Vietnamese Po'boys And Pho Are Hiding At This Convenience Store In New Orleans

New Orleans is known for many things, from blues to Mardi Gras, but if you overlook its food scene, you are making a huge mistake. And we aren't just talking about the Cajun and Creole dishes like jambalaya and gumbo, or the delicacy that is beignets. New Orleans is an incredibly diverse city, and that diversity is evident in these traditional foods as well as the wide range of cuisines you can find at every turn. Vietnamese food is one such cuisine, and in New Orleans, you'll find it hiding in the unlikeliest of places.

Singleton's Mini Mart, which is only open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., is a gem in a city already filled with deliciousness. The market, which is a combination of market and lunch spot, offers a mix of typical New Orleans-style dishes (like fried catfish) along with a New Orleans original, po'boy sandwiches. What makes this spot so special, however, is the Vietnamese dishes that grace the menu, like the beef pho that you can only get on Saturdays thanks to the arduous cooking process required to make it. In fact, Singleton's takes Vietnamese flavor a step further by taking the classic po'boy and offering a Vietnamese version. The food at Singleton's is the creation of Bau Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant, who has been serving food at Singleton's for nearly 30 years. It's a staple in New Orleans, not just for the local Vietnamese community, but for everyone who can appreciate good food.

Vietnamese cuisine is a big part of the international food culture of New Orleans. The city is home to an extensive Vietnamese population (numbering more than 14,000) that first found refuge in the mid-1970s following the Vietnam War. The city has welcomed the country's delicious dishes like pho and báhn mi. And as all cuisines do when they take hold in a new city, some evolution and fusion have taken place.

The po'boy (in Singleton's case, the Vietnamese po'boy) is a perfect example. You can get traditional ones (meaning stuffed with things like fried shrimp or oysters) just about anywhere that serves food in the city, but there are also unique takes on the classic po'boys in New Orleans that keep things interesting. And at Singleton's, the Vietnamese po'boy is the perfect twist on a New Orleans classic. A Vietnamese po'boy is essentially a báhn mi, a sandwich that showcases traditional ingredients like Vietnamese sausage, daikon, cilantro, carrots, cucumber, jalapeño, pâté, and mayonnaise. In Singleton's case, the po'boy comes with pork meatballs smothered in a Chinese barbecue sauce, as well as pickled carrots plus cucumbers, cilantro, and jalapeño. It's just one of many dishes you can enjoy across the city, thanks to talented and resourceful immigrants that brought the flavors of their homeland with them and then let their creativity soar.