Midtown Lunch » Baoguette

Baoguette Rumormongering

Zach Brooks — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 18:15:52 +0000

Last month Michael “Bao” Huynh hinted to Eater that plans were in the works for a major Baoguette expansion… and according to a tipster, 3 of those will be in Midtown. One on 41st (btw Lex+3rd), one on 53rd & Lex, and one across from Ma Peche. Not sure if this is in addition to the one planned for GCT, but either way it seems too crazy to be true. (Even for Michael Huynh.)

Baoguette Wins Lunch’er Organized “Banh-Mi-Palooza”

The ML Team — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:30:15 +0000

Last week Lunch’er Christene floated the idea of a banh mi tasting in the connections section of the forums. Yesterday 7 Midtown Lunchers gathered in Grand Central to turn her dream into a reality. Here is Christene’s report…

With open minds and empty stomach, 7 Midtown lunchers gathered to rate 7 different banh mi-style sandwiches in a head-to-head competition. To ensure nuance and balance in the competition, representative banh mi’s were to include Chinatown (Paris Sandwich, Banh Mi Saigon), East Village (Nicky’s), Gramercy (Baoguette) and, of course, Midtown (Ma Peche, Yushi, and Boi To Go). We rated the sandwiches with 5 points assigned to each of 6 categories: bread, pork, vegetables, overall taste, authenticity and value. To ensure purveyors and/or price-point did not prejudice the taste ratings, we labeled sandwiches A-G and provided price on the flip side of post-its, so that tasters could self-reveal price after eating the sample and thus rate value independently.

The results are after the jump…

Baoguette won hands down with 5 #1 rankings overall and the highest overall points. Banh Mi Saigon and Boi To Go each had one #1 ranking, and Banh Mi Saigon had the second highest overall points. The Ma Peche banh mi maison chicken banh mi rated lowest in all categories, particularly far below others in overall taste, authenticity and value. (Although in fairness, how can chicken ever beat pork?)

THE CAVEAT

In the end Nicky’s could not be included because they are closed for renovation – neither posting the information on their website nor answering the phone when present but not serving provided extra disappointment. Thus, the 7th sandwich was the Ma Peche chicken banh mi, which we rated alongside the others, though calling it banh may be questionable.

OVERALL GROUP COMMENTS

Baoguette was the group favorite with a flavorful variety of pork, nice quality bread, and good balance of flavors and textures. Baoguette earned the highest ranking in all categories, including overall taste. Expectedly, only Chinatown banh mi’s rated higher in value. Baoguette at $5 plus tax (compared to $3.75 lowest price, and $10 plus tax highest price), provided the best value banh mi outside of Chinatown.

Ma Peche’s banh mi maison chicken banh mi rated the lowest. The bread is a nice quality French baguette, but the sandwich struck us as plain, which is different from simple and certainly not descriptive of a well-made banh mi, as well as unappealing. Though asterisking the entrant due to not being pork, we unilaterally liked the flavor of the Ma Peche chicken banh mi, which rated second in the *pork* category, second only to Baoguette. Plus, we gorged ourselves on the gorgeous Ma Peche deserts, so to some that might be reason enough to eat their chicken sandwich. UPDATE: The letters got mixed up. The banh mi maison was universally liked from a flavor standpoint, and rated 2nd only to Baoguette in porkiness (makes sense). But it ended up in 5 place, probably because of the price.

Yushi rated the overall second lowest. Of their 3 pork products, they include “barbequed” pork slathered in hoisin sauce. Though none of us dislike hoisin sauce itself, it masks all the other flavors and makes the sandwich too saucy and mushy. Add to that the soft, untoasted bread, and for the expectation of banh mi sandwich, the experience is not pleasant.

Banh Mi Saigon and Paris Sandwich took the second and third overall ratings and first and second value ratings, in that order, with Banh Mi Saigon edging out Paris Sandwich by a very slim margin. As reviewed before, Paris Sandwich wins on bread and Banh Mi Saigon wins on filling (pork and vegetables), though some may find the Banh Mi Saigon fillings too sweet.

Boi To Go ranked #4 overall, and as Yelp and other reviewers suggest, it is the most controversial. Among the Midtownlunch.com crowd, it had the highest variation in points. The flavor of the pork is very distinctive with a strong flavor (perhaps anise?) – which some intensely like and some intensely dislike. Quite simply, if you don’t mind experimenting with $8, you’d have to try it yourself to decide.

SUMMARY

Overall points ranking:

1 – Baoguette (5), Multiple Locations (link)
2 – Saigon Banh Mi (1), 138 Mott St (btw Grand St & Hester St), 212-941-1541
3 – Paris Sandwich, 213 Grand St.
4 – Boi To Go (1), Two Locations (link)
5 – Ma Peche Chicken Pork (link)
6 – Yushi, 245 Park Avenue (on 47th btw. Lex+Park), 212-687-1900
7 – Ma Peche Pork Chicken (link)

Number of #1 Rankings in (parenthesis)

For more photos, and a complete report from one judges point of view check out Feisty Foodie.

O Bao Delayed A Week; Baoguette Coming to GCT

Zach Brooks — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:30:10 +0000

The Michael “Baoguette” Huynh train continues to plow across New York City. O Bao, his Pan-Asian noodle shop moving into the old Bunchberries space on 53rd btw. 2+3rd, was supposed to open yesterday but it’s been pushed back to next Monday, 11/9 (apparently there is something about Mondays being a lucky day.) It will be the first of four spots he’ll open in four weeks (the rest all are Downtown.) But that’s the not the end of the “Huynhews”. He told me yesterday that there are plans to open a Baoguette in the Grand Central Terminal food court (on 42nd and Park). Now we won’t have to walk all the way to 25th and Lex for a top notch banh mi (sorry Boi Sandwich, but you just can’t compete with these guys.) No date has been set for that opening, but he said that putting anything in Grand Central “takes a long time”. [Photo courtesy of Eater]

Most Things at O Bao Noodles & Grill Will be Under $10

Zach Brooks — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:15:31 +0000

More on O Bao from Michael Huynh himself: “We [will] have pad thai, pad see ew, but we make it better. We’ve also got Singapore noodles, which I make with black soba; it’s better than the original one with vermicelli… Most things will be under $10. We’ll open in the beginning of September, maybe the 15th.” This is sounding better and better.

Midtown Proper is Finally Getting a Bao-Something

Zach Brooks — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:15:18 +0000

Sure, there is a Baoguette on Lexington btw. 25+26th that is worth walking out of your way to. But I always hoped we’d get a branch a little closer to Midtown proper. Well, my dreams of a closer Baoguette have not been completely answered- but this is pretty damn close (and arguably even better!) Eater is reporting that Chef Michael Huynh is planning on opening O Bao Noodles and Grill on 53rd St. btw. 2+3rd in October. (I’m thinking maybe it’s going to be in the old Bunchberries space?) It will focus on “grilled and barbecued Vietnamese food and a slew of International noodle offerings from China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand.” Between this and the new Midtown Momofuku, the end of the year could make my head explode with excitement.

Baoguette Planning Two More Midtown Locations

Zach Brooks — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:15:54 +0000

Back in March, we urged Baoguette to expand into Midtown proper, and it looks like they might be taking our advice. via Always Hungry’s twitter: “Apparently two more baoguettes are opening in midtown – straight from the guys at the original lex location.”