Baguette House, Austin

I might as well stay in the same North Austin strip mall as my last post, right?

Austin, I've been remiss.  Somehow, inexcusably, I've not shown you one of my favorite low-cost lunches in town. I've probably been to Baguette House, oh, at least twenty times since they opened in the middle of 2008, and have tried every sandwich on the Vietnamese side of the menu.  I've had their delicious dried beef and papaya salad, their so-so Hai Nan chicken (which i suspect would have been better had it not been reheated in the nuker), and most of their nicely snappy fresh spring rolls with their crunchy vegetables and perfectly balanced peanut sauce.

But we've never blogged them.  I have no idea why.  Let me remedy that with a quick little post about a lunch there last week.  Apologies, but this is the best I can squeeze out after another day of grading student essays.

Baguette House bakes their baguettes in-house.  I'd hope so, since both of those words are right there in the name.  When you order a sandwich, you get a 10-inch baguette stuffed with greenery, meatery, and picklery.

More sexy sandwich shots and fun baked goods after the jump:

Every baguette I've had there has been great - the thin crust shatters readily under your teeth and the white softness inside yields immediately.  All of their Vietnamese sandwiches come with cilantro, jalapenos, cucumber, and lightly pickled julienned carrot and daikon.  And these actually have a bit of pickly bite, unlike the simple and less interesting shredded to hell raw veggies I've gotten on banh mi at lesser places (Cafe de Bella, you listening?).  You also get a schmear of Vietnamese mayo, which may or may not be lard... I can't quite bring myself to ask.  If it is lard, it's super light and tastes more like aioli.

Last week, I ordered their grilled pork, but I've also tried their house special - great if you like pates and Vietnamese luncheon meat.  Their chicken sandwiches are great, too, filled with shredded chicken that is usually very moist but has been slightly dry on occasion.  They have a vegetarian offering filled with a gingery, earthy tofu and mushroom mix, and a Cajun-style slightly spicy shrimp version, and a grilled beef, and a sauced barbequed pork, and a meatball - you see why this post has been so long in coming?  The place is a bit overwhelming!  

Back to my most recent visit, here's the porky loveliness I was given:

Lookit that sandwich!  The ratio of meat to veggies to bread is spot-on.  Their grilled pork, by the way, actually has grill flavor - I've been to a few places here in town where you can't take that for granted - and is just the right amount of greasy.  Grilled pork with crunchy, pickled vegetables, sharply grassy cilantro, and a bit of jalapeno heat; now that, my friends, is a sandwich.  And it costs like $3.  You heard me.

When Logan and I go together, we usually split a side order of their awesome spring rolls.  The last time I was there, I saw they'd added pork paste spring rolls (like these from Thanh Nhi, with the phyllo-like cigar and all), but I haven't tried them yet.  Since I was by myself on this last visit, I didn't think I could handle an entire order of these filling buddies, so instead I got a Bánh Pâté Chaud.  Yup, there's French imperialism lifting its head again, in the form of more French/Vietnamese fusion!

This is a flaky, buttery crusty pastry encasing a knot of chunky, country-style pork pate.  It's warm, and savory, and peppery, and terrible for you.  At least it's a little guy.  And it's worth it to try at least once.

So, Baguette House is unblogged (by us) no more!  And I pledge not to make that mistake again.  I definitely need to show you guys all about their spring rolls, and that papaya salad, and the banh bao, and the croissants, and cà phê sữa đá, and on and on...

Baguette House is in the Chinatown Center at 10901 N. Lamar in Austin. 512.837.9100.

Comments

[mei]

are these the amazing banh mi that you brought for me and chris at sxsw that day? because i'm still dreaming about those. every night. and waking up with a puddle of drool on my pillow...

[Boots in the Oven]

Hey, that's right - they are! I'm so glad you liked them. It looks like the London eating is going nicely!

Rachel

[franny]

Wow, next stop: Baguette House. Thanks for the info!

[Nicole]

Just wondering how these compare to the banh mi at Tam Deli? I love their banh mi, but if Baguette House is better, I'll definitely give it a try!

[Boots in the Oven]

Thanks, Franny! I hope you like it!

Nicole, I slightly prefer the ones at Baguette House... I think their bread is usually better. I have a good friend who would fight me most of the way to the death on that one, though!

Rachel

[Ling]

There's a banh mi revolution in New York now, I'm kinda surprised it hasn't kicked up here in S'pore yet - given the mania for Viet cuisine (largely of the pho and spring roll persuasion). I suspect it's because we have mostly awful bread here - the kind I refer to as deathbed bread: sweet, pappy and shallow-breathed (doesn't inflate when you cut/bite/smack your fist into a loaf). Bleagh. People here mostly like bread that doesn't fight back when bitten into. Depressing!

[Boots in the Oven]

Ling, I've been hearing about the banh mi in NYC - there's something a bit odd to me about paying $8 for something that's $3 here, and 30 cents in Vietnam, but I guess it's those New York rents! I hope they make it to Singapore soon - but hey, you guys have killer laksa, right? I don't think we even have a place in town that SERVES it, much less does a good job with it.

Rachel

[dobianchi.com]

wow, great bread in Austin? sounds too good to be true. I've so many questions: do they allow byob? do they allow take out of just the bread? Tracie B and I will have to make it up there... Josh Loving hipped me to your blog and I'm glad for it... :-)

[Boots in the Oven]

Aw, thanks! Josh is terrific. I don't know if they allow BYOB - I'm usually there for just a quick lunch, and it's a pretty casual place. I would be willing to bet that they do (they don't have a liquor license). And yes, you can carryout a baguette - I've actually been at gatherings where people have shown up with bread from Baguette House! I think it's less than a dollar a loaf.

And I'm going to head over to your blog to educate myself about some wine!

Rachel

[Albany Jane]

All of this banh mi talk is getting me antsy! Up here in Albany we get banh mi shipped up from NYC at the asian markets. Never really fresh, and always around $5. I have a problem with paying $5 for a several-hours-old sandwich, so I still haven't. This looks delightful.

[Boots in the Oven]

AJ, WTF? That's crazy-talk. Logan made ersatz banh mi for us a few times while we were living in Florence... it's a pretty serious craving when it strikes! And I'd have equal trouble paying $5 for an old sammich.

Rachel

[Tiffany Diane]

Why am I just now finding this blog. I found it through Frances aka TheNomNom.blogspot.com

My group for class has a sandwich blog, perhaps you could guest post someday??
austineatssandwiches.wordpress.com

-Tiffany

[Boots in the Oven]

Thanks, Tiffany! I'l definitely go check out your class's blog. Guest posting would be fun!

Rachel

[Nicole]

Rachel,

Just wanted to tell you that we checked out Baguette House this weekend per your recommendation. I would agree that their bread has a slight edge over Tam Deli's. And $1.50 for a loaf? AWESOME!

Darius ordered a sandwich with a bunch of cured meats (I think it was called like "House Special Combo" or something) and he liked it more than the cured meat ones at Tam Deli. I ordered the grilled pork, but I didn't like it quite as much as the one from Tam Deli. But their spread on the bread was fantastic!

They were out of pate chaud when we were there, but we tried the vegetarian spring rolls instead. I liked the sauce that came with it and thought it was nicely balanced, but I really didn't care for the springrolls themselves. Maybe we should have tried the pork or beef ones and would have liked those more.

All in all--thanks for the recommendation! Another great place to add to our list.

[Boots in the Oven]

Nicole, thanks so much for the followup! It sounds like you think they stand up pretty well to Tam, which is great to know since you're a fan. I like the House Special sammich too!

I still think the best banh mi I ever had in town were at Ba Le, but that place has been closed for three years or so now. I'm still sad about it!

Rachel

[Michael Barnes]

Well, you've opened my eyes. And my mouth.

[Boots in the Oven]

I'd love to know if you try it!

[Thuy Nguyen]

Hi all. I'm Vietnamese, and have been a fan and friend of Tam Deli for as long as I could remember. I used to love their "Banh my xiu mai" (meatball banh my) with all my heart, but the relationship came to an end when I discovered the Baguette House. So yes, in my opinion the BH not only has a better variety but also does an outstanding job at making delicious fillings. My favorites are the house special and the grilled pork versions. Tam Deli, though, remains my favorite place for many other dishes (and a friendly encounter with the owners). I just secretly sneak out to the BH when craving banh my. I think my unfaithfulness is forgivable.

[Boots in the Oven]

Thank you for your comment, Thuy! I love Tam as well (why haven't we blogged it?!). Their banh cuon are wonderful, and they have a lot of dishes on their menu that aren't available at other Vietnamese restaurants in town.

But Baguette House... their banh mi are still my favorite. I tried Lily's Sandwich again the other day to see if they'd improved, but Baguette House's are still better.

Rachel