I love sandwiches. Call it my comfort food if you must but there’s something about great bread cradling wonderful fillings that warms my heart. I’ve tried many types of sandwiches over the years; from subs to hoagies, grinders and po’ boys I’ve developed a taste for what’s good between two pieces of bread. What I had never tried though, was a Bahn Mi.

A Vietnamese sandwich that combines Asian heritage with French colonial influence, the Bahn Mi I tried was simply called “sandwich”. The person who called it this was a little bit of a man, wearing sunglasses, behind the counter of Broadway Cafe. Being a neophyte of ordering a Bahn Mi I didn’t know that it’s simply ordered as an “insert filling name here” sandwich. Well, obviously out of my element, I order what I think would be the hardest kind of sandwich to mess-up, a Beef Bahn Mi ($4.45)

The sandwich that arrived at my table was a crusty French loaf over stuffed with a beef mixture that contained sautéed onion and a tangy, beefy brown sauce. The sauce tasted soy based with garlic, thyme and hints of tamarind. Not too much and not too little the sauce gave the star of the sandwich, the beef, the right juiciness and flavor. To accompany the meat were fresh lettuce and tomato along with what I thought was mint. Very interesting flavor combinations and ones that I quickly put away.

If you find yourself on Capitol Hill, take some time to stop into the little out of the way restaurant called Broadway Cafe. Order a sandwich and expand your thinking of what two pieces of bread can hold. With offerings of pork and chicken, I know I’m sure to be back.