Bánh Mì Giòn

At Dong Phuong Bakery on Chef Menteur Highway in New Orleans East, the bánh mì is wrapped in paper at the bakery's own sandwich counter, and the crust announces itself before the paper is open. A squeeze crackles. Flakes of shell fall onto the wrapper and onto the eater's sleeve, and the crumb under them is pillowy and warm enough to carry the smell of baked flour up with the pickle. Customers who order here are buying the loaf first. The pork, the pâté and the cilantro are the standard bánh mì kit, and the shell around them is what the bakery is known for.

That shell is thin by design. Descriptions of the loaf call it a crackling crust over a pillowy interior, and one account credits Vietnamese rice flour in the dough for the light, flaky texture. The thinness cuts both ways. It shatters cleanly on the first bite, and it also gives up fast once pâté, a slick of mayonnaise or wet pickle sits against it. A loaf filled at the counter and eaten within the hour keeps its snap through several bites, while one carried across town in a bag turns tender from the inside out.

The filling plays a supporting role by design. Pork and pâté bring salt and fat, and the quick-pickled carrot and daikon cut through it with sourness, while cucumber and cilantro add a cool green crunch under the crust's drier one. Chilli finishes it. Because the roll comes from the same building where the dough is mixed, the sandwich carries a freshness that a shop buying in bread cannot match, and the local habit of calling it a Vietnamese po-boy reflects how easily a New Orleans eater recognizes the pattern: crisp French-style loaf, soft center, a dressed filling that drips a little.

The bakery's own story begins with Huong Tran, who learned to bake in her parents' bakery in Sóc Trăng, Vietnam, before she and her husband De Tran settled in New Orleans East. She began with a home baking business. By 2010 most bánh mì in New Orleans were built on Dong Phuong's bread, so the loaf in a paper bag at the counter is the same one that restaurants across the city slice open and fill with their own versions, with fillings that run well past the classic pork.

Dong Phuong is equally famous for something else, a brioche king cake that sells in tens of thousands each Carnival season, and the two products share the same ovens and the same family. Linh Tran Garza now runs the bakery alongside her mother. The loaf that goes out by the dozen to restaurants is also sold filled, one at a time, to anyone who walks up to the counter, and midday is when the fresh-baked rolls tend to go. Wrapped in paper, the sandwich travels well enough to eat in a car, with the crust softening a little with each mile.

Origin and History

Dong Phuong is among the first Vietnamese bakeries in New Orleans East. Most accounts say De and Huong Tran opened it in 1982 at 14207 Chef Menteur Highway, and one account gives 1981. Huong had learned the trade in her parents' bakery in Sóc Trăng, and she brought the baguette-style loaf with her.

The bánh mì followed from the bread. Restaurants and sandwich makers across the city began to order the loaves, and the bakery added a counter of its own so that customers could buy the sandwich built around the loaf as well as the loaf alone. The sandwich is often called a Vietnamese po-boy, and it is now a menu item across the city.

In 2018 the James Beard Foundation named Dong Phuong an America's Classic, an award for long-standing, locally rooted restaurants, and the citation pointed to the bakery's decades in the community.