The first thing to know about Ants Pants is that it’s Australian. The name itself is an Aussie expression that is the equivalient of “The Bee’s Knees,” meaning of course that it’s very good. They have Aussie coffees and Vegemite (which I like very much but makes Karen gag) as well as a little candy bar called Violet Crumble.

All of that’s great. Try the vegemite if you’ve never had it. Have a nice breakfast sandwich or some of the coffee. But don’t sleep on the best thing on the menu, the Violet Crumble Milkshake!

Words cannot do it justice. It’s too small by far. I ordered two of them this morning. Get it with the whipped cream, it’s the real stuff. I could try for hours to describe it but I’m not going to because I’ll get hungry for it again. Go get one!

UPDATE: I hesitate to accuse anyone of anything, but I posted this on the 6th, Foobooz picked it up on the 9th and then Craig Laban posts his on the 12th.  Imitation being the most sincere form of flattery and all…

One of my favorite things on the menu is the tomato bisque($5.00). I love her bisque, it’s creamy, complex and a little spicy. Tomato Bisque is not listed on the menu but it is almost always the soup du jour. Occasionally, it is to hot for soup and when this happens my old standby is the Alesia sandwich. Served on french bread it is a glorious combination of goat cheese, tomatoes, olives, pine nuts and fresh basil. ($8.00). Last but not least, if you happen to find yourself eating a Croque-Monsieur you are the winner!


The typical french sandwich is prepared slightly differently here. Ham and Cheese on white bread bathed in bechamel (wikipedia) and topped with gruyere cheese and baked in a crock. No doubt this is the best croque-monsieur you will find in philly. (Only $7.50) So good! I swear.

So, go for the Crouque-Monsieur and share some soup, and wash it down with Orangina.

no alcohol served
totally casual
outside seating available

More info and pics after the jump!

I started this project with the goal of trying to find my favorite of the three shops. After a whole bunch of experimenting with different sandwiches in the different shops i came to the conclusion that they’re all pretty much the same price and quality. So I’m instead going to focus on the advantages that each has to offer.

Bánh mì, sometimes also referred to as a “Vietnamese hoagie“, is a Vietnamese submarine sandwich, made with a French-inspired baguette. It is made up of thinly sliced, pickled carrots, daikon, onions, cilantro, choice of barbecued pork, paté, chicken and other meats; there also exist vegetarian versions of this item with tofu taking the place of meat. The contrasting flavors and textures of the sandwich — as well as its relatively low cost — make it a popular dish.

Cafe Cuong is the first place I ever bought one. It’s just north of Christian Street on eightth. I tried some of my broken Vietnamese with the owners and they were highly amused. I might even say impressed. Unfortunately the only terms i know are ‘formal greeting,’ ‘fish sauce,’ ‘rice log’ and “ruoc,” which is a condiment made of shredded pork and chicken. ( I can’t find any info anywhere on the proper spelling or definition of “ruoc” and would love some help there). I like to go here because of the mom and pop atmosphere, the gelatinous desserts which the owner said were ‘not for americans’ (i got them anyway and liked them), and because they gave me a whole bunch of ruoc!

Café Nhuy is probably the one that is most known. It’s just around the corner from the Italian market on Christian (between 9th and 8th). It’s a little hole-in-the-wall but its appeal is the ease with which non-Vietnamese speakers can order. Pick a number, 1-6 and you’re out the door a few minutes later.

Café Huong Lan is farther south on 8th street almost to Washington. This place is nice because it has a bunch of tables inside and a real menu so you can try a few other Vietnamese dishes as well. Also at least one of the people that works there speaks some english.

On to the food!

Oh man are these things delicious. I eat way more of them than i should. But they’re inexpensive and relatively healthy so why not?

When we first tried them we got the one called simply “Vietnamese Hoagie.” There’s also cooked pork (meaning cold cut style), shredded pork (which i think is pickled as well), chicken (a bit sweet and citrusy), meatball (very soft, possibly containing paté), and vegetarian (the only one i haven’t tried yet). Some places will also have the Special Vietnamese Hoagie; that just means more meat.

The eponymous Vietnamese Hoagie contains a kind of cold cut that contains a huge amount of fat and i believe head cheese and other undistinguishable meats. If you’re the squeamish type or on any kind of diet you should steer away. For the most basic hoagie go for the chicken or the cooked pork. All hoagies containing meat will also have a paté spread on the crispity-crunchity baguette. This paté is absolutely delicious but looks kinda gross. In fact i think the meatballs in the meatball hoagie are comprised mostly of this pate because they’re soft and pinkish.

What I found:
Amazing contrast of flavor and texture in a completely new kind of sandwich. They’re inexpensive (around 3$ each) and if you buy 5 you get one free! Friendly non-english speaking shop owners happy to make this wonderful and odd little sandwich for you.

I’d heard about it from a couple of people a while back but didn’t know exactly where it was. When i was recently reminded of it and realized it was just two short blocks away i decided to stop in with Karen for some breakfast. As you can see in the photo Shank’s has a sweet old RC Cola sign outside and not much more.

When you walk in you see a few tables along the right side and a bar in the middle. The ladies that will be serving, running, bussing, hostessing, cashiering and cooking are behind the bar on the left side. We sat down at a busy bar and watched the bustle for a bit. A few minutes later we realized that nobody would be handing us menus and noticed that some big menus were on the wall behind us.

There’s not a lot to be excited with at first glance. Some soups and sandwiches. Eggs, sausage and bacon. So we turned back around and waited for somebody to say hi. Eventually the youngest of the four ladies running around the restaurant asked as what we wanted. When i asked for some water and OJ she turned away and started talking to another of the ladies about her frozen pipes in her house. That threw us for a loop for a while. We tried again a few minutes later when another of the women came and asked us what we wanted. Again i tried in to order some water and OJ. “No no no no no just tell me what you WANT,” she says. My brain wrapped around itself for a sec and reversed its course when she pointed out the drink cooler by the door. So what you want to DRINK you gotta get yer DAMN self and what you WANT (to eat) you have to tell the waitress in about 3 seconds. ANY mistakes in this (seemingly) simple process and you’ll be waiting for quite a while until the ladies decide to give you another chance.

When we got all this figured out and ordered our food we decided that all of this was pretty great and a little bit hilarious. Combined with the fancy hair and makeup and fancy fingernails of the ladies keeping this steamship of a restaurant running their attitudes are perfect. It’s “Figure it out or get out!” It’s south philly at its best. So we sat back and enjoyed the show. The people all around us all obviously knew what they were doing. The ladies were chatting with everybody. Everybody was happy.

Our food came out and we started to chow. I had an egg sandwich and a side of sausage. Karen took a recommendation and got a chicken cutlet sandwich with greens. She was definitely the winner cause the greens (sauteed spinach) were sublime.

While we ate and watched everything going on we noticed something strange on the back of the grill. At first it was some sausage. Some peppers were thrown on top of them. Then it was maybe some mushrooms or spinach or bacon. Or maybe all of those things. The point where i got a little incredulous was when the pile was about five inches high and the girth of a large omellete and the server/waitress/cook/cashier taking care of it cracked three eggs over the whole mess. What was this incredible concoction and how much did it cost and was someone really going to eat it!?

It’s the Giambotti (jam-BOT).

And next time i’m going with 3 other people and we’re going to try to eat one.

What we found:
A real south philly feel with simple but killer diner fare for cheap! It’s right around the corner from Sabrina’s and Butcher’s but has a completely different feel. Get the greens and try the Giambotti if you have a crowd!