In a banh mi, savory meat is tucked into a crackling baguette that’s packed with crisp pickled vegetables, spicy jalapeño and cilantro. Its flavor and textural contrasts — rich against bright, crunchy against tender — echo the sandwich’s complex origins: It was shaped by French colonialism but transformed by Vietnamese culture.
At the corner of Sherman and Aberg avenues, Dreamy Teazy serves banh mi in a space that mimics the contrasting elements of the dish. The restaurant operates in part of the space once occupied by the Klinke Cleaners next door, but any indication that it once housed a dry cleaner is erased by the restaurant’s whimsical decor: Three walls display floor-to-ceiling faux greenery, while white and pink strings of butterflies hang from the ceiling, and purple and white drapes frame the front windows.
Owner Mee Yang spent more than a decade perfecting her baguette recipe while cooking for her six children. “When their friends came over, they always said I should open a restaurant,” says Yang. Once her youngest son neared high school graduation, she thought, “This is the time for my dream.”
Dreamy Teazy draws on Yang’s Hmong heritage as well as Thai, Lao and Vietnamese culinary traditions. In addition to seven types of banh mi, the restaurant’s menu includes pho, spicy Hmong sausage and sticky rice, and a variety of fruit and milk teas.
After trying banh mi all over the country, Yang hadn’t found one that hit the taste and texture notes she craved. Now more than a year into running Dreamy Teazy, she believes she’s struck an ideal balance. All of Yang’s banh mi begin with bread that’s made fresh daily and stacked with house mayo, scratch-made chicken liver pâté (request the tofu banh mi without pâté to make it vegetarian), cilantro, cucumber, jalapeño, pickled carrots and pickled Chinese radish. Dreamy Teazy’s traditional banh mi adds Vietnamese ham, head cheese, capicola and turkey pastrami to that formula.
Yang emphasizes the importance of each ingredient on its own and as part of the whole. “I can taste the pâté, the mayonnaise, the veggies and the meat in there,” she says. “It’s just a good combination.”
Other Dreamy Teazy banh mi options feature lemongrass chicken, tofu, spicy Thai fried chicken, crispy pork belly or sesame chicken. For Yang’s barbecue pork banh mi, she marinates char siu pork butt for days, producing a sticky, sweet and tender meat that melts in your mouth. Alongside the crunchy, tart vegetables and spicy jalapeño, it’s the kind of combination that makes a Klinke Cleaners parking lot feel like the perfect place for lunch.
Lunch plans
Viet Town offers a range of banh mi toppings, from grilled beef to lobster, which are layered onto creamy pâté inside a house-baked baguette. For to-go orders, the restaurant packs the vegetables separately to keep them crisp until you’re ready to eat. 2249 Zeier Road
At Mad Rabbit Cafe, vegans can enjoy a banh mi with a twist: Grilled tofu and walnut mushroom pâté are served on sliced and toasted bread in place of a baguette. 805 Williamson St.
Photo by Erika RW Photography
The Saigon Sandwich cart features a special combo of barbecue pork and steamed pork roll alongside traditional banh mi options. Corner of Charter and West Johnson streets
Among many Vietnamese dishes, Viet Kitchen’s banh mi xiu mai stands out with flavorful minced pork meatballs and pickled vegetables on a fresh, chewy baguette. 682 S. Whitney Way
Hot Lunch offers another vegan banh mi option, swapping traditional pork belly for roasted cauliflower while adding chickpea pâté and house-made vegan sriracha aioli on a toasted Stalzy’s Deli & Bakery baguette. 708 1/4 E. Johnson St.
Emily Tucker is a freelance writer for Madison Magazine.
COPYRIGHT 2026 BY MADISON MAGAZINE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
Dining and Cooking