Ly Sandwich & Bakery

Soon after they opened for business I was looking for a treat, and lucky for me the only thing they were selling a cookie. I ordered one, paid a pittance, and they gave me another for free!
I always watch this spot forlornly as years ago it held my favorite restaurant in Mpls — Strudel and Noodle German bakery — who had to close up because their kitchen equipment was not up to code, and they couldn’t afford to replace it (this is where you might expect a tirade against the evils of bureaucracy and government regulation, if I wasn’t such a big fan of those things).
So I’m always hoping Strudel or something almost as good will open up here, as it’s a real nice space with a simple but sublime little courtyard in the back. However, I doubt Ly’s will last.

How do you do it Ly’s? How can something possibly be so light and so sweetly solid as the things in your pastry case? Where do you hide the big magnet that pulls me down the street to your door?
These are the questions I ponder as I bite into one of their incredible glazed pastries.
Oh ok, they’re really just doughnuts, but that’s just way too ordinary a word to describe the melt in your mouth glazed marvels at Ly’s. Surely they need some exotic fancy name as fantastic as they are.
The cake doughnuts are ok but it’s the glazed ones that really shine. Some of the names are familiar from doughnut shops across the country, but don’t be fooled. These doughnuts have a unique twist. The «cinnamon rolls» aren’t the heavy doughy creations of midwestern America. They twist around a center like any spiral-​y cinnamon roll, but they are light and melt in your mouth like the airy glazed doughnuts they are. To make them even better they come in crazy fun shapes like the cinnamon pinwheel or butterfly. Oddly enough some of the cinnamon rolls even have maple frosting. (Not my thing, but maybe it’s yours.)
However don’t count on any one thing as the selection changes day to day. I’ve seen bear claws (apple filling not almond), doughnuts filled with custard or jelly, plain glazed doughnuts, twists, apple fritters, and other baked goods. Sometimes there are cookies, puff pastries with meat, croissants, or steamed buns.
As for the banh mi, it’s a constantly changing selection too. There are anywhere from 1 to 3 meat selections and for a little extra you can request a «special» and get double meat.
You can get a sandwich any time they are open, but it’s often worth it to wait till lunch or early supper time since the doughnuts aren’t always in stock first thing in the morning. And sure I do usually get a sandwich and their yummy vietnamese iced coffee so that I won’t die of a sugar overload, but for me it’s all about the doughnuts.

Learned about a new bakery around the corner, and being National Doughnut Day and all, thought I’d stroll over and have a look.
It’s a Vietnamese bakery and café, which makes sense if you recall the strong French influence on Vietnamese cuisine (colonialism will do that for you).
I just wanted to grab a couple doughnuts. I ended up with about twice as many as I intended. Not because they looked so good, but because of a miscommunication.
I suppose it says something about their prices that I didn’t balk when I was asked to pay the amount for a much larger order than I ordered,
Anyway, I wound up with a few baked doughnuts with some sort of vanilla/​coconut coating. They were very tasty. Hey, Ly’s, maybe put signs on the bakery case. Then I could praise your baked goods by name.
I also had an Apple Fritter about the size of my head. Geez, guys, I wanted a snack. That took like three days to eat. It was good, too.
Finally, I got a Vietnamese iced coffee. I order Vietnamese iced coffee a lot, and I have to say this is probably the best I’ve ever had. It had a stronger coffee flavor than most I’ve had, not sickeningly sweet.
I’m told they have bahn mi, and some more meal like options. Haven’t tried them, and the neighborhood has plenty of options in that regard. But I don’t think they have much in the regards of a good sweet tooth indulgence.
I imagine I’ll be back to try more, perhaps a more complete review to follow.