Relish: Broadway Cafe
You've probably walked by Broadway Café a million times and never even noticed it. Or maybe you noticed it, but only because it's laden with "No Preservatives!" and "No MSG!" signs. Seattlest used to walk by Broadway Café all the time and think, that place looks scary--as it's not all that clean looking. All it took was one visit and Seattlest became a faithful, lunch-time regular. Broadway Café is where Seattlest goes when we've had a bad morning at work. It's a cozy little place, with friendly owners who act like doting grandparents and tell you to sit while they cook you up something nourishing.
Seattlest has always ordered the pork banh mi, so we can't vouch for the rest of the menu (in fact, one time they were out of banh mi and we tried a chicken stir-fry... and wouldn't recommend it). Luckily, Seattlest is always ready to try new things for the sake of the readers, so today we ordered a beef banh mi. And a pork one.
The beef banh mi came with thin slices of stir-fried beef, layered on a crusty French roll, topped with white onion slivers, tomato slices and a lettuce leaf. The bread is key and Broadway Café's rolls are always good--freshly toasted yet not to the point where it hurts the roof of your mouth. The beef was flavored with copious amounts of ginger, chili sauce and some sort of soy. It was tangy and bordering on too salty, but delicious.
Seattlest was glad to have branched out and tried the beef, but the pork is where it's at. We don't think Broadway Café serves typical pork banh mi--as they're not filled with liver-like, gelatinous, mystery meat--but we like it that way. This meat is hand-shredded, beautiful, moist pork that's been highly seasoned. It's piled on the aforementioned roll, then filled out with thick-cut cucumber rounds, white onions, shredded carrots, tomatoes, cilantro and lettuce (it also comes with jalapeños, but we always opt out). At $4.45, they are more pricey than the banh mi you can get in the ID, but they're worth the splurge.
If you're vegetarian, Broadway Café will also make tofu banh mi (it's not on the menu, so you have to ask). The tofu chunks are stir-fried in a rich, salty sauce (we're guessing a black bean paste) and served on the requisite roll with lots of veggies. Even though we're professed pork-lovers, we have to admit that the tofu banh mi is quite good.
Broadway Café
1519 Broadway
206.323.8116
