So, What Are You Having For Lunch at Phnom Penh Sandwich Station, Sarin Tin?

It’s all about the bread. And the weekly drive to Boston to get just the right kind for banh mi, the restaurant’s signature sandwich. “It’s lighter and fluffier, crispier on the outside and softer on the inside,” says Sarin Tin, owner of Phnom Penh Sandwich Station. The restaurant has two locations: one in Lebanon NH and the other in downtown White River Junction, VT in the space of the former Polka Dot diner. The historic Polka Dot sign has been preserved as part of Phnom Penh’s interior decor.

The banh mi may be popular with customers, but for his own lunch, Tin would choose something else, something that he and his wife, Lay Yi, used to make for themselves before they decided to add it to Phnom Penh’s menu. Click here for a peek at Sarin’s choice. It’s a dish that could help keep you warm this winter.

This is another post in a collaborative project between Artful and Daybreak in which Rob Gurwitt and I take turns interviewing Upper Valley restaurant owners, chefs, and others about what they’d order from their own menus.

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Welcome! You’re reading Artful, a blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley, and I hope you’ll subscribe and then share this with your friends and on your social media.

And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.