This is the same business I've been looking for, now 3 years & counting, & under its original name Banh Mi Nui located inside Pacific Produce, an Asian grocery on S. 27th St. (there's a Pacific Produce in the north side of MKE as well).
It's the seemingly innocuous convo that I was having as I ordered my roasted chicken banh mi, that Banh Mi Nui closed down inside that grocery store because of cleanliness & hygiene issues with the Pacific Produce management, & moved downtown under a new name, namely Xankia & is also under changed ownership.
Now it all makes sense to witness the disappearance of a tasty joint & not find a banh mi that truly surpasses all. Unfortunately, as much as I should rationally like Xankia's banh mi over others, it's sadly not the best at all. When it was Banh Mi Nui, it was better as I recall.
Well, which one holds that title of the tastiest, most authentic banh mi in MKE?
It's none other than the lone ranger outside Pacific Produce called Pho Viet. Yes, Pho Viet!
Pho Viet may have certain staff members' inhospitality, but it has been ordained by the Banh Mi gods to bring us mortals a taste of immortality, of flesh & savories, of herbs divine & succulent, with vinegar, of undercut with the fragrance of grilled chicken in its truest sense, & with all due respect, Xankia fails. However, Xankia's baguette bread is far better than that of Pho Viet's.
Since it left the deep vestiges of that Asian grocery, the grilled chicken banh mi isn't fully roasted nor properly charred at all, & it doesn't have that buttery soft flavor nor the meaty goodness on the baguette lying sun-kissed to our mouths.
More stars for the service & the cleanliness than the banh mi itself. If we could have Pho Viet's ingredients with Xankia's bread. Ah, the gods may finally rest in peace as well, let alone us savage mortals.
Read my review on Pho Viet to witness the best banh mi ingredients not the bread, just the ingredients in Milfuckingwaukee! read more