Sunny and Annie's Deli

The Korean deli is a New York staple. Where else can you find made-to-order sandwiches and salads, soups, groceries, a hot and cold buffet, sushi and udon noodle soup all in one place? It is the perfect lunch standby for the mercurial and demanding New Yorker. The key, of course, is to figure out which delis excel in whatever it is you're craving at the moment.

Upon moving to the East Village this past summer, I did a quick search on Yelp, which revealed that Sunny and Annie's was the place for sandwiches in the neighborhood. Specifically, the P.H.O. Real Sandwich - pho masquerading as a hoagie.

Sunny and Annie's does an impressive job of capturing the flavors of a bowl of pho between two pieces of bread. All of the necessary aromatics - bean sprouts, cilantro, onions and basil - are in there, along with some unconventional but welcome additions, such as avocado and tomato. In lieu of mayo and mustard are squirts of sriracha and hoisin sauce. Crammed into the heart of the sandwich is a generous amount of roast beef. Unfortunately, the beef is dry and well-done. A bloodier, moister roast beef would better mimic the rare beef that is usually sliced into the broth. I can picture a more upscale establishment taking the concept even further, serving a star anise spiked beef broth with the sandwich for an Oriental riff on a French dip sandwich.

The P.H.O. Real sandwich may not warm you up like a bowl of noodles would on a cold winter day, but if you happen to be running around Alphabet City one day with a hankering for pho, the P.H.O. Real at Sunny and Annie's is a stand-in that's worth a try.

Sunny and Annie's

94 Avenue B
New York, NY 10003

Panade

Tucked along a quiet stretch of sidewalk on Eldridge Street sits Panade, an unassuming, miniscule shop that focuses on one thing: pate a choux, the airy, impossibly light French pastry dough that makes cream puffs, eclairs, gougeres and ladyfingers possible. With its open storefront, lack of signage and a mess of kitchen equipment visible from the street, Panade would be easy to miss if it weren't for one dead giveaway - the intoxicating scent of choux pastry, rising by way of its own steam, wafting out onto the street, cloaking the air with a buttery sweet smell.

Panade seems to be owned and operated by a sole proprietor, Yvette Ho, who singlehandedly bakes all the pastries, serves customers and makes cream puffs to order. As I sat on the one of two wooden stools available on a lazy Saturday morning, I watched neighborhood regulars stroll in, order coffee, snag a puff or two and chat with Ms. Ho before being on their way. It's that kind of place.

Herb savory puff: Panade offers savory puffs in a variety of flavors, including plain, cheese, ham & cheese and rosemary.

Black Forest ham and Brie puff sandwich on plain puff pastry with cucumber and honey mustard: This sandwich is one of the best offerings at Panade. The airy egginess of the pate a choux elevates what would normally be a heavy lunch into a delicate lady's sandwich. The paper thin slices of black forest ham and crisp cucumbers mirror the diaphanous nature of the pastry, while the perfectly ripe hunks of Brie confer an understated richness to the whole affair. I liked Panade's honey mustard as well; rather than the usual sweet concoction, it retains the bitterness of the mustard seed, rounding out the spectrum of flavors.

Vanilla cream puff with fresh blackberries: After two plates of food, I sheepishly ordered a cream puff for dessert. (Apparently, hipsters don't eat very much). I recommend inquiring what types of fresh fruit they have available that day and ordering your cream puff accordingly. On that hot July day, peaches and blackberries were on the menu, so I decided to go for a classic berries-and-cream puff. Ms. Ho pipes cream filling into each puff as it is ordered, making it completely customizable and preventing the soggy, dairy logged interior of other cream puffs. The blackberries' burst of tart juicyness mingled with the prevalent vanilla flavor of the cream, putting a refreshing textural spin on the decadent filling. The only thing I found wanting was the scarcity of fruit compared to the abundance of cream. More berries, I say!

You will walk away from Panade satisfied but not overwhelmingly full, happy without a trace of guilt. More than anything, you will leave Panade struck by the exquisiteness of Ms. Ho's fare and the studied craftsmanship of each pastry and sandwich, with the feeling that you have been privy to something both very simple and very exceptional.

Panade

129 Eldridge St.

(between Broome and Delancey)

New York, NY 10002

Best dishes: Sandwiches, cream puffs

Hours: Tues-Fri, 8AM to 7PM; Sat-Sun, 9AM-7PM; closed on Mondays. Minimal seating.

Num Pang Sandwich Shop

This casual outpost of the Cambodian restaurant Kampuchea serves up creative and delicious num pang (Khmer for 'bread' or 'sandwich') sandwiches out of a cramped space in the Union Square neighborhood. If you like banh mi, you will love these. Each sandwich is made a la minute, on lightly toasted Parisi Bakery bread and topped with cucumber, pickled carrots, cilantro and chili mayo. The shop offers ten different kinds of sandwiches, which change seasonally. The choices encompass a variety of meat and seafood, including the ever-popular pork belly and pulled pork, skirt steak, catfish and coconut shrimp. Some respectable vegetarian/vegan options are also available.

Roasted cauliflower sandwich with Chinese and Thai eggplant spread and soy milk chili mayo: I love eggplant. I love cauliflower. I love them so much that on my first visit, I bypassed all the porky, beefy sandwiches for this vegan option (a rare occurrence). As far as meatless sandwiches go, this was fairly decent. The smoky, creamy eggplant mingled with the chili mayo and lent the necessary moisture needed to bind the sandwich into a sum of its parts. It also counteracted the crunchier texture of the cauliflower. The roasted cauliflower was good, but some additional seasoning prior to roasting would have propelled the sandwich to greatness. Further roasting might have helped bring out the caramelized sweetness of the vegetable as well.

Hoisin veal meatball sandwich - basil, stewed tomato, jasmine rice: One bite into this, I vowed to never again try and be a friend to the animals. Despite the stifling heat of the upstairs seating area and the fact that my thighs were painfully stuck to the plastic seat of my stool, I completely lost myself in this sandwich. The well-spiced, moist meatball, with hints of star anise, melded with the rest of the ingredients to create a harmony of sweet, savory, tangy, spicy and creamy. The bread, soft and chewy, with a lightly crisped exterior, only highlighted the perfection of the sandwich. The stewing of the tomatoes had coaxed a natural, juicy sweetness out of them, providing both textural contrast and an additional band of flavor. This was one of those dishes I felt like I could eat forever.

Watermelon juice: Cold and refreshing, with fairly good watermelon flavor. My only complaint is that the juice contains sizeable chunks of watermelon, forcing me to sip and chew at the same time. It was not as good as the watermelon ice that you can get at Chinese bakeries, which are blended with ice (making it easier to drink) and taste much more like sticking a straw in a watermelon.

Blood orange lemonade: I'll just repeat what I heard a chatty customer in the shop say about this drink: "It's sour, bitter, sweet and salty all at the same time." I don't think he meant that in a good way, and I don't either.

Beverage missteps aside, Num Pang's sandwiches truly hold their own amidst the throes of the Asian sandwich craze. The next time you want a no-holds-barred, sriracha-running-down-your-palms, silence-at-the-table gustatory sandwich experience, make your way to Num Pang and let your senses take over.

Num Pang Sandwich Shop

21 East 12 St.

(between 5th Ave. and University Place)

New York, NY 10003

Sit-in dining available upstairs, take-out and delivery also available.

Best dishes: Sandwiches