First there was Hanco’s, then Henry’s, and now there’s Home, the newest banh mi shop in Park Slope. Home opened in the space formerly occupied by Earth Tonez, and it’s been open for about two months. I visited on a chilly winter night a couple of weeks ago. Home makes sandwiches in the mold of those two other places, but not nearly as well crafted. My tofu sandwich, though a bit cheaper than even Henry’s, had way too much mayonnaise, not enough spice, and some limp-looking cilantro. If you’re down on 5th Avenue and you just have to have a Vietnamese sandwich it’ll do in a pinch, but I’d stick with the two places on 7th Avenue.

Home — 349 5th Ave, Brooklyn

When we told our friend Anh that we wanted to get some banh mi, she suggested her favorite place in all of NYC: Ba Xuyen, in Borough Park. We met up with her and two of her friends for lunch there last week. They have (among other things) eight different banh mi on the menu, but none of them are vegetarian. They were more than willing to make one for me though, and they only charged me $2.25 for it.

I’m used to the vegetarian sandiwches at Hanco’s or Nicky’s which have some kind of filling — tofu or portobello mushrooms — that getting this sandwich was kind of a shock. It was just the pickled vegetables with a handful of cilantro and sauce. It wasn’t bad, but not my kind of banh mi. Much better was the excellent jackfruit shake I got along with it.

Ba Xuyen — 4222 8th Ave, Brooklyn

At the Farmer’s Market the other week I bought a bunch of kale. Sometimes when I buy something at the market I know exactly what I’m going to do with it. In this case, I just bought it because I like kale. A few days later I was trying to decide what to make for dinner; I didn’t want to make pasta again, but I wasn’t sure what I was in the mood for. Suddenly my mind started repeating over and over to me: kale and eggs, kale and eggs, kale and eggs… I wasn’t sure why, at first, but I was convinced they’d make a great pairing. After a few minutes I remembered that I’d had a dish at Blue Hill which involved a poached egg and some stewed kale. I wasn’t sure how they’d made it, and I assumed it was rather complicated, but I knew how I could make something similar, but much simpler and easier.

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On a cold, windy Winter afternoon I found myself on the Q Train, coming back from a doctor’s appointment. I had only a little time before I had to be at work, so I was debating whether or not it would be worth going back to my apartment (for which I would have to transfer to the R at Atlantic) or just heading to the neighborhood for lunch. On a whim I got off the train at 7th Avenue and Flatbush. My immediate thought was Franny’s. The thought on the heels of that was Bklyn Larder, which is owned by the same people who own Franny’s but which I had never been to.

The sign out front advertised a soup & sandwich combo for $8.50, but when I went inside the only soup they had was pork rib and chickpea. Instead I just got the sandwich, grilled cheese for $6.50. The sandwich was ready pretty fast, but while I waited I perused the store itself. $40 bottles of olive oil and $20 bags of pasta? No thanks (even though the staff was extremely friendly and attentive). I was tempted to buy some of their house-made gelato, but it was so cold and I had to go to work, so I just got the sandwich. The cheese was nice and gooey, but I couldn’t tell you what kind it was (which will probably get me kicked out of the food blogger’s union); the real star was the bread. The multigrain bread was crispy, and the grains had gotten all toasted which gave them great flavor.

Bklyn Larder — 228 Flatbush Ave

There were many things on my to-eat list this time around. Compare to my last trip home, which was just an extended weekend, I had to pack a lot of food trucking into 1 day. This time around I had a total of 11 days……11 days of 70 degree LA weather perfect for outdoor dining.

I was looking through buttermilk Truck’s schedule for the week that I was in LA. Seemed like I had to drive a long distance no matter what so I decided to go on Monday because out of the whole week they were parked the closes to me, in downtown LA near Little Tokyo. It was still a good 50min drive without traffic. But on Sunday night I wasn’t sure if I reeeeaally wanted to wake up early for the drive.

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I just love anything thats Japanese. Anime, crazy tv shows, culture, technology, and of course food. Japanese chicken wings or tebasaki is pretty famous in Nagoya, Japan. My first exposure to these tasty chicken wings was at Furabio. They were sticky, sweet and covered in sesame seeds.

Few years ago, I had lunch with a friend. She brought me to Tebaya, a tiny shop that specializes in tebasaki. They also sell yummie sandwiches. I remember it being quite good so last last Friday I had lunch with my friend, Steph. She works close to Tebaya so that was another reason why I wanted to go there.

I was excited to go there because I wanted to try the cream crab croquette sandwich. When I walked up to the counter I was ready to order that sandwich in a combo that came with 2 wings, a salad and a drink. Sadly the lady told me they don’t make that anymore so I ended up get the same combo but with a fried fish sandwich.

We had to wait a bit for our lunches. The salad was just your typical Japanese salad and it was a bit sad looking. The sandwich looked pretty big but it was mostly bun. The piece of fried fish was a little too thin. But the bread was great. I really love Asian bread, they tend to be on the chewier side. The wings were pretty good as well.

Overall it seemed everything was okay. I remembered loving the place the first time. I’ll probably go back again for their sandwiches, love love the bread.

- Tebaya 144 W. 19th St New York