The Covid-19 pandemic has temporarily tamed burgeoning Middle Sister Sandwiches, a Buffalo pop-up focused on the Vietnamese banh mi sandwich.
Co-owner Jacque Henry, also a nurse at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, has only limited exposure to Covid-19 patients, but must quarantine whenever she's not at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. That leaves her business partner and sister, Annie, the business' namesake, to handle the orders, cooking and delivery.
So even though Middle Sister Sandwiches might deliver 24 to 36 banh mi – as well as homemade Thai peanut sauce, Vietnamese iced coffee and "Golden Milk," also known as turmeric iced tea – each weekend for now, the potential is far greater.
Two of five adopted sisters from Vietnam, Annie and Jacque started the business last year at the farmers market outside Roswell Park, with a loose focus on Vietnamese cuisine and no fully set menu, but an overarching eagerness to explore and share other cultures – with food as the vessel.
"We connect different people with different cultures that they otherwise might not have been able to find," said Jacque (pronounced like "Jackie"). "We want to teach people, through culture, by [offering] something familiar to them. A sandwich isn't scary."
Their specialty revolves around the classic Vietnamese sandwich found commonly in Buffalo but typically lacking the quality found on the West Coast – Jacque lived in Seattle for a period – or in Vietnam.
Traditionally, the sandwich is made with pork, creamy pate (seasoned meat mixture) and a supporting cast of pickled carrots, daikon, fresh jalapenos and cilantro, which add crunch, freshness and zings of complementary flavor. In past menus, Middle Sister has substituted the pork with chicken, veggies, tofu, pork floss and more. Here's an example of their menu for this week.
Middle Sister typically posts their menu midweek, requesting advance text orders to 238-2384 for delivery, which arrives between 5 and 7 p.m. Saturdays for Amherst, Buffalo, Kenmore, Clarence and Tonawanda.
[Read more: Where to bask in Buffalo's banh mi glory]
The sisters were together in the Middle East until 1984, when they moved to the United States and Anglicized their Vietnamese names to be more easily identified. Each of the quintet has a Middle Sister sandwich named after them, which lends a sense of family unity to the venture.
Kathy, the oldest sister, runs Jasmine Thai, on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Tonawanda, with her husband. Annie is the middle sister and namesake because of "her inspiration" and passion for educating herself on other cultures, said Jacque, the second-youngest. Sabina, the second-oldest sister, designed the Middle Sister logo.
While Vietnamese is the family background, it's not the only culture that will be represented in Middle Sister's cuisine. Jacque is grateful for the support and ideas from her Roswell Park coworkers, who have already sparked recipe ideas.
"People are really passionate about their culture, are really passionate about their food, and we get caught up in that," Jacque said. "We've already had Thai items on our menu, and I'm working on an Egyptian recipe from a [Roswell Park] physician who called her mom in Egypt and asked how to make it. She's really excited to share their culture."
The chicken banh mi from Middle Sister Sandwiches. (via Middle Sister)
For now, crafting an authentic banh mi is the challenge. The sisters source their roll – perhaps the most elusive and difficult part of replicating the traditional sandwich – from DiCamillo, the Northtown bakery that was willing to hear the sisters' specifications and did well to mimic the baguette-esque foundation.
In the meantime, Jacque is amid the long process of mastering baking the bread herself, which is not an easy task.
"Banh mi bread should have a soft and fluffy interior with a not-too-hard crumb on the outside that crunches when you bite into it," Jacque said. "We've found that bread here in the U.S. tends to be more dense on the inside - even if it's soft and fluffy. Shaping it is an area we're still working to get right."
Before the crisis, Middle Sister collaborated with Blackbird Cider Hall and Lucky Koi Bubble Tea, two other young local businesses, on pop-ups, including a video-focused special for the Lunar New Year.
It's our 🧧🎋🎆LUNAR NEW YEAR 🌖🌛, and we are celebrating with our friends at Lucky Koi!From 12-3, you can come get one of our banh mi sandwiches.5-8, we will be serving bánh tét. This rice roll is served alongside pickled radish and leeks for new year. ❤🎆🎍🎉#banhmi #eatlocal #buffaloeats #vietnamesefood #buffaloevets #buffaloeats #eclecticeatsbuffalo #buffalofoodies#porkfatrules #vegetarian #buffalosandwich #buffalo #eatbuffalo #universityeats #sandwichesandbubbletea #lunarnewyearbuffalo #buffalonewyear #thingstodoinbuffalo #buffalopopup #buffalo #koibubbletea #buffaloteatime #ubeats #universityheightsfood #chowbuffalo #buffalovietnamese #middlesistersandwiches @ Lucky Koi Bubble Tea
Posted by middlesistersandwiches on Thursday, January 23, 2020
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