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Tank Restaurant’s bánh mì is damn near a perfect sandwich. Tank's open air restaurant with community seating is a welcome, busy place to sample Vietnamese fare while sitting next to a friendly stranger. This traditional street food is a Vietnamese baguette / French roll filled with meat, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeño, picked daikon radish and carrots, and a touch of soy sauce. You can choose from marinated beef, pork, or chicken – each slightly sweet and spicy.
The beauty of this sandwich is the balance it achieves in both flavors and textures. The lightly crisped outside of the roll is just enough to add some crunch but not so much that the roof of your mouth suffers. The warm, savory meat is perfectly complimented with the crunch of a cool cucumber spear. The picked daikon radish and carrots add a slightly sour flavor that balances out the subtle sweetness in the marinated meat and the fresh cilantro adds a fresh aroma and flavor. The slices of jalapeño add enough heat to make sure you come back for more.
If you have never had Vietnamese food and want to start slow, head to Tank Restaurant and pony up for a sandwich (from $2.95 to $3.95, depending upon your choice of meat). You know how great this sandwich is?
White people love ‘em. Almost as much as they love P.F. Chang’s.
Tank Restaurant is located at 4953 N. Broadway.
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Insulting white people different than you! Very high class.
Looking at the staff bios however, it seems Chicagoist employs no African Americans, no Hispanics, and one Asian person. How can a blog calling itself Chicagoist exclude roughly 60% of the city demographic from its staff? Some sort of deep seated racism perhaps?
Seems most people on the blog are white, educated liberals with high incomes. They claim to love diversity, but do little to practice it.
Someone doesn't like the same overrated Wicker Park bars/restaurants I do? I must justify my greatness by mocking them!
"If the French occupation of Vietnam was wrong, Tank Restaurant’s bánh mì damn near makes it right."
What a glib comment about a main aspect of one of the longest, bloodiest struggles in modern history. Is this parody or something? Do you know anything about the French occupation of Indochina and its offshots? Christ.
Yeah that was a superfluous remark.
Hi, Matilda - It was actually meant to be wildly absurd because, as you said, it was a long, bloody struggle. I appreciate the feedback, Matilda.
-L.
Hi, Sears Tower,
Nah, it wasn't meant to insult white people. In fact, I'm half white. The reason I said it is because I've been reading the Food Snob's Dictionary and it said that these sandwiches became the latest fetish of food snobs - which I thought was sort of goofy since it's just a fantastic bit of Asian street food. It made me picture a bunch of white, educated liberals with high incomes who came back from a recent vacation declaring, "You'll never guess what I ate on the streets of Vietnam!" You're right - that'd be ridiculous!
Your point is well taken, Sears Tower - thank you for the feedback. I've probably been reading too much of stuffwhitepeoplelike.com. ;)
-L.
people need to lighten up. irony doesn't always translate well when written over the intenet.
sears tower makes a good point, though, about the lack of diversity on chicagoist but i would hardly blame chicagoist since they are very open to contributions from the public. chicagoist does a great job covering the city's various neighborhoods and scenes, although they could gay it up a little.
on a more important note, those sandwiches sound/look delicous. i'll have to make the trip up north after work.
It looks delicious btw! Any relation to tank sushi?
"people need to lighten up. irony doesn't always translate well when written over the intenet."
Why write it on a blog, then?
How 'bout this: Instead of irony or sarcasm--which most people can't really do well--why not try old-fashioned earnestness? One can still be funny and still be a good writer.
Will our culture ever move past its obession with irony?
Anyway, the sandwich looks great.
Hi, Peteypants - well, I think you nailed it when you said that some things don't translate well over the internet.
Glad you think the sandwich looks good and I really hope you enjoy it.
-L
Hi, Matty - I think my earlier comment to you was lost in the ether. I basically agreed that the comment was superfluous - remedied now!
Also - is that a lumpfish in your picture?
Finally...I don't *think* they are related. I did a quick look at their websites (tanksuski.com and tanknoodle.com) and they didn't see any immediate reference to the other. I could be entirely wrong. Thanks again the for the feedback, Matty. I appreciate it.
Hi, Matilda,
All good things to consider. I will say this - your earnestness is not lost in your comments so you're definitely paving the way.
*phew!* Glad the sandwich at least looks good. :) Thanks again for the sincere feedback, Matilda.
-L
Stolpman: Thank you for responding.
Ever try the Vietnamese bakery on Lawrence just west of Rockwell? good stuff.
The banh mi at Ba Le (across the street from Tank Noodle) is vastly superior, in my opinion. It's also a bit cheaper.
This sandwich looks delicious and if we all sat down and had one world peace would probably be within reach.
Combining responses here:
Hi, Matilda,
Hmmm, I don't think I've tried that bakery. I *love* Vietnamese bakeries and will try just about anything. What do you recommend?
Ontology, I think I've seen Ba Le - I can't wait to do a compare. Mmmmm, wishing I worked on the North end now.
Louis - heh. Amen, brudder.
-L
Anyhooooo, getting back to that good sandwich... they also make one with sardines at Tank Noodle. A little bit fried. Gooood!
Seems most people on the blog are white, educated liberals with high incomes.
Let the record show that my income is sadly low.
L'Stolp - the pork belly banh mi @ Nhu Lan (Lawrence & Rockwell) is fantastically good - in fact, I sense a OGS post on it in the near future.
Amyl - Sardines! I want to try that!
Karl Klockars - I'll have to try that. Matilda suggested a bakery nearby so I can kill two birds with one stone. Man, I'm starving now.
-L.
bring back hannah.
Stolpman: That is the bakery, what Karl said. Sorry.