Mi in the comments, I decided to go for the Canh Chua Fish Baguette!

Now that summer is here and all I want to eat are seafood rolls, the Canh Chua fish baguette satisfied my craving for a fried seafood sandwich. It’s a good sized baguette, though not packed to the brim, and features a fish fillet drizzled in tamarind sauce, topped with pineapples, tomatoes, fresh basil, and garlic crisps.

The baguette was actually adapted from what Canh Chua actually is: a sour soup with a tamarind-based broth, containing fish, pineapples, tomatoes, and herb garnishes. The tamarind sauce spread generously on the baguette as well as on all the toppings is a sweet, with a touch of sourness to it. It reminded me of a balsamic glaze you’d find in a tomato, basil, mozzarella sandwich, and really pulled the whole sandwich together. The fish filet was lightly fried, which was nice for a fried seafood sandwich, as you were actually getting fish meat with every bite, not batter. There was also some crunch coming through from the garlic crisps.

As you can see, the sandwich also had tomato and thai basil, but the pineapples were no where to be found! Not sure what happened there, but the sandwich was still somewhat sweet from the tamarind sauce. Otherwise, the baguette, which Paris Sandwiches takes great pride in making from their hearth fired oven, held up pretty well against the sauce and didn’t get soggy at all.

All in all, I was more than satisfied with my fish baguette, and found it to be somewhere between a Banh Mi and the summer seafood rolls I’ve come to love. It kills me to pay $8 for a Banh Mi, even if it is a fish Banh Mi and it is Midtown, but knowing that the seafood is good, I’ll probably go back for the Spicy Shrimp Baguette.

Paris Sandwich Truck, Check FB for Locations