To try and decide each week where and what to eat around the basin can be a challenge – there are so many amazing choices. In this feature we’ll dive into dishes that will surely satisfy those hunger pangs and leave you wondering where to go next.

If anyone has ever dove into the world of Vietnamese cuisine, the bánh mì sandwich might have been your first introduction. Or, like I’m sure in many cases, it might just be your favorite Vietnamese dish altogether. In any case, this offering at Alibi’s Incline Village location is a great riff on the classic.

First off, let’s point out that you can get this sandwich with their slow roasted pulled pork or go vegetarian with a marinated and grilled tofu. For the sake of changing it up and keeping it a little healthier, let’s talk about the tofu version – although you cannot go wrong with either.

Layered onto the French roll along with your choice of pork or tofu are pickled daikon and carrot, fresh cucumber, cilantro, fresh jalapeño, microgreens, and a Maggi lime aioli. It’s served with a green papaya slaw and a house-made sambal.

If that sounds like there’s a lot going on, you’re right. This sandwich is loaded up with fireworks waiting to explode on your palette. It’s insanely fresh with pops of coolness and spicy that hit you at just the right time, but building on one another so well that it makes it easy for all the other ingredients to have their niche.

As you might expect, textures are not an issue. They come at you so fast and so frequent, you might as well close your eyes and pretend you’re in the Millennium Falcon jumping to light speed. The radish, carrot and cucumber are the heavy lifters, but the jalapeno and microgreens hold their own quite well.

The lime aioli gives everything a punch of brightness and creaminess and serves as the best friend to all the ingredients, offering each exactly the support it needs.

There is no loss of flavor when it comes to the tofu, either. You may just need to order both and compare. If you don’t wolf them both down in a single sitting, your leftover game will be on point.

Alibi Ale Works has two Public House locations around the lake: Incline Village (931 Tahoe Blvd.) and Truckee (10069 Bridge St.). This featured sandwich is currently only available at the Incline location. For information and availability on all locations, visit them online at alibialeworks.com.