A Nashville chef punches up his late-night menu with this cheap, filling meal
At chef Colby Rasavong’s East Nashville wine bar Bad Idea, the menu reflects both his Laotian roots and his career in fine-dining kitchens (he spent 10 years working with Sean Brock). He has the most fun with his late-night menu, which is all about sustenance—Bad Idea often fills up with industry shift workers once other restaurants have closed for the night. They come in for Rasavong’s golden curry corndog, a caviar sandwich on pain perdu—and the fried bologna sandwich.
Named The Diana for a loyal fan, Rasavong’s fried bologna pulls from his love of the “recession special” (a fried bologna sandwich served with chips, a Moon Pie, and a cold beer for $6) at Robert’s Western World honky tonk, which has long drawn locals, Rasavong among them—and it also pulls in his Laotian ties. “The bologna is based on a Laotian-Vietnamese style sour bologna called cha lua, which has a little bit of aromatics and spices to it,” he says. A butcher shop in Asheville uses his recipe to craft the beef-based bologna that contains a blend of cooked and ground pork skin, toasted jasmine rice powder, lemongrass, and espelette and Thai chile peppers for a kick of heat. Instead of griddle-frying the slices as Robert’s does, Rasavong breads and fries them, similar to an Asian-style chicken katsu, and sandwiches them between two slices of milk bread. In one more nod to the classic, he makes a potato chip aïoli laced with coriander, to bind the sandwich together.
As a final touch, the crusts are cut off. “Growing up, my parents always cut the crusts off the bread, and I always saw that as a labor of love,” he says, adding, “It isn’t necessary but it’s a nice gesture.” The result tastes a bit like a punk rock tea sandwich that’s both familiarly Southern and so much more.
Get the Recipe: The Diana Fried Bolonga Sandwich
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Erin Byers Murray
Erin Byers Murray has been digging into stories about food and wine for more than twenty years. Based in Nashville, she is the editor-in-chief of The Local Palate and has authored or co-authored half a dozen books, including deep dives into oysters and grits, as well as several cookbooks. Her work has been published in multiple publications, including Food & Wine, Wine & Spirits, the Boston Globe, and three editions of Best Food Writing.