I have never been to the Dallas Farmer’s Market downtown, but I am so glad I did! This will be a necessary stop each and every time I’m in the area.
The first place I came across was the outdoor portion of the market, called The Shed.
Packed full of tents and tables selling all kinds of foods, goods, and talent, this market was very large- without being overwhelming. (For example, The Granville Island Farmer’s Market in Vancouver…ridiculously overwhelming.)
We were offered so many free samples of cookies, puddings, bread, hummus, and more. Needless to say, we bought a few delicious items for the road. But I didn’t want to ruin my lunch, which I had been planning for a few days now.
Inside the food area, called The Market, which is the enclosed part of the farmer’s market, are so many great restaurant stands and plenty of seating available…think huge food court.
It would have been hard to decide where to eat if Nammi was not there. But when I hear one of the best banh mis in the area are at this farmer’s market, there’s no wondering about where to eat lunch.
The small food stand, which has been known for its food truck, is located at one end of The Market, so it wasn’t too crowded.
The menu has a few items to choose from: banh mi sandwiches, rice bowls, noodle bowls (vermicelli) and tacos: all that come with many options of protein (honey grilled pork, Asian BBQ pork, lemongrass chicken, lemongrass beef, ginger soy tofu, fried fish patty, and curried cauliflower.
They also have a few sides, such as shrimp chips and fried daikon and carrots. Finally, they have some boba teas and other beverages such as Asian sodas and fancy lemonades (basil and lime).
I didn’t look twice at the menu. I knew what I had to get- Asian BBQ pork banh mi…to split with my husband since we weren’t very hungry after all those samples.
The one sandwich is cut into halves and served with a sriracha mayo and cilantro cream sauce. Looking right on, it looks like a TON of veggies. This is good, but should also come with a TON of meat. After one bite, I knew it definitely delivered on the pork.
There was a very large amount of pork and veggies to top it off. This made the sandwich a little messy, but can a sandwich be good if it isn’t a little messy?
The pork was tender, flavorful, just right. The veggies were fresh and vinegar-y.
The bread was perfect. Really. It was toasted and crunchy on the outside and soft enough and thin enough in the middle that it didn’t take over the sandwich. It just held all its juices and gave a crunch, like a good banh mi sub should. There was some garlic mayo added as well. Though, honestly, I couldn’t taste the garlic. It isn’t the garlic’s fault, everything else was just so flavorful.
The sandwich itself wasn’t spicy (unless you got a bite-full of the thick slice of jalapeño that I picked off (too spicy for me). So, the sriracha mayo added a nice little kick. The cilantro cream was a lovely, as I love cilantro flavors galore on my sandwich. They also had hoisin to add to your sandwich if you prefer.
This was definitely one of the best banh mis I have ever had. And I’ll be back.