Ba Le Bakery, Deli and Soup House, Falls Church, Virginia

After picking up a banh mi at Bếp Việt, Doug Herbert and I drove over to Ba Le. It sits at 2822 Graham Road, just off US 29, between 29 and US 50, in one of the many strip shopping centers that bedeck much of Northern Virginia commercial areas.

There are a few tables outside, and various grocery and prepared items inside.

Doug and I looked at the menu and discussed what to order. I noticed a special, banh mi nem chua ($8.95), which they translated as fermented pork. We ordered it with extra jalapeños. Here it is, back at Doug and Tony’s place.

Let’s see what’s inside.

The red at the bottom is the fermented pork, and it was not what I expected. Doug characterized it as tasting like ham that had been refrigerated too long. I expected some strong flavors like the garlicky, tangy, Laotian fermented pork soup I had once, and instead I got … not much. The flavor was completely overwhelmed with all of those vegetables, enough so that I pulled off a bit of the pork to try by itself and got .. not much. The vegetables were quite tasty, though, so the sandwich overall was pleasant, but it really needed some help. Unfortunately, it didn’t get much from the bread, a glorified soft sub roll. It barely had a crust and lacked flavor.

Once again in a Vietnamese spot, I may have ordered wrong. I have extensive experience with Vietnamese food from doing voting rights work on behalf of Vietnamese Americans, particularly in Houston and Southern California. As it happened, the ordering tended to be done in Vietnamese without consulting me a lot — I try to be agreeable, and if someone asked me, “How about nemchua?” I’d say “Sure!” Consequently, I’m usually ordering blind. I would like to give Ba Le another shot, and welcome your guidance — what should I order, and why that?

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