Nhu' Lan Bakery--Banh mi in Lincoln Square

Nhu' Lan is a new Vietnamese bakery in Lincoln Square. They seem to have modeled themselves after Ba Le. When we visited on grand opening day last week, they didn't have a menu yet, but when I asked about their banh mi, they said, "You know Ba Le?"

They have a menu now, but most of the banh mi varieties are not available yet. The only options right now seem to be ham and chicken. Here's a picture of the ham banh mi:



They also have sandwich-sized baguettes at 4/$1.00, croissants, and other standard Vietnamese bakery items. The staff is friendly and eager to please--and one of my two sandwiches was made to order. I've been twice now, and while I haven't been blown away, I'd say Nhu Lan is a welcome addition to the neighborhood.

Nhu' Lan Bakery & Sandwiches
2612 W Lawrence
773-878-9898
8am - 8pm
Closed Tuesday

Thanks for posting, tapler. I was curious when I drove by the other night and saw the celebratory grand opening banner, but I didn't stop. I agree that it is a nice addition to the neighborhood!

tapler wrote:Nhu' Lan is a new Vietnamese bakery in Lincoln Square

Tapler,

Glad you posted, I had heard something about Nhu'Lan but could not remember the address or, for that matter, street.

Enjoy,
Gary

LTH,

Stopped in Nhu Lan yesterday, friendly, efficient, inexpensive, couple of tables to eat-in, though they are geared for take-out and, best part, when I walked in from the driving wind and rain, I was greeted by the heaven sent smell of baking bread.

Nhu Lan's $2 banh mi contained jalapeno, cilantro, pickled carrot, cucumber, headcheese, ham and, best of all, a tasty schmear of pork pate. Spring rolls, rice cakes w/mung bean, sticky rice with Chinese sausage and tofu strips and a couple of baguettes rounded out my purchase.



Total came to $12, which, supplemented by triple cream brie and Kettle Spicy Thai potato chips (yes, I know, odd combination), made a nice dinner for my wife and I.



Thanks for the heads up on Nhu Lan Tapler.

Enjoy,
Gary

Thanks for the heads up on this place. I stopped in today for carry-out lunch and really enjoyed it. I ordered their banh mi with ham and pork pate. For $2 I was expecting a fairly small sandwich, so I also got an order of spring rolls. The sandwich was large and loaded with fresh ingredients (headcheese, carrot, cucumber, etc.) - most other restaurants would get away with charging three times the price as Nhu Lan. Their spring rolls were $3.75 for three large rolls (see G Wiv's photo in previous post) and come with a large side of peanut sauce for dipping. All in all a very large and satisfying lunch for under $7. I will definitely be back!

Gary, are the things in your photos that looked like sliced hard-boiled eggs actually the rice cakes? If so, what were they like?

Thanks,

Liz

So Wikipedia says most modern head cheese is made from meat + gelatin (vs boiling of heads, trotters, etc). Anyone know if Viet headcheese is still made the "traditional" way?

FYI: Make your own headcheese:
http://www.blogjam.com/2006/10/11/head-cheese/

Jay K wrote:So Wikipedia says most modern head cheese is made from meat + gelatin (vs boiling of heads, trotters, etc). Anyone know if Viet headcheese is still made the "traditional" way?

Wikipedia if correct, is probably referring to mass production.
Non-Viet, but I recall some excellent head cheese, if a touch heavy on the garlic, at Saravale Meat Market. (pics here, some comments here)

geli wrote:Gary, are the things in your photos that looked like sliced hard-boiled eggs actually the rice cakes?

Yes.

geli wrote:If so, what were they like?

Rice cake was neutral flavored with a dense, but not unpleasantly so, texture. Oddly, I'd swear the orange mung bean was egg yoke, but the nice lady at Nhu Lan made a point of saying it was mung bean and very healthy.

Enjoy,
Gary

I stopped in today and had a lemongrass pork sandwich - and I do say, I enjoyed it a lot, better than a Ba Le sandwich even.

Also, have they raised their prices? You mention them as being $2, Gary, but they're now all $2.50 and $2.75.

I also grabbed one of their freshly made danishes and found it good, nothing exceptional though.

YUM - Ba Le, with cheaper prices (oh, nittling over $0.50, hah!) and less crowds. I dig it.

Looks like the word is getting out..... or is about to get out. I popped in today and what do ya know? Steve "the Hungry Hound" Dolinsky was in there doing a segment - I thought I heard him say it will air May 2nd. In any case, my sandwich and spring rolls were great - and the folks running the place are extremely friendly.

I ordered the shrimp spring rolls and chicken sandwich today. The chicken was shredded dark meat and extremely tender. I believe I saw it referenced as "butter chicken" somewhere in the store. It had plenty of cilantro, sliced jalapenos, julienned cucumber and carrot and what appeared to be daikon radish. I also bought a bottle of water and two sandwich-sized baguttes for later and it came to about $9.00. I was also surprised by the size of the sandwich which was $2.50. I will definitely be going back on a regular basis.

Hi everyone--

I've been wanting to try banh mi for a while, and there's all this buzz about Nhu Lan, and I just finished up school for the semester, and it's a nice day for a bike ride, and so....

I rode down there from Evanston (makes it OK to eat all that pork, right?). While I was there I slurped down an iced Vietnamese coffee, yummy, and took a #2 (I think) and some chinese sausage spring rolls to go, as well as a couple of baguettes.

The sandwich was very good, and I am usually not much of meat eater. It had pate, ham, and pork roll. They made it fresh. The pate was nice and garlicky, the mayo was delicious, and the veggies were crunchy and a little sweet from the pickled radish, although it was missing jalapeno-- aren't they supposed to have chili? The bread was fresh and had a nice crust. All in all I think it's a great place although I have no basis of comparison.

I spoke with the owner, Lee, and he said the Hungry Hound episode will be on tomorrow at 11 am. He was super friendly and was thrilled that I heard about his place from a website.

Off topic, I am going to start a little ongoing event in which I find one new place from this forum a week to try, with the catch being that I must bike there. That should make the project less risky for my rear end.

Beth

zgbethie wrote:While I was there I slurped down an iced Vietnamese coffee, yummy, and took a #2

How were the bathrooms?

ya know, I just took the #2 right outside and put it in my bike bag, so I don't know

but it's a good question.

Beth

zgbethie wrote:ya know, I just took the #2 right outside and put it in my bike bag, so I don't know

but it's a good question.

Beth

I'm not sure whether to laugh or not at this.....

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

move along. nothing to see here.

How perfect is it that this place is on the same side of the street and right near HarvesTime? I must check out Nhu' Lan the next time I shop at HarvesTime.

Lunch with a friend turns into a youtube video of Nhu Lan and it's dee-licious and interesting food selections...

I Love Nhu Lan!

the sandwiches we had were the #2 Pork Roll, Ham and Pate, and the #4 Roast Pork, which had a nice lemongrass flavor.

LTH,

Passed Nhu Lan on the way home from lunch at Siam Noodle and Rice and thought "perfect" for a light dinner.

Nhu Lan


9 types of Banh Mi, couple of types of spring rolls and assorted freshly made Vietnamese bread, pastries and snacks.





There are a number of house made drinks available, basil seed, coconut and bean, snow-white and moderate. I understand the fact snow-white is a euphemistic name, but moderate, that's a word I am completely unfamiliar with.

Moderate Drink


A sampling of Nhu Lan's offerings made for a inexpensive healthy fresh bright flavored meal for my wife and I.



A few additional pictures may be found here
Enjoy,
Gary

Living in the neighborhood temporarily I just stopped in last week.
Took home plain croissants, a sort of round cheese danish-esque thing, a square of coconut sweet roll, and spring rolls.

Spring rolls very fresh and tasty.
"Sweet rolls" (don't know what the appropriate nomenclature is) very nice with weekend coffee.
Have to say that I didn't 'get' the croissants. Rather heavy if you're looking for a French style, and on top of that definitely sweetened, both the dough and a glaze on the top. Not terrible if I mentally recategorize this as a sweet roll to go with coffee, but no way a crossant in my universe.
Owner very friendly, everything looking fresh and attractive. Looking forward to investigating the banh mi.
Prices "cheap like borsht" as they used to say in my family (though I don't know if the expression is proverbial, or just familial.)

Living just a couple blocks from Nhu' Lan, I've had many opportunities to sample their goods and I'm happy to welcome them to the neighborhood. I find that every time I go to Harvestime, it's too difficult for me not to stop in at Nhu' Lan, which is just steps away and on my way home. And the folks at Nhu' Lan could not be any more friendly or welcoming.

My favorite items on the menu are the Banh Mi . . . particularly #5 which is the pate and pork belly. This has taken over as my favorite sandwich in Chicago (now that CS is closed and I can't find a good pork belly and sweet potato sandwich anywhere). The sandwich is large, served on a crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, french roll. Great crunch, sweetness and spice (although I typically ask for a little extra hot pepper). Nhu' Lan's other Banh Mi are very good, but this is by far my favorite.

I've assumed that they bake their own rolls, which are a steal at 4/$1.00, but I have not asked. They're quite good. I too though am not enamored with their croissants. They're not particularly flaky and they are sweet-glazed.

As for the moderate drink, the presence of seaweed has deterred me from trying this to date. Every time I see it, all that I can think of is that awful feeling of accidentally swallowing seawater at the beach. But I'll get around to trying it . . . one day I suppose.

Wanted to correct a misimpression in my brief account above. They make both sweet/glazed criossants, AND regular french style. They just didn't have the latter available on my first first visit. That said, having tried the classic version, it was OK, but nothing to write home about.
I did, however, try the #4 roast pork banh mi, which, at that moment, was so what I needed that it really rocked my world.
It seems to take the reliable standard Vietnamese pork with chili and lemongrass stir fry (usually just sitting on some rice), and make it sublime by dropping it into the nice crusty roll and then adding the wonderfully piquant accents of julienned carrot, daikon?, good mayo, and just the right amount of jalapeno. This takes a decent dish with about 2 layers of flavor and adds enough ornamentation to make it really sing. I walked home, ate it, and very nearly walked right back for another.
I'm also becoming very partial to the tall cans of roasted coconut juice drink that are sold both in the cooler there, and in Harvest foods nearby for about $1.09. It is sweet, but not Coke sweet, and includes lovely tiny cubes of cocounut floating throughout. Just the thing to wash down a slightly spicy banh mi (if you don't count a good beer).

mrbarolo wrote:Wanted to correct a misimpression in my brief account above. They make both sweet/glazed criossants, AND regular french style. They just didn't have the latter available on my first first visit. That said, having tried the classic version, it was OK, but nothing to write home about.
I did, however, try the #4 roast pork banh mi, which, at that moment, was so what I needed that it really rocked my world.
It seems to take the reliable standard Vietnamese pork with chili and lemongrass stir fry (usually just sitting on some rice), and make it sublime by dropping it into the nice crusty roll and then adding the wonderfully piquant accents of julienned carrot, daikon?, good mayo, and just the right amount of jalapeno. This takes a decent dish with about 2 layers of flavor and adds enough ornamentation to make it really sing. I walked home, ate it, and very nearly walked right back for another.
I'm also becoming very partial to the tall cans of roasted coconut juice drink that are sold both in the cooler there, and in Harvest foods nearby for about $1.09. It is sweet, but not Coke sweet, and includes lovely tiny cubes of cocounut floating throughout. Just the thing to wash down a slightly spicy banh mi (if you don't count a good beer).

I have to say that I've never seen their plain, non-glazed croissants (I've seen non-glazed with ham filling) . . . but obviously that doesn't mean they don't have them. But the glaze wasn't the only issue I had with the croissants. I'm not a real big fan of their sticky rice in lotus leaf either. The texture is great and it is wrapped beautifully, but it's a tad bland in my opinion -- probably nothing a little hot sauce couldn't cure, but more flavor is needed. I much prefer the spring rolls. And their Banh Mi are really excellent and reason enough for me to visit there.

mrbarolo wrote:I did, however, try the #4 roast pork banh mi, which, at that moment, was so what I needed that it really rocked my world.
It seems to take the reliable standard Vietnamese pork with chili and lemongrass stir fry (usually just sitting on some rice), and make it sublime by dropping it into the nice crusty roll and then adding the wonderfully piquant accents of julienned carrot, daikon?, good mayo, and just the right amount of jalapeno..

That's funny, I had a #4 there myself today, I had never noticed the mayo on that sandwich before. If I had been given the option I probably would have refused the mayo, but I must say it did add just the right amount of flavor to an already terrific sandwich.

BR wrote:I'm not a real big fan of their sticky rice in lotus leaf either. The texture is great and it is wrapped beautifully, but it's a tad bland in my opinion -- probably nothing a little hot sauce couldn't cure, but more flavor is needed.

These are a tad different than the "lotus-leaf wrapped sticky rice" you get at dim-sum. Traditionally they are a little more "bland," b/c most people eat it either drizzled w/ a little soy or dipped into a little soy. The "sweet" ones are likewise bland (filled w/ red bean, etc) and each morsel you "tear off" with your chopsticks dipped into sugar (if not sprinkled on top).

I'm assuming you mean these:

Jay K wrote:These are a tad different than the "lotus-leaf wrapped sticky rice" you get at dim-sum. Traditionally they are a little more "bland," b/c most people eat it either drizzled w/ a little soy or dipped into a little soy. The "sweet" ones are likewise bland (filled w/ red bean, etc) and each morsel you "tear off" with your chopsticks dipped into sugar (if not sprinkled on top).

I'm assuming you mean these:

I would say that your picture represents what they traditionally look like . . . except that I would say that Nhu' Lan takes more care than most to make the packages of sticky rice look like wonderfully wrapped holiday gifts, each one an almost perfectly shaped triangle and wrapped with string. The appearance and texture are better than I have ever seen.

BR wrote:I would say that your picture represents what they traditionally look like . . . except that I would say that Nhu' Lan takes more care than most to make the packages of sticky rice look like wonderfully wrapped holiday gifts, each one an almost perfectly shaped triangle and wrapped with string.

This?


or this?


or perhaps these?


But certainly not these:


But how 'bout in here...

I went this past weekend for the first time. Split pork belly and meatball sandwiches (the former is delicious, the latter is more like a sloppy joe than a meatball and was a bit too spicy for me)
this is my new favorite cheap sandwich spot after the latin american sandwich cafe

What a neat little place!

Stopped for take-out yesterday afternoon after ditching the Kennedy which was backed up from the Edens construction. I bought:

(1) Pork belly & Pate Banh Mi
(1) 'Butter Chicken' Banh Mi
(1) Vegetable (marinated tofu?) Banh Mi
(6) Shrimp Spring Rolls
(3) Vegetable Spring Rolls
(6) (small) Shrimp Crepes
(1) Vietnamese Iced Coffee to-go
(1) can Mango Juice

I drizzled the vinegary sauce that came with the crepes on the banh mi, then dipped the sandwich in the 'plum' sauce that came with the spring rolls, which were probably the freshest I've tasted to date. Just delicious. And the iced coffee gave me the strength to fight the traffic.

The bill was $30.