In April, not long after Num Pang Cambodian Sandwich Shop opened in the 3rd Street Market Hall, 275 W. Wisconsin Ave., a colleague approached me at my desk.
“What can you tell me about Cambodian cuisine?” he asked. His son is Cambodian, and with the new shop opening, he was curious.
I paused for a moment before sheepishly admitting, “You know, I can’t say a whole lot. It’s not easy to find Cambodian food around here.” My favorite flavors come from Southeast Asian food. I could eat Thai, Lao, Vietnamese and Burmese food for every meal, every day of the week and be completely satisfied. But I’m not as familiar with Cambodian food.
I’m sure I’m not alone in that. The cuisine is sorely underrepresented in the city.
That’s only one of the reasons I’m so grateful that Num Pang has joined the bustling market hall, a high-traffic space that makes it easy for on-the-go customers to try fare from Japan to Laos, Venezuela to the Caribbean.
Another reason? I’ve tried nearly everything on its menu, and every sandwich I’ve eaten is a winner.
In an instant, Num Pang Sandwich Shop has become my favorite vendor in the hall.
A business born by passion, drive and heritage
Brian and Nikki Podgorski opened the shop in early April. The couple came from the Twin Cities, and though they’re not professionally trained chefs, they turned their passion for home cooking into successful businesses there.
Nikki, a first-generation Cambodian-American, previously worked as an insurance agent. Brian, who grew up in Wisconsin’s Polk County, was a car salesman. On the side, they taught themselves how to make salsas and hot sauces, and in early 2020, launched a hot sauce business called the Salsa Collaborative, based in the Twin Cities.
There, they also operate a food truck, Burger Daddies, whose smashburger the Minnesota Star Tribune once named one of the best in the Twin Cities.
That business came almost by accident. What the Podgorskis thought was a backyard burger competition turned out to be one with 100 competitors, judged by the food writers, television personalities and “Top Chef” alumni.
They won. And continued winning for a few years.
The competitions turned into pop-ups. Pop-ups turned into a food trailer and soon, the couple was traveling across Minnesota in a U-Haul, building temporary kitchens wherever they could. They were making “north of 50,000 burgers” each summer.
The nonstop pace taught them to build operating systems, manage crowds and trust their instincts, which ultimately led them to Milwaukee’s 3rd Street Market Hall.
This may be the couple’s first Cambodian restaurant, but Num Pang’s story goes back generations. Each menu item is inspired by recipes from Nikki’s grandmother, who fled the Cambodian genocide and spent four years in a Thai refugee camp before bringing her family to the United States.
Nikki learned Cambodian cooking by her side, watching her in the kitchen, and performing her daily duty of hand-making the kroeung with a mortar and pestle, grinding ginger, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaf, garlic and turmeric to produce the fragrant herb paste that’s the foundation of Cambodian cooking.
Today, Num Pang makes 30 to 40 pounds of it daily, using it in marinades and sauces that give the sandwiches their signature brightness and depth.
Earlier this year, Nikki and Brian visited Cambodia, where they found the flavors Nikki grew up with mirrored everywhere.
“All of the flavors, all of the dishes we tried were so familiar,” Brian said. “It tasted like home.”
That’s because Nikki’s grandmother’s recipes go back for generations. She can link her family back to the Khmer Empire, which began around 800 A.D.
That trip solidified their inkling that a Cambodian sandwich shop could work in Milwaukee, in the same food hall where fellow Minnesotan burger business Bebe Zito had opened the year prior. The couple spent hours poring over online forums that questioned what kind of cuisine Milwaukee might be missing. The same themes resurfaced: more sandwich concepts and more variety in Southeast Asian flavors.
Num Pang offers both.
With Nikki’s Cambodian heritage and a natural talent for bread baking, the concept was a natural fit. But it was also a way to fold sorely needed representation into Milwaukee’s culinary scene. But still, they were met with hesitation from the market hall’s operators.
“They told us Milwaukee might not be ready for these kinds of sandwiches,” Nikki said. “It’s very unknown, and very new. And people are afraid of change.”
Boy, were they wrong.
When the couple opened Num Pang, they thought selling 100 sandwiches a day was a successful target. In its first day, the shop sold 100 within an hour. For the first 10 days after opening, it sold out daily. The demand came so quickly that the couple struggled to keep up.
“We physically couldn’t make enough food,” Brian said.
Cambodian sandwiches made from scratch daily
Try one – any one – of Num Pang’s sandwiches and you’ll understand the frenzy. Each sandwich is based on a staple Cambodian dish that Nikki’s grandmother would make at special gatherings, but adapted into sandwich form.
The restaurant operates with a scratch-made philosophy that borders on obsession.
They work from open to close every day and haven’t taken a day off since their April opening. Baguettes are baked throughout the day, meats braise for hours and seasonings are all fresh – never from powder.
Even cilantro receives special attention. Num Pang only uses the leaves on the sandwiches, while the more bitter stems go into the broths and marinades.
The result is a menu filled with some of the best sandwiches I’ve eaten in Milwaukee.
They start with the bread – baguettes with golden, crusty edges and a satisfying squish. The meat inside – whether it’s juicy chicken, barbecue pork or braised beef – is hunked and shredded with intention, made to provide the meatiest bites with equal flavor distributed from bread tip to bread tip.
Not long after opening, Num Pang went viral for its Cambo Hot Beef sandwich ($16) – deeply savory chipped beef sandwich brought to life with soy caramel and black pepper. It’s inspired by kaw sach ko, a Cambodian stew that the Podgorskis translated into a sandwich for their shop. It’s the top seller, by far, and is the one Brian is most partial to.
“It’s one of the first things [Nikki] ever made for me,” he said. “That will live in my heart forever.”
The richness of the beef is tempered by the prickle of the pickled papaya salad, tangy and sweet. As I ate, the salad – which tops all of Num Pang’s sandwiches – spilled from the sandwich in shreds, and I couldn’t help plucking up every piece to savor.
This will be hard to beat, I thought.
Then I moved onto the Red BBQ Pork sandwich ($15), seasoned with warming cinnamon, star anise and Chinese five-spice. It was so juicy I almost passed over the side of broth that came with it.
“Doesn’t need it,” I said to myself.
Wrong. That broth, cloudy and swimming with herbs, is pure comfort. One dunk transforms the sandwich, melding the flavors together and soaking the bread with aromatics.
Nikki has a hard time choosing a favorite sandwich (“like they’re my children,” she said). But most days, she’ll say it’s the Kroeung Citrus Chicken ($15).
That might be mine, too.
I pulled a hunk of chicken from my sandwich to taste it on its own. POW. Lime, lemongrass and ginger hit my palate with a thwack. The chicken is unbelievably tender, with a citrusy tang that penetrates every piece.
Similar flavors show up in the restaurant’s marinated tofu, too, treated with as much care as its meaty sandwiches. Tofu isn’t an afterthought at Num Pang.
The Green Curry Tofu sandwich ($15) is remarkably flavorful, with crisp lettuce and soft sliced tofu with a subtle lemongrass and ginger kick. But it really comes to life when dunked into the side of green curry, infused with kroeung.
I saved half of it for lunch the next day and the flavor and texture still held up (even the bread remained soft).
I understand what Nikki means by finding it difficult to choose between her children. I have no relation and still struggle to land on a favorite.
When I told the Podgorskis this over the phone a few days after trying their food for the first time, they erupted with glee.
I may not be very familiar with Cambodian food, but I can tell my introduction to it is in good hands with Num Pang.
A fine introduction to Cambodian cuisine
For Nikki, the emotional impact goes beyond a customer review or the number of sandwiches sold each day. She recalled what it meant to hear customers attempt the Khmer (the Cambodian language) greetings she posted at the shop’s counter.
“I had never really experienced people trying to speak Khmer to me,” Nikki said. “I realized, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m introducing Cambodian cuisine to people for the first time.’”
That realization came with pressure.
“Every sandwich counts,” she said. “We have to make sure this is delicious and to our standards every single day. If this is someone’s first introduction to Cambodian food, it has to be a good one.”
Nikki describes the food as “the best way of giving you a hug,” a form of hospitality inherited from her grandmother, who expressed love by asking a simple question: “Are you hungry?”
At Num Pang, that question has found an enthusiastic answer in Milwaukee.
If you go
Address: 275 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday
Prices: $15 to $16 for sandwiches, $4 for bor bor (congee soup), $5 for side of pickled papaya salad
More information: 3rdstmarkethall.com/locations/all-vendors/num-pang;instagram.com/eatnumpang
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Cambodian sandwich shop Num Pang lives up to the hype in Milwaukee
Reporting by Rachel Bernhard, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
