![\"banh](\"http:\/\/kitchen.wasteofbytes.com\/images\/cafeaulait1403.jpg\")
\n…we waited 45 minutes for this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll put the tl;dr up front here: We got banh mi from Caf\u00c3\u00a9 Au Lait, a nice little eating space tucked into an office building on Ridge Road. The banh mi were tasty, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re buy-5-get-1-free. But if we want banh mi again, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll call in the order well ahead of time, because it was the longest I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever waited for sandwiches.<\/p>\n
So I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if Caf\u00c3\u00a9 Au Lait is usually slammed on Saturdays for lunch hour, but it was certainly slammed this past Saturday. We dropped by to order sandwiches for the family: five banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches). Then the nice young man at the counter told us that banh mi were buy-5-get-1-free; would we like to order one more? We were more than happy to do so.<\/p>\n
The young man at the counter told us that the kitchen had a lot of orders to deal with and that it would probably be a half-hour wait; would we like to go away and come back?<\/p>\n
We were a bit surprised, as our previous experience with banh mi was with the Lee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sandwiches chain in southern California, where the time to get a banh mi was roughly comparable to how long it takes to get a sandwich at Subway. Still, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d wanted to try the local banh mi for a while; we agreed that we would wait for them.<\/p>\n
The place wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that full, so they must do a bustling business in takeout orders. We bought a chocolate croissant to snack on (perfectly decent, though not French-bakery-crusty by any means), went over to Home Depot and ran a leisurely errand, and were back in about 40 minutes.<\/p>\n
The sandwiches still weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ready. The young man was extremely apologetic and offered to throw in some bags of chips. We waited maybe five or ten more minutes, and then the sandwiches finally came out.<\/p>\n
On the bright side, they were pretty delicious. We got five flavors: classic, roast pork, grilled pork, meatball, and lemongrass chicken. (We chose roast pork for our sixth baguette.) We were sharing the sandwiches among five adults, so we cut each one into four pieces. The taste varied dramatically depending on whether or not you got a slice of jalapeno pepper in your bite.<\/p>\n
Each sandwich came encased in its own Styrofoam container. (I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know why they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just wrap them in paper; it would have taken up less room. Maybe they were afraid the sandwiches would get squished?) They were served on a somewhat softer, doughier bun than I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m used to; classic banh mi is served on a baguette, but this was toasted ciabatta. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s okay; it was still tasty. All of the meats had great flavor, although the grilled pork was somewhat unexpectedly spicy. The pickled sliced vegetables gave just the right sweet-sour crunch. I liked it a lot, although personally I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d go with less jalapeno.<\/p>\n
So yeah, the banh mi was pretty good. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the best I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had, but it still pretty good, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly great to have banh mi right here in Ellicott City. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m already looking forward to getting a coffee drink or a bubble tea next time I go. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll just be sure to call in my order ahead of time. <\/p>\n
\n…we waited 45 minutes for this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll put the tl;dr up front here: We got banh mi from Caf\u00c3\u00a9 Au Lait, a nice little eating space tucked into an office building on Ridge Road. The banh mi were tasty, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re buy-5-get-1-free. But if we want … Continue reading