Remedy’s zucchini banh mi sandwich is a meatless masterpiece

There’s no longer a chef in the kitchen at the two-year-old Remedy Food + Drink (500 West 75th Street, 816-361-9788) in Waldo, but the innovations of past chefs, including the venue’s debut chef Max Watson, continue to be offered on the abbreviated but solid menu.

“We’ve decided to put less emphasis on chefs,” says general manager Brian Tagg, “and we now have a kitchen manager overseeing the kitchen.”

Remedy Food + Drink also stopped serving lunch in March; the restaurant currently offers food from 4 to 10 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 3-11 p.m. Friday. A brunch menu is served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and the dinner menu is offered from 3 to 11 p.m. Saturday and from 3 to 10 p.m. Sunday.

The banh mi sandwich, served on a crusty Farm to Market baguette, is available on both the dinner and brunch menus. Tagg said the sandwich is a holdover from the Max Watson menu, “but we change the ingredients seasonally.”

The banh mi sandwich now on the menu — the word is the Vietnamese term for all kinds of bread but specifically the baguette, which was introduced to Vietnam during the French colonial occupation of the country (1887-1945) — is constructed from fried, tempura-battered zucchini, marinated vegetables and fresh cilantro. Instead of the traditional nuoc mam fish sauce, the kitchen staff at Remedy uses sweet-salty hoisin sauce as a condiment, so that the sandwich is vegetarian-friendly.