Macau-Style Crispy Pork Chop Sandwich

Macau-Style Crispy Pork Chop Sandwich at Hong Kong Cafe

venetian.com

D+

Behold the weirdness that ensues when a mostly Chinese restaurant inside a major Las Vegas Casino decides it needs to diversity its menu to attract Asian tourist families and not just Asian tourist gamblers. If this sandwich is a big deal in Macau, fine. But we think we'd rather have some noodles. This kind of reminds me of that old Eddie Murphy standup bit where he's a little kid and he wants McDonald's but his mom says, no, I can make you a better burger than McD's, and she proceeds to create a very odd, not-quite-right homeburger that is as far from what he wants as could possibly be. This pork sandwich is the same: A kid wants a fried chicken sandwich from a fast-food spot while on vacation in Las Vegas America but gets stuck at Hong Kong Cafe eating this. The pork "chop" (it's boneless) is actually fried quite nicely, with a crispy, medium-thick coating, but the meat was very fatty. There were great globs of mayo, lettuce, tomato and onion on this sesame seed bun, but the lettuce was sogged out and the onions were peppery and perhaps sauteéd a bit. On the bright side, decent French fries.

Togarashi Chicken

Togarashi Chicken Sandwich at Glutton

gluttonlv.com

B

We didn't expect new downtown restaurant Glutton to have a lunch menu full of delicious sandwich options, but there was this gem, right between a chicken salad sandwich with pickled tomatoes and a charcuterie panini with manchego cheese and fig preserves. (How good do those sound?) This selection, dropped on a French roll to create a sorta-banh-mi effect, features crispy chicken thighs breaded in light, crackly goodness with miso aioli, pickled vegetables and furikake, plus some greens action. It upgraded the typical banh mi, not only with much better bread but also the crunchy texture and rich, fatty meatiness of the poultry, both of which go great with the sweet brine of pickles. There are too many other interesting choices to get at this one again before trying something new, but it's a solid first step toward another great downtown sandwich destination. 

Moon 'N' Doggie

Moon 'N' Doggie at RM Seafood

rmseafood.com

B+

You can't eat this. The Moon 'N' Doggie was created by celebrity chef Rick Moonen during his competitive appearance on Top Chef Masters and has made appearances at several different venues as a one-time menu special, including at tennis' US Open a few years back. We finally got to devour one when it popped up on Moonen's limited time 10-year anniversary menu at RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay, and it's pretty damn addictive. The roll is a toasty, buttery bun that you'd normally find embracing a lobster roll. The sausage is made chiefly with shrimp, with some herbs and seasonings mixed in to create mild, delicious flavors. It's topped off with a crisp Asian slaw and some crunch togarashi chips, making it feel much more like a familiar hot dog than a sublime seafood creation. It satisfies in all the right ways, but there's no guilt associated with eating this dog. It's just too bad you can't find it on the permanent menu.

Moshi Moshi

Moshi Moshi at Cheffini's

cheffinis.com

B

Our comprehensive menu tour at the most creative gourmet dog spot in Las Vegas continues with the Moshi Moshi, an umami-fied wiener if ever there was one. The frank is grilled to near-crisp perfection and then bunned up with caramelized onions, jalapeños, spicy mayo, a red wine sauce, sesame seeds and flakes of crispy nori. Yep, it's a seaweed dog. It's got loads of texture, plenty of heat, and deep, round flavors. It's just as easy to eat and love as the other dogs at Cheffini's, which is, at this point, completely unsurprising. And totally delicious.

Crispy Bao Bun

Crispy Bao Bun at Ku Noodle

slslasvegas.com

A-

A nasty little rumor says that José Andrés' five-month old Ku Noodle, a brilliant noodle shop at SLS, could be shuttering. That would suck, because the food here is outstanding. Take, for example, this sandwichy take on the steamed bun favorite bao. A sweet, puffy roll (not sure if it's steamed or not, but it has an amazing light and almost creamy texture) with a paper-thin outer crisp edge is sliced open and stuffed with luscious braised pork belly lacquered in a zingy hoisin-ish sauce, topped with pickled veggies, cilantro leaves and peanuts. It's got crunch, it's got acid, it's got lots of fatty richness, it's got freshness and it's got a pleasant sweetness. It's a helluva meal, but if you want it, apparently, you better move fast.

Char Siu Pork Roll

Char Siu Pork Roll at Buddha Belly Deli

thebuddhabellydeli.com

B+

Buddha Belly Deli is one of the most exciting sandwich shops to open in the Las Vegas valley in quite some time. Why? Because they're incorporating familiar, drool-inducing Asian flavors into classic sandwich structures, like a beef dip with pho au jus and a Sloppy Joe with red curry short rib. It's a fantastically fun menu, and our first stop was this big, beautiful pork roll. A mixture of brioche and Hawaiian sweet roll, this fluffy, buttery bread creation is piled high with delicious (if a bit dry) char siu roasted pork shoulder, sliced into thin, almost crisp shards. A traditional Vietnamese veggie trio of carrot, daikon and jalapeño joins the party, plus a sprinkle of crunchy slaw and a sweet hoisin barbecue sauce. It's fusion at its finest, subscribing to no rules other than the most important sandwich guideline—if it's delicious, add it to the mix.

Banh Mi Thit Nguoi

Banh Mi Thit Nguoi at Dakao Sandwiches

Dakao at Yelp

B-

A return trip to this little spot yields a different sandwich, one with cured pork and pork roll, but similar results. This super salty banh mi is plenty pleasant, chewy slabs of piggy inside a crusty baguette with all the familiar friends. I guess it's just proof that the most basic, cheapest version of this French-Asian sandwich—in this case filled with two different meats that are tough to distinguish from one another—is pretty good. The worst possible scenario is fairly delicious.

Jinya Bun

Jinya Bun at Jinya

jinya-ramenbar.com

B-

It's not all sandwiches, you know. We are also pretty obsessed with ramen, mostly because the ramen scene in Las Vegas has exploded in recent years. The latest addition is one of our best, LA's Jinya, but they're serving more than just amazing noodles in rich broth variations. This pork belly steamed bun is solid, a mighty slab of succulent chashu piggy with a little green stuff, some cucumber, hoisin and aioli folded into soft, almost creamy puff-bread. It's tempting to order a couple of these and skip the noodles altogether. 

Canteen Banh Mi

Canteen Banh Mi at Made L.V.

made-lv.com

A+

Leave it to the powerhouse team that brought us neighborhood favorite Honey Salt to create the banh mi of our dreams. As we've always lamented, the main problems with the typical banh mi sandwich are the frequent use of low-quality bread, a too-high bread-to-fillings ratio, and the common use of unfortunate ingredients between the bread. Everything's solved at Made L.V., the new Tivoli Village tavern, as a soft yet still substantial French roll—not sure if this is officially a baguette; it's a bit bulkier—is positively crammed with house-made paté and country ham, salty meaty satisfaction galore. The obligatory pickled veggie salad is here, along with fresh herbs, jalapeños and sriracha mayo, everything blending together in each bite for crispy, savory, fresh, creamy, spicy, beautiful balance. It's everything we love about banh mi elevated to the level this iconic sandwich deserves.

Pho French Dip Banh Mi

Pho French Dip Banh Mi at The Pig and the Lady

thepigandthelady.com

A+

That's right, we took the allsandwich show to Hawaii. Try not to be jealous. Day one of our summer vacation was all about Honolulu Chinatown, and the amazing, not-to-be-missed Vietnamese-ish cuisine at The Pig and the Lady. What happens when you take the flavors of pho and mash them into a hybrid banh mi-French dip? Perfection, that's what, and an easy A+ to add to our list. This crispy, crunchy baguette is absolutely filled with juicy, unbelievably rich 12-hour brisket, great, thick slabs of beefy supremacy. There's a chimichurri-style sauce based in Thai basil, crisp bean sprouts and fresh cilantro leaves, too, and honestly, this would probably be an A+ sandwich all on its own. But it's not alone, oh no. There's a steaming cup of au jus waiting for dippage … but it's not jus, it's pho! See what they did there? This is the ideal, upgraded banh mi we've been searching for our entire sandwich loving lives. Thank you,  Pig. Thank you too, Lady. Yum.

Banh Mi Ca Moi

Banh Mi Ca Moi at Dakao Sandwiches

Dakao at Yelp

B-

I love banh mi and I want to love them more, but I am having a hard time finding some next level shit. Chinatown's Dakao Sandwiches has been around a few years now but this was my first time trying it, and the results are the same as when I go to Lee's or Mr. Sandwich or Hue Thai: It's good, crackly bread with savory fillings and crisp vegetables, but not great. Not spectacular. That's what I want. This is the No. 4 on Dakao's small menu, crammed with sardines in an oniony, possibly tomatoey sauce, plus mayo, standard do chua of pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber (which also seemed slightly pickled), jalapeño and cilantro. The fishy filling was really good, briny and tangy and lovely against the bread. The veggies were just fine. The bread, of course, was a little dry and hard—same as all those other places. Good stuff, nothing to freak out about.

Jambon and Pork Roll

Jambon and Pork Roll at Lee's Sandwiches

leessandwiches.com

B-

There's over 1,000 milligrams of sodium in this. What does that mean? You shouldn't eat two of these every day. But in my own personal nutritional strategy, two delicious banh mi sandwiches every day seems like the right prescription. Jambon is pretty much just ham that lasts forever; you don't even need to refrigerate it. That's a little scary. Maybe you shouldn't eat two of these a day. But the salty cured goodness of this ham plus fatty slices of slightly less savory pork roll is one of the meatier banh mi combos you can find at Lee's. The obligatory cilantro, onions, pickled carrots and jalapeños are on board, of course. The determining factor in how good your Lee's banh mi will be depends almost entirely on how fresh the baguette is. We lucked out this time. It's probably a bit better than a 50-50 shot.

Pho-Licious Q

Pho-Licious Q at Wa Da Pho

wadapho.com

A

Now this is what we want out of a food truck—fun, imaginative eats with big, powerful flavors. Las Vegas' Wa Da Pho truck offers a unique twist on Asian fusion, including this juicy, scrumptious sandwich that borrows its massive deliciousness from traditional Vietnamese beef noodle soup. The truck serves actual pho, too, which sounds like an ambitious attempt for street food. But who are we to judge, especially when they pull off a sandwich this great? A spongy pretzel bun is stuffed with thinly sliced beef brisket, basically the same meat you attack with chopsticks as soon as a steaming bowl of pho is dropped in front of your face. Think of a French dip, Vietnamese style. The extras are cabbage and cilantro, a bit of Thai-influenced papaya slaw, and a creamy special sauce with a little richness to bring the bite out of that beef. It's not easy to drop a completely fresh sandwich on us, one we've never experienced before. Wa Da Pho did it with delicious style.

Mr. Ho's Burger

Mr. Ho's Burger at Bachi Burger

bachiburger.com

A

I know, I know ... too many burgers on allsandwich. We're trying to mix it up more, but the fact is we are eating mostly in Las Vegas, and there's a whole lotta burgers here. They're impossible to avoid. And though we sometimes get sick of burgers, many are delicious enough to keep us wanting more. This is usually the case at Bachi Burger, where lots of different Asian ingredients get incorporated into lots of different, delicious burgers.

Mr. Ho's might be the most bizarre of Bachi's burgers. An angus beef patty is blended with pork, garlic and ginger, lacquered in some sort of sweet soy after being charred to perfection, and dropped on a taro bun. That's right: it's purple. It's soft and sweet with a very gentle yam-like flavor, and it's a nice contrast to the super savory burger. Adding to this mouth rainbow are sauteed mushrooms, crisp lettuce and some Chinese sausage. There are a lot of varying elements that somehow work together on this burger, but that's pretty much what they do at Bachi.

Banh Mi Thit Cha

Banh Mi Thit Cha at Pho Thanh Huong

Pho Thanh Huong at Yelp

A

This may not be the best banh mi sandwich I've ever eaten, but in Las Vegas, I don't think there's a better place to eat banh mi, a more consistent French-Vietnamese sandwich factory in this town, than Pho Thanh Huong. It's just off the Strip, within a few steps of UNLV, which is incredibly good news for the broke-ass college students of Las Vegas. Because not only are they baking their own crackly-fresh baguettes, not only are they stuffing in larger portions of meat and pickled veggies, but the real clincher is: these babies are about four bucks each. Makes you wanna go back to school, almost. Along with the traditional crisp vegetable and herb fillings, this one has roasted pork roll, pate, and lightly cured Vietnamese ham. Yep, it's a porkathon. Go get a couple.

Baby Dragon

Baby Dragon at Fukuburger Truck

fukuburger.com

A+

One of Vegas' favorite food trucks, Fukuburger recently opened a restaurant in Los Angeles. We haven't made the trip to Cali yet to see if their Hollywood burgers are as good as the ones off the truck, but clearly the cuisine here in Vegas isn't suffering. At all.

When Chef Mags comes up with something crazy for the daily special, you'd be wise to check it out. Hopefully this masterpiece will make the permanent menu some day, as it's one of the best burgers we've ever had the privilege to devour. This was the Chinese New Year special, hence the funny name. The key to this burger is that they took the standard Fuku patty, already legendary for its bold Asian flavors and tendency to be perfectly cooked, and pepper crusted that bad boy. So the Baby Dragon already comes out with a Sichuan peppercorn crust, then adds applewood-smoked bacon, smoked gouda cheese, and an insane wasabi-hoisin-serrano chile sauce. It's just spicy enough, beautifully balanced by the sweetness from the hoisin and the creamy cheese.

Fukuburger's experiments with umamification continue. Chalk up another victory.

Teri Sliders

Teri Sliders at Anime Ramen

animeramenlasvegas.com

C+

What the hell are these? Tiny, slightly Asian burgers at a brand new ramen bar themed with Japanese anime? Wait a minute, that doesn't sound crazy after all. It makes all kinds of sense. And these sliders, though painfully sweet with their sugary teriyaki glaze and Hawaiian-style sweet buns, are actually pretty tasty and almost addictive. The meat is something of an afterthought, a little beefnugget without much flavor, but there is crisp lettuce, ripe tomatoes, melty American cheese and extra sugar sauce on top. We might not be able to get into the anime stuff, but it's pretty easy to sit in this funky little joint and munch on these baby burgs.

Vegetable Masala Burger

Vegetable Masala Burger

homemade

B

Veggie burgers: not boring. This is Trader Joe's Vegetable Masala Burger, a vegan patty sold frozen made of potatoes, carrots, green beans, bread crumbs, bell peppers, onions, corn, ginger and a significant bit of spice. It's kind of the filling from a delicious samosa molded into burger form. So it's good, and we don't have to do much to make it so ... just grilled it up and dropped it on a kaiser roll with red leaf lettuce, tomato, red onion and spicy garlic mustard. Just another reason not to hate TJ's.

Swan Mi

Swan Mi at Marche Bacchus/Jet Tila Pop Up Dinner

marchebacchus.com

A

This is a very special posting to allsandwich, because it's a one-off sandwich that we will likely never taste again. It's a damn shame, too, because it's one of the best banh mi sandwiches we've ever tasted.

Just yesterday we got the news that chef Joe Swan is leaving his post at the brilliant French bistro Marche Bacchus. This, too, is a damn shame, because he's a very talented young chef who has seemingly done the impossible by improving the already stellar menu at one of Las Vegas' favorite neighborhood restaurants. Recently, Swan and his team hosted chef Jet Tila for a one-night-only collaboration pop up dinner, featuring dishes with a French-Asian twist. The "Swan Mi" was one of the highlights: house-made pork and duck liver lop cheung, pate, garlic aioli, mimolette, and Sichuan pickled daikon and peppers on the always-perfect Marche Bacchus baguette. It was a crispy, crunchy, meaty masterpiece, a wild combination of flavors of textures. It was delicious, so good that after a few too many glasses of wine we found ourselves in the parking lot yelling something like, "You should start a Marche Bacchus Swan Mi food truck!"

Best of luck to chef Swan; we hope sometime, somewhere, someone else gets to eat this wonderful sandwich.

Kalbi Burger

Kalbi Burger at Bachi Burger

bachiburger.com

A

Oh sweet lord, my infatuation with Asian burgers continues. Bachi's Kalbi Burger grinds some sweet piggy into the beefy patty, adding to the juicy succulence of this perfectly sized sandwich, and spices things up with soy, garlic, ginger and chili paste. You will definitely notice, with your first bite, that this isn't just some vaguely Asian-flavored burger. It's definitely got that Kalbi short ribs-barbecue-ish tang. On a soft, nicely chewy bun, there's also lettuce, kim chee, green onions and something called Ko Chu Jang mayo. Wonderfulness abounds, with the great texture of the meat swimming in the sharply flavored, distinctly Korean glaze and the slightly funky -- in a good way -- kim chee packing some crisp punch.