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Saigon Bánh Mì So 1

Here’s another bit of a taste test. I previously reviewed Saigon Bakery’s bánh mì and figured it would be a good idea to review Saigon Bánh Mì So 1, which is a block away around the corner on Broome St. I ordered their #1 House Special, which is pretty much your standard bánh mì with pork roll, grilled pork and ‘vietnamese salami,’ and their Vietnamese Meatball sandwich.

I have been coming to Saigon Bánh Mì So 1 for about a year and have always found their sandwiches to be quite delicious, but I think recently the quality is starting to suffer a little. The tiny storefront has recently expanded and with it comes a price increase from $3.50 to $4.25. A bit of a steep hike if I do say so…

The House Special is pretty tasty, but I found the sandwich to be a little less bulging than Saigon Bakery’s. The baguette was also a little bit dry and harder to eat. I like my bánh mìs overflowing with pork! Either way, the sandwich is still great but a little dry overall. Saigon Bakery’s sandwich comes with much more mayonnaise which significantly alters the texture. That being said, Saigon Bánh Mì So’s sandwich is still very deliciously spiced and maybe it was just an off-day, I know for certain that I’ve had some great sandwiches from here.

I usually find something I like and repeatedly get the same thing, but attempting to be adventurous I also got their Vietnamese meatball sandwich. I think this sandwich had a larger helping of meat and was definitely more moist (a little moist actually). The meatball was tasty and I enjoyed that the sandwich wasn’t as dry, but I still think the House Special is a superior sandwich, quite simply because the combination of pork is more interesting. The meatball had a bit of a boring flavor. I will have to see how Saigon Bakery’s meatball bánh mì compares.

So, at the moment I’d have to hand it to Saigon Bakery for consistency on sandwich quality. I have had great experiences at Saigon Bánh Mì So 1 but I have found that recently, the sandwiches are a little too dry and not as jam-packed as they once were, and with the recent price hike I’d probably hit up Saigon Bakery because it’s only a block away. Regardless, I’ll keep coming back.

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Glory

From Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts:

And Nazeer raised his assault rifle, and fired as he ran, and I saw Mahmoud Melbaaf firing ahead of me, on my right, where Suleiman had been, and I raised my weapon, and pulled the trigger.

There was a horrible,  blood-freezing scream somewhere very close. I suddenly recognized it as my own, but I couldn’t stop it. And I looked at the men, the brave and beautiful men beside me, running into the guns, and God help me for thinking it, and God forgive me for saying it, but it was glorious, it was glorious, if glory is a magnificent and raptured exaltation. It was what love would be like, if love was a sin. It was what music would be, if music could kill you. And I climbed a prison wall with every running step.

I just finished Shantaram yesterday and I must say, it is easily my favorite novel. This book is an amazing piece of autobiographical fiction. In an interview with CNN Talk Asia, Roberts mentions that all the events are real but the characters are imagined, leaving us with a psuedo-true story piece of literary genius. Roberts’ story is fascinating. After his marriage broke down and he lost custody of his daughter, Roberts turned to heroin, and committed a series of robberies with an imitation pistol, eventually leading to a 19-year conviction in Australia’s maximum-security Pentridge Prison. He escaped to become one of Australia’s most wanted men and spent ten years as a fugitive in Bombay where he established a free health clinic while living in the slum, became involved with the Bombay mafia, working as a counterfeiter, smuggler, gunrunner, and street soldier, and went to war in Afghanistan to fight with the mujahedin.

Eventually, Roberts was recaptured and served out his sentence and finished Shantaram, of which the first two drafts (600 pages of work) were destroyed in prison.

With Shantaram, Roberts uses elements of his life to craft a thrilling novel about love, life, adventure, friendship, betrayal, exile and freedom. You might think that reading this 933-page book would be a daunting task, but the book is beautifully written and its pages go by all too fast. Read this book.

Gregory David Roberts is a pretty serious badass. I recommending watching the whole CNN Talk Asia interview.

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Some Christmas Comic Recommendations

Here are some things to add to your belated Christmas queue! Anyway – I’m at my parents’ house for Christmas and seeing the heaping piles that make up my comic book collection.

During my novel-hiatus I filled my reading void with a lot of comic books. My renewed interest in comics towards the end of 2007 when Rob Schrab announced that, after 10 years, he would be completing his independent comic book series, Scud: The Disposable Assassin.

I read Scud when I was a kid, and I remember Schrab left the series on it’s 20th issue with a giant cliffhanger. I loved the Scud world and it’s spinoff series La Costra Nostroid and the one-off Drywall: Unzipped.

Scud takes place in a world where people buy weapons from vending machines. Frequently, people buy robot assassins to that self-destruct after killing their intended target. Our hero is a Scud, Heart Breaker 1373 series, who is given a mission to kill Jeff, “a crazy plug-headed mutant armageddon on two legs” with mousetraps for hands and a squid used as a belt. While looking in the mirror, Scud notices his warning label, mentioning that he will self-destruct after termination of his target. He resolves to blast off Jeff’s arms and legs and put her on life support to ensure both of their survivals. The story follows Scud as he becomes involved with the cyborg mafia, killing to pay Jeff’s hospital bills and even falls in love. Anyway, the story gets pretty crazy and it’s all collected in the omnibus entitled Scud: The Whole Shebang.

Also published by Fireman was Douglas TenNapel’s (of The Neverhood and Earthworm Jim fame), a six issue mini-series. This comic follows four cats who hijack a giant robot. There’s robots, insects, dogs, betrayal, legends, and war. This is an awesome little comic series and is now available in color! TenNapel’s Gear was later turned into a a very, very light-hearted adaption called Catscratch which aired on Nickelodeon for 20 episodes.

Jeff Smith’s Bone is another independent comic I read when I was a kid but never managed to catch the entire story until the whole thing was released as a collection. I think Bone is possibly my favorite comic book of all time (to be politically correct for my nerds everywhere – I am referring to graphic novels… comics in general I’d have to hand it to Calvin & Hobbes). The comic spanned 55 issues, running irregularly from 1991 to 2004 and follows the three Bone cousins, Fone Bone, “Phoney” Bone, and Smiley Bone, who are run out of their hometown Boneville and are separated by a swarm of locusts. They end up in a fantasy landscape and follow a story arc with epic proportions that match The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This comic is amazing. I urge you to read this 1300-page behemoth.

My last recommendation here is the Cerebus the Aardvark series. Dave Sim’s Cerebus is another independent comic book and is the longest-running English language comic book by one creative team. The series ran from December 1977 to March 2004, totaling 300 issues (about 6,000 pages). The series has been collected by story arcs in 16 separate bound editions. This comic offers lavish art and really stretches the boundaries of comic book storytelling. Sims was joined by Gerhard from issue 65 onward. Gerhard rendered highly detailed backgrounds from the rest of the series while Sims wrote and drew the characters. The comic book, initially more of a hero fantasy series, moves into an intense political satire and drama. On that note, I haven’t even finished reading this series yet… I’ve made it up to the 10th book. I’ll have to get on that. It’s hard to really sum up what goes on in this comic and there are drastic differences from the first story arc to the next. From the second book Cerebus continues a little more cohesively. Anyway, definitely a work of art- start at book one!

Figured I’d end this one with a Calvin & Hobbes strip that still manages to bring tears to my eyes. Appropriate with our recent New York weather, I’m looking outside a window of my parents’ suburban home to see beautiful untouched snow.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

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WESC Maraca Headphones

So, I bought a pair of WESC’s Maraca Headphones a few months back. It’s surprising, even to me, that as a musician, I don’t own a pair of high-end headphones. While WESC’s headphones are obviously not the cream of the crop, they’re nice headphones with a pretty good sound and a worthy price. Did I also mention that they are slick and fashionably vintage? I have them in their “Marshmallow” color, although I still can’t figure what’s marshmallow about them, but they look pretty baller.

That being said, I really should invest in some nice headphones from a company known for their audio prowess. What really draws me to WESC’s headphones is that they sound considerably better than the standard iPod earbuds and look cool.

The other big point I’m getting to is- these things are awesome in the winter. They are currently doubling as earmuffs, keeping my ears quite warm while bangin’ out some good commuting tunes. Yet another distraction to assist in making me unaware of what’s going on in the street. For anyone who doesn’t know, I walk and read.

Anyway, I encourage you to nab a pair. $55 bucks! I’ve seen them at AC Gears but I copped mine at Dijital Fix on Bedford Ave in Williamsburg.

We Are The Superlative Conspiracy Website

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Mmmm. Fresh sneaks. Generic Surplus.

Just got a pair of these bad boys – Generic Surplus‘ Pointy Oxford sneaks in grey. Gilt deals on sneakers are killing me. Anyway, I love Generic Surplus’ take on turning dress shoes into some awesome sneakers.

Generic Surplus Official Site

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Ah, Snow in Soho

I love a good snow and New York hasn’t had one in a while. Was lucky enough to enjoy it last night before all the plowing in the early morning.

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Bergen to Oslo – 7 Hour Train Ride in HD

This is pretty cool. Norwegian public broadcaster NRK is offering 7 hours of raw footage of a train ride from Bergen to Oslo as a torrent (clocking in at 21.5 gigs). They’ve also made this footage available with a Creative Commons-license meaning you are free to share the work and adapt it. Will probably put some of it to music in the future.

Get the footage here (via BoingBoing)

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In Search of Ice-Cream Sandwiches

So, this dates back to September but I didn’t have this lil’ blog disaster then so I figured it’d be a good place to proclaim my deep love for It’s-It ice cream sandwiches.

We saw a recommendation from Time Out New York for a little bar in Park Slope called Pacific Standard. In the brief description it was mentioned that there were great ice cream sandwiches to enjoy with a beer (accompanied by a mouth-watering photo).

Gao Di and I set out on a Saturday with ice cream sandwiches on the brain. We first ended up at a random indoor German beer garden, the name now escapes me. We shared a brat and some beer and then stumbled into Habana Outpost for some more beer and their delicious corn, mmm.

Eventually we found our intended destination, Pacific Standard. The bar was a lot more low-key than I had been expecting. It was rather large and pretty empty. That being said, it was a lazy Saturday around 4pm. Here’s where I got a little confused. All along I had been assuming that the ice-cream sandwiches were fresh made at the bar, but staring at the menu I learned that they were actually It’s-It Ice cream sandwiches… from San Francisco!

A little upset that they weren’t made in-house, I still ordered one. Gotta stick to the plan!

The IT’S-IT ice-cream sandwich is a scoop of ice cream (mint in this chase), sandwiched between two oatmeal cookies and covered in dark chocolate. It is amazing. MMMMMM. And great with a beer! If you take a look at It’s-It’s website you even can get a box shipped over to you but it’s expensive and the absolute opposite of cost-effective, so if you are in New York, head over to Park Slope and experience an It’s-It.

We passed out in the train on our way home and ended up in K-Town where we indulged even further.

Sundubu yes…..

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Concert Goers WHY.

I have recently started to notice that every time I go to a concert…. it seems that whenever anyone needs to get anywhere, they decide that the best route just happens to be RIGHT BY ME. This is probably something that everybody goes through and complains about to their friends, it wouldn’t surprise me. People often tend to inconvenience me by the following methods: holding up their filled-to-the-brim beer and letting it spill all over everyone around as they get by (a brilliant idea, honestly), awkwardly touching me (when absolutely unnecessary) or holding on to my shoulder as they pass through, standing for a while flustered and annoyed before charging through. Generally, I think there’s no good excuse to awkwardly grabbing/patting/touching when you need to get through a group of people.

When did we stop learning how to say excuse me?

On the other hand, yesterday  I was at a Neon Indian show at Brooklyn Bowl where we put all of our jackets and bags into a relatively inconspicuous pile in the middle of the standing area. If you are coming from afar it looks just there is just a random hole in the middle of the crowd. I watched countless people walk all the way up to it only to notice it and then walk around. My favorite, however, was a guy who walked forward with his beer, not noticing it was there until it was too late. His first step was a folly, he attempted to compensate thinking the pile must end sometime soon. His beer spilled everywhere and he fell in the most ridiculous slow motion into our well cushioned pile. Wish I caught video.

This was a very unfocused rambling.

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Wow Heernt Rules. Typewriter = sweet instrument

Okay, yet another awesome recommendation from Ian. This band, led by drummer Mark Guiliana, is amazing. Not only does he play drums on the album, he also plays trombone and the typewriter. Neal Persiani lays down some serious bass groove and at times plays the… steel pan? Zac Colwell rocks the tenor sax, Juno-60 (awesome Roland synth), guitar, flute and alto sax. This is a really talented band with some hard grooves and confusing time changes that are still somehow so smooth.

These two tracks are some of my favorites on the album, some typewriter action and some bizarre time changes from 5 to 4. No sax love on these tracks, though. Anyway, there’s lots more kicking ass on the whole thing and some borderline cheesy yet profoundly tasteful synthesizer sounds. Buy Buy Buy.

Listen:

1. Heernt - Locked In The Basement

2. Heernt - make me dance, make me dance

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Bánh Mì Saigon Bakery

I have a deep, deep love for bánh mì – the vietnamese sandwich. Coming about during the period of French colonialism in Indochina, the bánh mì combines the ingredients of both Vietnamese and French cultures. The bánh mì traditionally consists of ham, pork roll, minced barbecue pork, picked carrots, daikon radish, cucumber, cilantro, pork liver pate – all sandwiched in a crisp french baguette. The sheer amount of pork products ensure an always enjoyable experience.

Bánh Mì Saigon Bakery is located at 138 Mott St. and doubles as a sandwich stand and jewelry store. There’s a lot of hype about this place and there’s generally a line but the bánh mì is worth it.

Saigon Bakery’s bánh mì features a hefty portion of sweet glazed barbecue pork and the addition of mayonnaise makes the sandwich a hit. When you ask for spicy, you get ridiculously fresh jalapeños. My general complaint about bánh mì’s is that they are usually not packed tight enough to have a cohesive flavor, and I feel like I’m getting every bit of taste in sections. As pictured, you can see how the barbecue pork is off to one side while the pork roll with carrots and daikon are off to the other one. Very minor annoyance. Sandwich is still delicious. At $3.75, Saigon Bakery’s #1 bánh mì is huge bang for your buck. A big-ass tasty sandwich filled to the brim of the baguette! Go get one! The line goes fast!

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Lone – Ecstasy & Friends

Ecstasy & Friends is a pretty sweet album I stumbled on the other day- an example of something I listened to based purely on cool album art.  Matt Cutler (known here as Lone) is a UK electronic musician that says his influences are bands like Boards of Canada and Madlib. Super cool, dance-y, hip-hoppy, electronic jams. Feels to me to be somewhere in between Machinedrum and Neon Indian.

Although I think a lot of the album sounds pretty similar, it has some fun badass beats. Would fit perfectly in the 1995 futuristic racing game, wipE’out’, anyone remember that game? (that game had awesome music)  Anyway – check Lone out.

Listen:

1. Lone - Go Greenhills Racer

2. Lone - Karen Loves Kate

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Beerlao Dark – Try this beer.

I had the pleasure of trying Beerlao Dark during Peep’s happy hour. My first introduction to Beerlao was with their lager at Bia Garden. The lager is good but a dark Beerlao is great. Its flavor is dark but not heavy, and although it comes from Laos, it reminds me of my favorite Czech darks like Kozel and Krušovice. Anything that channels memories of Kozel = awesome. Beerlao, I approve!

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The Considered Ensemble

This is a pretty cool concept for a website – “a platform showcasing meticulous outfit choices from individuals around the world.”  The site features purely text descriptions of outfits written by the wearer. The Considered Ensemble is curated, so they decide what gets published and what doesn’t. I weaseled my way on there. I feel legitimized. Submit yours!

The Considered Ensemble (via DesignNotes)

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Machinarium – Making Adventure Games Cool Again

Brought to you by Czech independent game studio Amanita Design, is Machinarium, the coolest adventure game I’ve played in years. This game brings me back memories of old LucasArts classics like Full Throttle, Sam and Max: Hit The Road, and the Monkey Island series. The game also draws a lot of similarities to my all-time favorite adventure game, The Neverhood, which I’ll have to devote a whole post to at another time…

Machinarium won the award for “Excellence in Visual Art” in the 2009 Independent Game Festival and it shows. You find yourself immersed in the game’s beautiful hand-drawn world. You control a little robot, thrown out with the trash, to rescuing his girlfriend and thwarting a terrorist attack. The music is also amazing and really adds to making the world feel complete.

The game features no text and the story unfolds through series of animated speech bubbles with cute and emotive robot grunts, showing you flashbacks and giving you ideas of what to do next. To get through each stage you need to solve a series of puzzles, and thankfully, most of the items you need to solve each puzzle are contained within the levels. The puzzles are fun and challenging, save for one nearly impossible game of Gomoku, or Connect-Five. There are only a few instances where you need to use items from other screens, so the experience is a lot less frustrating than some of the LucasArts games that got you caught missing one item from who knows where.

That being said, aside from certain puzzles taking a long time to figure out, the game felt a little short once it was all said and done. Machinarium’s world is beautiful but we don’t get to see enough of it! My only other nit-picky issue is that you can only bring our hero to specific walking points, meaning when you click an area, you are stuck waiting for him to get there, or hoping he can hurry back fast enough. There is no in-between. This means that every point you can take the robot is an important point, which helps in a way, but becomes a little cumbersome. There is also one instance where an action item is stuck to a ceiling and because it’s so dark, it’s hard to notice it’s there! Anyway, very little gripes.

Beautiful art, great music, fun puzzles, cute robots- I want a sequel.

Get it now – if you buy it digitally you get the soundtrack, too! If you’ve got a PC, nab The Neverhood while you’re at it.

More screenshots after the jump… (more…)