The New Nhu Lan

By Melissa Wiley in Food on May 8, 2012 4:00PM

If your favorite color is shiny and you heart Vietnamese sandwiches, then rejoice! The new Nhu Lan Saigon Subs is spit-shine clean and cooks up Saigon-inspired subs every bit as savory as those in its grittier Lincoln Square locale. Walking into the fresh Lakeview storefront, we felt as if we had chanced upon a long-lost friend, one whose teeth were once hopelessly coffee stained and who was wont to prance about town in ill-fitting sweat pants. Only now her smile shone dazzlingly white and she was sporting a sparkly pink spandex unitard (so, yes, resembling dance workout Barbie). She looked, needless to say, incredibly hot—there was even a flicker of light radiating off her right incisor—but we also hoped she wasn’t too changed, because, to mix metaphors and get on with it, Nhu Lan’s sandwiches need no fixing.

Fortunately, the menu is the same, with one small exception. In Lakeview, turkey substitutes for the chicken in one of the sandwiches because of “zoning ordinances,” which we take to mean that the neighboring Chicken Hut is a wee bit territorial. But we’re totally stuck on the vegan lemongrass tofu sandwich anyway, not because we’re vegetarians, but because Nhu Lan tofu tastes even better than beef. Really! The lemongrass seasoning and profusion of cilantro, cucumbers, carrots, and jalapeno pepper slices fitted within the homemade bread don’t hurt either.

Perkily kitted out to serve up smoothies as pretty and fresh-faced as Nhu Lan nouveau itself, the shop also offers a tempting array of egg and pork rolls, rice crepes, dumplings, desserts the exotic likes of black-eyed bean pudding, and Vietnamese iced coffee, all worthy successors to our cherished bit of lemongrass Elysium. Lakeview, you’ve got yourself a winner.

Nhu Lan Saigon Subs is located at 602 W. Belmont Ave.