French Indo-Canada

Just looking at the photo of their bahn mi makes me salivate as I'm writing this.

The truck was outside of the UnFair a few weeks ago and even though I had already eaten lunch a mere hour prior to setting sights on French Indo-Canada's truck, I couldn't pass up getting a bahn mi for the hour long drive I needed to make later to Lexington.

I, like Gregory G, can't be anywhere near most sandwiches that come on a french baguette or any roll that could tear up my mouth with a hard crusty exterior. I think some people might be familiar with the feeling typically paired with nails on a chalkboard, well crunchy baguettes are what make me cringe in painful memories. After I took my first bite, I was so relieved that his words were true - and that even hours later the sandwich tasted absolutely fresh and jam-packed with flavor!

A truck to follow, for sure.

If the line at the Phood Phest at Phoenix Hill was any indication, Rob Ross may have a winner with his new food truck French Indo-Canada. Rob, one of the co-founders of the Holy Mole taco truck, currently serves up two items and he does them well. A foodie version of the bahn mi ($7.00, a Vietnamese sandwich on a French baguette) and the poutine ($6.00, a heart attack in a paper cup).

The bahn mi had many of the same toppings that you get from a typical Vietnamese restaurant -- pickled carrots, pickled radishes, cilantro, jalapeno peppers, shredded pork and Red Rooster sauce -- but Rob adds a dash of "foodiness" which takes it up a notch. First, he serves it on a darn good French baguette. I've had plenty of cheap (think $2.00) bahn mi's back in Cali but the bread was so tough it either 1) tore up the roof of my mouth or 2) strained my jaw. There was no such problem with the bahn mi from FIC. Fresh baguette, buttered and toasted -- amazing. Rob also ups the ante with the meat. Again, back in Cali those $2.00 bahn mi's would come with BBQ pork, but that was a bit of false advertisement. Yes, BBQ pork was involved, but it was more like BBQ pork fat. None of that in FIC's bahn mi's. The meat was flavorful, juicy and lean.

Sadly enough, I opted not to get the poutine. And yes, the dozens and dozens of people walking around the back of Phoenix Hill with their white cups and forks full of greasy, gravy-y, cheese curd-y fries were taunting me all the while.

Needless to say, I'll be hunting FIC and Rob Ross down in the near future so I can get a heart attack in a cup to go with my bahn mi.