Café de Bella is hard to review. Actually, it’s not: have the banh mi. Period. Yes, the café stocks a full bar, but only if you have a very generous definition of “full”—you’ll find only the lowliest spirits here, those popular with undergrad house parties. Do partake of the vast number of smoothies and freshly squeezed juices, including cantaloupe, carrot, ginger, apple, kumquat, and sugarcane. By day, chatting groups of people hunker over a milky, strong Vietnamese coffee or Thai iced tea and take advantage of the free Wifi and two flat-screen TVs; by night, strobe lights and karaoke light up the cheery plum-and-yellow-colored walls, giving an oddly Bourbon Street feel.

Although it bills itself as Vietnamese and Chinese cuisine, the most significant entry from the former is banh mi. Tâm Deli has long held the title for banh mi in this city, but lately, Baguette House has come close with its excellent, crusty bread (but is bemoaned for a relatively wimpy seasoning). Café de Bella has somewhat recently entered the discussion, having noticeably improved upon its sandwiches. Here, as at Tâm, a properly crusty baguette gives way to warm, soft innards spread with baking-spicy pâté, but the meat is often more strongly seasoned, and house-made mayonnaise is set against generous, crunchy pickled carrots and daikon. These babies are less than four bucks a pop, making them slightly more expensive than at Tâm and Baguette, but still a very cheap and delicious lunch.

You can totally avoid the standard lineup of Chinese-American dishes, which all run together in the same vaguely gingery, garlicky, brown-saucey spectrum of flavors…except for the items that are utterly flavorless: egg drop soup, fried rice, and potstickers (despite the interesting hand-chopped texture of the pork). Fried tofu is drenched in a sweet sauce. General Tso terrorizes with a sugary reign.

When available, noodle soups are another good option besides banh mi, but with Pho Van only a few steps away, they’re not really the point. This Research plaza, in fact, is like a Vietnamese culinary bazaar in which one shop does great dishes (Sunflower), another great sandwiches (de Bella), and another superlative pho (Pho Van). If we can get away with bedding down unseen at the next-door Target, we might never leave.