Battle Bahn Mi

The Menu at Nhu Lan.

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that despite living in Honolulu, with a bahn mi shop a half block from the lobby of my flat tower, I never really got into bahn mi or Vietnamese food in general. Now, years later, I'm stuck playing catch-up.

For a variety of reasons, bahn mi has been on my mind lately but it's something that I don't understand. What makes a bahn mi a bahn mi? While I do love our little city of Baltimore, it still lacks the ethnic culinary diversity of other cities and towns (sadly, a little town such as Portland, Oregon tends to best Baltimore when it comes to ethnic cuisines), which means that for serious forays into ethnic cuisines, one typically has to venture outside of Baltimore to other cities. A shame, really.


A Pile of Bahn Mi - ridiculous.

During my online research on bahn mi, the only place that seemed worth exploring were the myriad of Vietnamese shops at Arlington, Virginia's Eden Center - a mecca of everything Indochina. Also from my reading, it seems that the little, tiny shop inside Eden Center at stall number fourteen called Nhu Lan is regarded as "the best" bahn mi shop in the region.

On the way to Eden Center I must...

Nhu Lan is a small, modest and unassuming shop that's barely 200 square feet and it's jam-packed with refrigerators, three tables and a work area where Vietnamese and Latin women churn out what is truly bahn mi wonderment. Toasted french bread stuffed with pickled daikon, pickled carrots, cucumber, mayo, liver pate, jalapeno peppers and some sort of meat of some kind or another.


Thit Nguoi - Assorted Cold Cut Combination.

The most traditional of meats filling the bahn mi are the Vietnamese forcemeats, either a form of headcheese or some sort of terrine style meat. Happily, these sandwiches about the size of a 20oz bottle of soda are only $3.15 each, with a Buy 5, Get 1 Free special for $17 - meaning that we could go to town for cheap!

And go to town we did. With only eight choices on the menu, we ordered one of each, which ended up as seven bahn mi because they were out of the Nem Square Sour Pork Sausage.


Ga - Chicken Sandwich

Ordering the entire menu means that one must employ certain strategies in order to not feel bloated from the experience. With borrowed knife in hand, we cut off 1/4 of each sandwich as our samples, leaving a half sandwich for late night snacking or lunch for the next couple of days.

After eating the equivalent of 1.75 sandwiches, the surprising part was that I didn't feel bloated. The light and fresh aspect of the bahn mi left me feeling fresh and without the heavy burden typically associated with gorging oneself. Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising since the bahn mi is heavy on the veg and lighter on the meat.


Xiu Mai - Vietnamese Meat Ball Sandwich.

How was the Nhu Lan Bahn Mi? Amazing. Light, refreshing and fresh tasting. Balanced and nuanced with the exception of the chicken which was kind of bland and uninspired - as commercial chicken normally tastes. The favorite? The Cold Cut Combination of headcheese and what looked like compressed ham.

The Ham Pate reminded me of Spam in texture without the heavy saltiness. In reality, this is sandwich perfection: the pickled daikon and carrots combined with the house mayo offered a sweet and slight tartiness that balanced well with the meat. Fresh and refreshing. I know I've said that several times, but it's remarkable how balanced and light this bahn mi turned out.


Pate Cha - Vietnamese Ham Pate Sandwich

Probably the hardest one for most people to fathom (beyond the headcheese) is the fish bahn mi. A simple canned sardines in tomato sauce reminded me of the sandwiches my father used to make when we were young for breakfast. I wanted more and made a mental note to bring the remaining half of the sandwich to my dad for a taste.

Now that I have a base understanding of bahn mi I feel comfortable experimenting at home...


Bi - Shredded steam pork & pork skin.



Thit Do - Vietnamese Red Meat Pork.


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Ca - Fish Sandwich



The Aftermath, and lunch for Sunday and Monday.

PG Heaven

PG Belicoso Maduros, 20th Anniversary and 15th Anniversary cigars - Ahhh!

Today's afternoon quest is for PG Cigars and bahn mi. If only I could fill my humidor with the PG Belicoso Maduro, I would be a happy, kept man.

Problem is: I smoke them as fast I source them...

Going Metal

Vac Pot filtered coffee going to head-to-head.

In Japan, sophisticated syphon bars utilize a type of metal filter in their vac pots that screw together allowing you to use either cloth or paper filters with quick change ability. In America, intrepid baristas have found a way to use a La Marzocco dispersion screen in lieu of the cloth or paper filters. An intriguing idea but an unusual challenge to find a U.S. based source of these seemingly elusive metal screw filters.

Finally got a (small) stack of these filters with the thought of them replacing our cloth filters for vac pot service. Matched with new metal dispersion screens, these contraptions promise the hope of simplicity and ease of cleaning - which should make bar life slightly easier.


Metal filter on the left, cloth on the right.

The experiment is simple enough: take one metal filter and one cloth based filter and brew head-to-head comparison coffees and see which one is best. For the test, we used the Honduras San Vicente Micro Lot from Origins Organic Coffee of Vancouver. Same ratio, same technique, same coffee - different filter. I was surprised by the results.

In a perfect world, the metal filter would produce the exact same results as the cloth filters without the mess or fuss of cleaning between usages. In this world however, the results were surprisingly different.

Looking back in retrospect, it probably should be a surprise since the La Marzocco dispersion screen is not as fine as the cloth filter and one should then expect sediment. Whatever the case, the resulting sediment was unexpected in my mind resulting in a coffee with more body that reminded me of press pot coffee and a distinct departure from the clarity typically found in a vac pot brewed coffee.

My initial reaction is that I didn't like the resulting coffee. I prefer the clarity of vac pot when brewing vac pot. If I wanted the body and murkiness of pressed coffee, I might as well use a french press. That said, some of the Spro baristas liked the alternative results of the metal filter and we're giving it a run this weekend to see how it performs in a service environment and check feedback from customers.

So if you want to see the latest in vac pot brewing by intrepid baristas, have a visit this weekend.

Syrup Service

Velvety smooth and ready for service.

It's milk delivery day at Spro and time to make more chocolate syrup. As I meet people in the industry who ask: "what syrups should I buy?" I always wonder why they just don't make it themselves.

True, it's not easy to make your own syrups. Simple, but not easy. However, it's not a monumental task and when you use really great ingredients, the flavors shine through in a stellar fashion.

But using great ingredients also means increased costs. I don't know how much it is to buy commercial syrups but I know that our ingredients are some of the best we can find. It also helps that we only offer chocolate and vanilla syrups, and not the plethora of flavors that so many coffee shops across America offer.


Gotta have nice labels. Scissor cut, of course.

Chocolate syrup is really quite simple. Just take two cups of heavy cream and heat it in a pan with one cup simple syrup until it starts to simmer.

Perhaps I should note that the simplest way to make simple syrup is to take any container, fill it halfway with sugar, top off with hot water and stir until dissolved. This will give you a roughly 43% sugar simple syrup and can be used as a base syrup for just about anything.

Once the cream and syrup mixture has come to temperature, pour it over 16z of your favorite chocolate (the darker, the better - I think) and whisk it together until smooth. Note: it's going to be easier if you chop a block of chocolate into pieces or use couverture: little round discs or chips.

Whisk until smooth and use as necessary. Refrigerate overnight and use within seven days. Longer term storage is possible via freezing. If you do refrigerate, be sure to place container in a bain marie (hot water bath) to re-liquify the chocolate sauce so it passes easily through a squeeze bottle.

As a side benefit, you can cool the sauce, allow it to solidify, scoop out little ganache balls, bathe in chocolate, allow to harden and voila!, you've made your own chocolate truffles.




This week I'm also trying a little different approach to our vanilla syrup. Utilizing four whole vanilla beans, ends cut and split in half, in a half gallon of simple syrup. I'll allow it to steep in the fridge for about a week before using for service.

Otherwise, I'm just dying to get out into the warm weather again.

Strawberry Affo-Paco

Strawberry Ice cream straight from the Paco Jet.

Opening a new shop and trying to find the time to cram everything that you want to do into it is proving to be a challenge. Coffees need to be cupped, selected and approved for service. New baristas need to be sorted, interviewed, trailed and trained. Signature drinks are begging for development. Alternative beverages are screaming for attention. Makes me wonder how one is supposed to develop a menu?

It's summer and ice cream is on the mind. We have PacoJet. We have a hardening freezer. What we don't have is a service freezer. Turns out that I over-estimated one undercounter space and underestimated the depth of another refrigerator, leaving us with a space that's too small to fit the intended freezer. Screwed.

In-between scouring the internet for suitable workaround freezers, it's time to do something with the stacks of strawberry flats sitting in the lab. Strawberry ice cream and strawberry lemonade come to mind. Heck, come to think of it, how about strawberry lemon sorbet???

But first with the ice cream. Found a good starting point from The Cooking of Joy. No additives or stabilizers, just simple and natural ingredients.

One of the problems with doing multiple tasks is that you get distracted and instead of macerating the one pound of strawberries with 1/4 cup of sugar, I ended up macerating it with 395 grams of sugar - a bit too much...


Strawberry Affogato.

In the end, the mix was a bit on the sugary side and I think the excess sugar gave it what Ilenia describes as a "yogurt like" texture. For the next batch, I'll have to pay closer attention to the sugar.

As an affogato, the strawberry performed very well. It lended notes of butterscotch and candy to the Hines espresso. Burnt caramel and other pleasant notes rounded out the finish. That one might actually make the menu when we get the service freezer in place.

Asian Pacific American Month at City Hall

Doing The Humpty Dance

You know your day is going pear-shaped when you find yourself tumbling down a flight of stairs holding a bus tub filled with ceramic and glass...

Somewhere along the way, you start to wonder: Gee, just how did this happen? Then, you might start thinking: Crap, this is how people are killed. Of course, that's when you start to realize that falling down the stairs with a tub full of glass means that it's shattering everywhere and showering you with glass shards.

In mid-tumble, you wonder if you really are tumbling or just kind of bouncing off each stair tread. Sliding? Unlikely. Painful? Well, you're too preoccupied with trying to find a way to mitigate the damage, if possible.

It's not until you're lying on the concrete floor, trying to figure out if you've broken something, or seriously injured yourself, that you begin to realize that maybe this kinda sucks.

There's still no pain. Not really. You're too stunned to cry out or curse. You're just assessing the damage to your body: can I move my body parts? Do I feel my body parts? Seems like everything is still there and in working order.

Only then do you notice that your hand is bloody.

And your shirt is torn.

And you're covered in glass shards.

When you finally get around to picking yourself up off the floor, you try to keep the glass particles from falling into your eyes and notice that hey, you're actually kinda messed up.

Luckily, pulling away the torn shirt reveals just a small puncture wound and lacerations on the tummy and you start to take inventory of your damage:

- Lacerations on the forearm
- lacerations on your shin
- lacerations on your face
- bruises all over
- lacerations on your palm

And a seriously deep cut on your finger that's spewing blood all over.

Good thing you wear black clothing.

Sadly, gauze bandages and pressure don't stop the blood emanating profusely from your finger. Is it severed? No, not really. But a Flintstones Band-Aid isn't going to stop the flow. Time to go to the hospital.

That's when a new calculus kicks in: do you call the ambulance? It's not that serious but an ambulance might be helpful sympathy from your girls later. Then you remember hearing that it costs $400 to have an ambulance come to the scene - pass.

Maybe you should call someone to ferry you to the hospital. It could generate sympathy from the girls but a true swashbuckler would simply grab some thread and sew himself back together.

Okay, I'm not that tough.

In the end, I piled on the paper towels, changed my shirt and jumped into the car to drive myself to the hospital. Much cheaper and I have my own wheels to go wherever I want after the hospital. In a couple of hours, I'll be fine, sewn back together and on my merry way.

But for now, the biggest thought is how much it's going to cost to replace the serviceware I just shattered and embedded into my skin...

Bucking Tradition

And it started a little something like this:

Did you know coffee is the world's second most consumed beverage after water?

One minute coffee is the second biggest commodity next to oil and now it's the second most consumed beverage after water. Sometimes I just don't know where people get their data.

In the world of specialty coffee, there's always something that gets the cognoscenti riled up and their panties in a bunch, this week it's an article in The Atlantic by Giorgio Milos of Illy Caffe causing everyone to dig up their pitchforks and don pointy white hoods...

His crime? Stating that American espresso sucks and that we here in the Good 'Ole U.S. of A. don't know what we're doing with coffee nor making espresso.

Um, boring...

Truth is, most American coffee is truly terrible. It's horrid, horrific and disgusting. Walk into most any coffee joint in America and chances are that I'm going to order an iced tea. Espresso? Forget about it. While my friends are willing to be adventurous and try an espresso, I won't. I'm too scared.

Anyway - Milos is traveling the nation as a coffee emissary espousing The Italian Way of making espresso coffee. He's giving lectures and demonstrations and I think that American Third Wavers are planning protests and perhaps even a hunger strike.

As for myself, I'd like to know when he's coming to Baltimore so I can attend his lecture.

Not to protest or to stage a hunger strike (that would be stupid) but rather to listen and perhaps learn.

Sure, what Milos has to say might be irritating but he's got a point: the Italian Method. Maybe there's something to learn from his discussion? Maybe not. Either way, to simply work yourself up into a frenzy and dismiss him outright because he thinks American espresso sucks is just myopic. American espresso does suck and maybe he might have some ideas to make it better. Or at least it might be a nice way to spend a morning listening to strange Italians talking about strange ways of making coffee.

The truth is that it matters little to me that Milos doesn't like American espresso, nor if he did not like our own espresso. The reality is that we're not doing "Italian Espresso", we're doing American espresso, or more precisely: Progressive American Coffee. Which means to say that while we're grounded in tradition, we're also exploring coffee beyond the mainstream, beyond what's expected. It also means that if Mr. Milos came to our little espresso bar or shop and found our coffee not to be in the Italian Tradition, that's okay too. It wasn't meant to be that Italian Tradition.

Personally speaking, I don't know why so many of my peers are so up in arms over this. Are we too insecure in our craft that we quiver and fall by those who criticize our craft? The Italian Tradition is rich and storied. The American Method is new and unexplored. I'd rather stick with our genre of exploration and experimentation than remain tethered to "tradition."

Bo Brooks

Cool Bandages and Back to Work

Six Is The Magic Number

No Pain No Gain

Lidocaine - Otra Vez?

Lidocaine!

Gross!

Waiting While I Bleed Out

At Least Bracelets Are In Fashion

Oh, Crap

No Power Tuesday

The BGE guy reattaching the power.

It's just past noon, I'm having a meeting with an advertising exec and the power goes out. Whaaa?

Turns out the power lines from the adjacent building were pulled out of their mounts causing the entire block to lose power. No power means no coffee means no customers means no revenue. What better way to combat the no revenue situation with a lunch out at Iggie's?


Caesar Salad with Anchovies.


Antipasto Plate - Sopressata, pancetta, red peppers, asparagus, mozzarella, taleggio, Garbanzo beans & bread sticks.


Bex and the Fughi - mushroom ragu, leeks, mozz, goat cheese


Milo & Mico - Tomato ragu, anchovies, capers, olives.


Lindsay digs in.


Diavola - hot sausage, tomato ragu, 4 cheeses, olives, hot peppers.

Ah, Macarons!

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Joseph and his pastries.

I've always admired the work of Joseph and his Patisserie Poupon. Classic French pastries - what more can anyone ask for?


Raisin, pear and cheese danishes.

Joseph stopped by this afternoon to bring some samples for a quick tasting and to talk shop for a little while. His pastries are transcendent. They're delicious and rival the greats of Paris - places that are warm to my heart. We talked pastry, coffee, ice cream and more. In all, it was a pleasant, enjoyable and tasty afternoon.

Patisserie Poupon arrives at Spro Hampden on Wednesday morning.


Bex holds up a macaron, Devlin approves.


Ah, macarons!

Frickin' Frisee

Controlled bath egg cookery.

It's Mother's Day at Spro and what better way to spend the day than playing with eggs? Forget that my mom is in town and I could be spending time with my parents and relatives, I've chosen to work with eggs, dammit!

Yesterday's farmer's market was a good adventure. Lots of great stuff and some truly delicious strawberries, along with these incredible spring onions. I bought as much as they would sell me.


Ten, Eleven and Twelve minutes.

Today, we're playing with eggs in a controlled temperature bath at 75C to see just how we can create poached eggs. Yesterday's 13 minute test yielded a yolk too firm. Today we tried ten, eleven and twelve minute eggs. Ten was too runny. Twelve was getting firm. But eleven yielded good results. Eleven minutes and twenty five seconds though seemed just right.

From there it was just a bit of frisee from Gardener's Gourmet, a little bacon from Woolsey Farm and some country croutons from Atwater's bread, mix it up with a lemon olive oil dijon vinaigrette, top with the poached egg and it makes for a quick lunch. Maybe we'll bring it to the menu.


Frisee Salad - with Woolsey Bacon, Atwater's Bread & Springfield Egg.

iPad: Stupid

My array of Apple Communication devices.

I've been playing around with my new iPad 64GB for just over a day now and every time someone asks me what I think of it, my only reaction is: "Stupid." I'm just not that enamored by the iPad.

To me, it's really just a very large iPod Touch, or an iPhone without the camera or the phone. It's kind of awkward and clumsy to hold and read. You want to put it down but then it's lying flat and you want to angle it, but to do that you have to prop it up with something (though I'm sure someone is selling an overpriced stand for it) - and Belkin is selling a cover for Fifty Bucks.

It's a relatively fast unit to surf the web, but I think that's more because of our connection at The Spro than anything else. It works pretty well and while I'm still exploring its applicability, I'm not enthralled by the unit nor it's expensive price tag.

Worth it? I doubt it. Unless you're someone who thrives on having the latest techno gadget. Otherwise, it's hardly more exciting than my three year old, first generation iPhone.

Cupping Like Mad Men

Going Barefoot in the Spro Lab.

Since my name resides on the menu, part of my job entails tasting coffee samples from our roasters in an effort to determine which coffees make it to our menu. With opening the Spro Hampden and then my journey to Los Angeles, I was a bit behind. Now comes the madness. It seems that everyday has some sort of cupping component to it. Coffees from Origins, Barefoot, Counter Culture, Intelligentsia and whomever else has decided to send us coffee recently.

Our process is relatively simple: we receive samples, we cup them, determine which ones we like and then bring them in for service. By working with a variety of great roasters we're lucky to have a selection of wonderful coffees to choose from. The predicament becomes out of such a great field of offerings, which ones do we actually offer to customers?

In addition, we're also doing tastings with potential vendors, testing new brew methods and experimenting with components for a new menu. Which makes for an interesting first week back from my trip.

Today's been mostly a Barefoot day and while I do enjoy all the coffees they sent over, I'm currently leaning towards their Redcab Brazil.

Explosive Dreams

Now that I'm awake, I can't tell if these were multiple dreams last night or multiple dreams over successive nights.

But I specifically remember at least two parts of these dreams that both featured major explosives. Like I'm standing or sitting in a room, maybe it's a flat or a coffee shop, and then suddenly a building across the street explodes with the detonation of a bomb. A very large bomb.

Not large enough to blow out the windows, but large enough to rock the house and create a massive fireball. Is it far away or near? I can't really tell. But there were at least two parts to this dream and two separate bombs. Then lots of sirens.

If dreams hold meaning, I'm wondering what these dreams mean....?

Woodberry Roll

How we roll: Blagny '99, Son.



Hanging at the oven.

Forty-Five Seconds

Kimmy inspects the new 64GB iPad.

If only Kimmy had called me five minutes earlier... Heck, if she had called me 45 seconds earlier, I would not have purchased the iPad.

I was standing there talking to Daniel when she called to tell me that there was an issue in Hampden and then I told her I would come down. By that point, I had just swiped my credit card into the reader. Dammit!

For whatever reason, I felt compelled to visit the Apple Store and check out the iPad. Did I want one? Not really. Before it came out, I thought it was stupid. Like a big, stretched iPhone and what good is that? But over the past month or so, I started to slacken on my stance.

Maybe we could create a document on the iPad that would replace our paper worksheets at the shop? Maybe it could become our communication center for emails and Tweets with customers? Maybe we can do more with it for the business - all for no less than $500. Stupid, I know.

But I couldn't help myself. I couldn't leave. Or, I left, went to Williams Sonoma and then came back. After discussing it with Daniel the Business Genius, I knew I secretly wanted one.

I should have left. But I didn't. I needed to go to Crate & Barrel. But no. Finally, I broke and told Daniel I would take it. Give it to me now!!! Dammit!!!

Daniel finished up with his customer then went into the back to get the fresh iPad, then proceeded to tell me about Mobile Me and AppleCare and all sorts of other details before actually processing my card. Kimmy could have called me any time during that time period and I would have had to pull out and depart sans iPad, but no...

She called just as the card was being swiped and I had the iPad - BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Precious is mine!

Now what am I going to do with the damn thing?

Phi, Phy, Pho, Phom.

Lamarie and the Spring and Summer Rolls.

It's a beautiful, sunny day in Towson and Lamarie is in the mood for pho - that Vietnamese beef soup that's slightly pungent and cloyingly sweet. For many years, if you wanted pho you had to drive about half an hour away, or suffer with versions unworthy of the name. Not too long ago, the Columbia-based Pho Dat Than opened a Towson location and we've been rejoicing.

While I don't think they're as good as other pho joints, they're the only game in Towson and, therefore, the best. If only they could get their service issues cleared up, they would be a winner.


Pho My Style: Everything with raw beef on the side.

We've gathered today to discuss Lamarie's impending departure from Spro Towson to return home to Oregon and pursue a career in styling. She's got talent for beauty and while I'm sad to see her go, I know it's important that our people pursue their dreams.

We also discuss shop talk. Are we running out of coffee? Milk? Tea? Lindsay gives us an update on who's bothering her in Hampden. Who's causing the most problems and who's making life generally difficult. Not surprisingly, it boils down to one person outside the company. The Hampden baristas are unified in wanting to get rid of this person and I'm seriously considering it.


Lindsay breaks down who's been irritating her today.

Otherwise, it was a lovely afternoon. A little time with some great people. People who I enjoy being around and people who I admire. What better way is there to spend your Thursday afternoon?