Brisket, rare steak and meatballs are part of the Special Combination pho at Paris Bánh Mì. Orders come with a small plate of basil springs, bean sprouts, lime wedges and jalapeño slices.
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
The bánh mì — a fusion of French and Vietnamese cuisines gathered together into a sandwich roll — is a relatively recent culinary creation, dating back to the 1950s when they first began appearing at Saigon cafes.
Paris Bánh Mì, which recently opened its third Oklahoma location, and the first one in the Tulsa area at 9311 E. 71st St., is an even more recent creation. Founders Hìen Tran, who grew up in Paris, and Doan Nguyen, who owned a chain of bakery shops in Saigon, opened their first shop in Orlando, Florida, in 2019.
Today, there are more than 40 Paris Bánh Mì cafes throughout the United States, including shops in Norman and Edmond.
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Vy Nguyen, one of the co-owners of the Tulsa location, which opened in March in a space that started out as a Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, and later was briefly home to Taqueria King Burrito, said each franchise location is individually owned.
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For Nguyen, it’s also something of a family business. She said most of her co-owners are related and added that this is the family’s first venture into the restaurant world.
“We thought that this had a great, fun menu,” Nguyen said. “It’s also a little unique, because it’s essentially a fast-food restaurant. There are a lot of great Vietnamese restaurants in Tulsa, but they are more sit-down restaurants.”
Paris Bánh Mì specializes in the titular sandwiches, offering eight varieties. All sandwiches are dressed with cucumber, pickled daikon radish and carrots, sliced jalapeño, cilantro and a house-made mayonnaise, and are filled with an array of pork items, from the traditional pâté, ham and barbecued pork to grilled pork, shredded chicken and a vegetarian option made with dried soybean curd marinated in lemongrass and soy sauce.
The Special Combination includes four preparations of pork along with daikon radish and carrots that are pickled in-house, cucumber, cilantro and jalapeño slices.
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
These sandwiches are served on baguettes — “That’s where the ‘Paris’ in the name comes from, because we use baguettes,” Nguyen said, smiling. Some of the sandwiches are also available on croissants and burger buns, if desired.
The menu also includes four types of pho, the popular Vietnamese noodle soup, and an array of Korean-style corn dogs, along with some resolutely American dishes, such as fried chicken.
“Because every restaurant is individually owned, the menus are not all exactly the same,” Nguyen said. “I think we’re the only (Paris Bánh Mì) in Oklahoma that offers fried chicken.”
Over the course of a few visits, we endeavored to hew to the Vietnamese offerings, beginning with a pair of bánh mì sandwiches, the Special Combination and the Vegetarian ($6.95 each).
The baguettes are about a foot long and contain a fairly generous amount of fillings. The Special Combination has four kinds of pork — the pâté, ham, barbecued pork and a kind of cold cut simply called “pork roll.” The bread’s exterior was crispy, but easy to bite through, and the flavors worked well together. The soy product in the vegetarian sandwich might have had a touch too much soy sauce, as it was noticeably salty, but otherwise was quite tasty.
Korean-style hot dogs at Paris Bánh Mì can be coated with, from left, Blue Heat Takis, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, cubed potatoes or crushed ramen noodles. Plain dogs are also available.
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
We ordered the pho with meatballs ($13.99), along with an order of egg rolls ($6.99 for three).
“When we started, we thought the broth for the pho wasn’t quite right,” Nguyen said. “We weren’t confident at first about fiddling with things, but as we went on, we knew we had to do something to make the broth more flavorful — more our own. So we added more ingredients and spices until we got it the way we wanted.
“It’s made in a very traditional way,” she said. “We roast the beef bones we use, and everything is stewed overnight, so it’s a true beef broth.”
The pho comes with a small plate of traditional garnishes of basil, bean sprouts, lime wedges and jalapeño slices; sauces such as hoisin, fish sauce and sriracha are available if wanted.
Apparently, each bowl of pho is given several grindings of black pepper just before serving. I didn’t realize this until I took the first sip of the broth and was overwhelmed by black pepper. I’ve nothing against black pepper, but it did take a while for that particular taste to subside. Once it did, the broth was rich and unctuous, with a lot of rice noodles and beef meatballs. The meatballs in pho are supposed to be a bit springy — these were chewier than normal, but the proper flavor was there.
The egg rolls were well-filled with pork and vegetables and fried to a golden brown.
At the photo shoot for this story, we were also able to try some of the Korean corn dogs. “Corn dog” is something of a misnomer, as Nguyen said tapioca flour is used for the batter, and no corn is involved.
“And traditional Korean corn dogs use a fish sausage, which we thought wouldn’t go over so well here,” Nguyen said, grinning.
A lighted replica of the Eiffel Tower greets visitors to Paris Bánh Mì.
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
One can choose from a hot dog, a stick of mozzarella or a mix of the two to be skewered on a stick, battered and fried. Prices range from $5 to $6.99 depending on how the snack is augmented.
It can be covered with small chunks of potato in the batter or rolled in crushed ramen noodles or powdered snack foods such as Flamin’ Hot Cheetos or Blue Heat Takis. While the vivid red and bizarre blue of the snack-coated dogs are definitely eye-catching, we preferred the potato-studded dog, which is a bit like eating a hot dog with fries all at once.
Beverages include milk teas, slushes and fresh and flavored teas, along with some signature drinks, such as Paris by Night ($6.50), made with whole milk, brown sugar and tapioca boba balls. Drink toppings include cheese foam, various jellies and various boba flavors.
One of the unusual drinks offered is made from fresh sugar cane juiced to order. It has a light sweetness and a distinctive vegetal taste.
A large pastry case greets diners as they enter. Nguyen said most of the pastries are not made in-house but purchased from other local bakeries. Other sweets, such as cookies and Danish pastries, are baked in-house.
Paris Banh Mi a new chain of Vietnamese fast food restaurant in Tulsa, OK, July 12, 2024
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
Nguyen said she and her co-owners put a lot of time and money into renovating the location, which includes a lighted replica of the Eiffel Tower.
“We looked at a lot of places, but we really liked the idea of being on the 71st Street corridor,” she said. “The last owners hadn’t made a lot of changes, so we had to do a lot of work to have the kind of atmosphere we wanted. We wanted this to be a place where people felt comfortable to just hang and chill, and enjoy some good food.”
Ube, a purple sweet potato, gives flavor and color to these individual cheesecakes at Paris Bánh Mì.
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
Some of the items in the pastry case at Paris Bánh Mì.
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
Individual Basque-style cheesecakes are shown at Paris Bánh Mì.
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
Paris Bánh Mì has a wide variety of unusual beverages, including, from left, Artichoke Tea, Thai Tea, Sugar Cane juice and Taro Milk Tea.
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
The front of the Tulsa location of Paris Bánh Mì has a substantial patio area.
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
Fresh sugar cane is run through a special machine to extract the juice for the sugar cane drink at Paris Bánh Mì.
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
Vegetarian bánh mì uses a soy-based product that is seasoned with lemongrass and soy sauce.
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
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