Midtown Lunch

I’ve eaten at Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches a couple of times for a banh mi and to try the pho but recently realized that I’d never had their classic sandwich featuring the holy trinity of crumbled pork, pate and cold cut. It just so happened that the next day was miserably rainy and I didn’t want to venture more than a couple of blocks for lunch, so Nicky’s sounded perfect. It was time to see how three varieties of pork stacked up against the pork chop sandwich I’d eaten on my first visit there.

The prices have gone up a little bit since the shop opened in December. A classic banh mi will now set you back $6, up 50 cents from earlier in the year and a bowl of pho costs $9 instead of $8.

After my first bite I knew the classic sandwich was not only worth a slight price increase, but that it was also way better than the pork chop model of banh mi. Some have complained that the sandwiches here are too small but even after the slight price hike, $6 is damn cheap considering they have rent to pay.

It was a pork party in my mouth, although honestly all I could really taste was the crumbly pig at the bottom, and the vast amount of pickled carrot. There was only a little bit of cilantro, and also one or two pieces of jalapeno since I had asked for mine spicy (which it really wasn’t) but they took a backseat to the meat. While I wished I had squirted some sriracha on before leaving the shop, there was enough going on flavor-wise to make me forget this sandwich wasn’t spicy.

I’m still undecided if this knocks the catfish banh mi from Baoguette off the top of “my favorite banh mi in the Financial District” pedestal, but it’s close.

Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches, 99 Nassau St., Ste. C (btw. Fulton & Ann), (212) 766-3388