In this episode of Sandwich City, we’re following Brendan Tran of Little Kirin in the East Village. His pho sandwich is a standout, combining two Vietnamese staples, pho and banh mi, and becoming a shop best-seller after its opening in August 2022.

But success didn’t happen overnight: Brendan spent a whole summer experimenting with bread types until he found the perfect one. And the broth and brisket? They're also cooked with care and attention. Watch Brendan share how the sandwich is made — and his journey along the way.

New York’s Fifth Avenue, America’s ‘Street of Dreams’ is one of the most remarkable thoroughfares in the world. Shown on the Commissioners’ map of 1807 emerging from a country road, then in the proposed grid plan of 1811 as one of the major boulevards, Fifth Avenue by the end of the century was synonymous with a lavish fashionable life, grand mansions, and services catering to the wealthy.

Professor Mosette Broderick, drawing from her recently published book, Fifth Avenue Architecture and Society: History of America’s Street of Dreams will illustrate how Fifth Avenue grew, flourished, and failed. Her talk will feature some of the 200 archive photographs that help tell the history of Fifth Avenue’s 19th- and early 20th-century architecture and society.

She will describe the story of how above Washington Square, in the 1840s and 50s, mainly speculative brownstone houses marched steadily northwards. The social fabric of the City, after the Civil War, shunned the more aggressive arrivistes such as Alva Vanderbilt and Marietta Stevens who employed European-influenced architects and decorators to build and furnish grand mansions, in contrast to their brownstone neighbors. Professor Mosette tracks the street’s shifting fortunes as fashion, hotels, and apartment towers bring a new skyline to the elite environs.

And then, it was all gone. Swept away in the shadow of tall buildings, the New York house on Fifth Avenue was no longer the ultimate symbol of identity. All that exquisite and substantial work quickly fell before the wrecker’s ball.

North Brother Island is one of New York City’s most mysterious and eerie places. Located in the East River between the Bronx and Rikers Island, this abandoned island is steeped in history and tragedy. Originally developed in the 19th century as a quarantine facility for smallpox patients, it later became infamous as the home of Typhoid Mary, one of the most notorious cases of contagious disease in American history.

The island was repurposed over the decades, serving as a rehabilitation center for drug addicts in the mid-20th century, but was eventually abandoned. Today, it is off-limits to the public and has become an overgrown wildlife sanctuary. Despite its haunting past, it remains a fascinating and forbidden relic of New York City's history.

Join me as we uncover the secrets and stories of North Brother Island and explore why this unique place remains off-limits to visitors.