Oh Mai and Indochine – two great SLC Vietnamese restaurants

If I had an egg roll or sushi roll for every time some faux-foodie told me a restaurant was fusion cuisine – I’d have enough inventory to operate my very own *non* fusion restaurant. I’d also have plenty left over to pelt at the dilettante too. Actually that’s not a half bad idea, I might start walking around with a pocket full of egg rolls to launch unceremoniously at pompous pinheads. Let’s be clear, a fusion restaurant is not simply a place where you can find a variety of foodstuffs. Otherwise my kitchen pantry would be fusion, as would your local mall food court.

The Banh Mi sandwich is beautiful example of what fusion cuisine *is*. Two cultures meet in a bar, they hang out, have drinks, exchange phone numbers plus ingredients and technique. The result of their encounter is a dish that blends a dash of this, a chop of that, and creates something that makes you slap your forehead – perfect – why didn’t I think of that.

For my money, the finest purveyors of Banh Mi in Salt Lake City are the incredibly humble folks at At Oh Mai. The first of their two locations can be found on State Street, operating from a blink and you’ll miss it building. In case you blink and miss, here’s the restaurant:

(click all images for larger versions)

If you’ve never heard of a Banh Mi sandwich before, don’t worry, you’ll be craving one in just a few minutes. Back to that fusion thing – its a blend of both French and Vietanmese cuisine. A crusty French baguette loaded with deliciousness like pate and pickled veggies often julienned. If you stop by the State Street location of Oh Mai, the restaurant handily offers a cheat sheet as you walk in:

The above creation best represent’s Oh Mai’s “S1” selection, the most authentic (and scary for most I imagine) option, cramming this list of awesomeness into a hefty baton of bread: steamed pork roll, jambon ham, pork head cheese, garlic-butter, pork pate, mayo, cucumber, cilantro, pickled carrots & daikon, salt & pepper, green onion, and jalapeño. Quite frankly its amazing. Amazingly cheap too. The price for this magical treat? $4.18. Yup, four hundred and eighteen pennies. It might just be the apex of price<>flavor in all of SLC.

But wait, pork head cheese, pork roll, er, what now? Don’t worry, you can dip your toes into the world of banh mi far more accessibly than this deep end of the pool. The menu offers tend sandwiches with plenty of more accessible choices such as: Honey Glazed Pork ($4.48), Spicy Beef Short Rib ($5.28) or Yellow Curry Chicken ($4.48). You can also go large on the meat for a trifling $1.28 extra, and add a sunny side up egg for 98 cents. Seeing a theme with those prices?

While sandwiches are the standout stars here, there are other Vietnamese dishes too. Notably, a smattering of rice dishes, salads, more than respectable pho not to mention bun – vermicelli noodle salads. Vegetarians and vegans are catered for well too, as this Vegi Bun ($6.48) attests:

Parking is tight, especially at lunch, so go pre-armed with a quick inspection of Google Street Map. And in something of an American<>Vietnamese fusion, maybe fission would be better – there’s
even a loyalty card program to rack up points for a free banh mi too!

Oh Mai
3425 S State St Salt Lake City, UT 84115
(801) 467-6882
Rating: 5 out of 5. Reviewed by Stuart Melling on Oct 3rd.