Pittsburgh City-Paper on Lucy Nguyen and Vietnamese hoagies in the Strip.

Earlier this month my Facebook feed broke the news that Lucy Nguyen has returned from spending the winter in Vietnam to reopen her popular banh mi stand in the Strip District, keeping one of Vietnam's best street foods in Pittsburgh. This week the Pittsburgh City-Paper runs a quick profile on her, her popular sandwiches, and her following.

Nguyen is an established, and beloved, Strip District tenant who began selling the sandwiches outside of My Ngoc, the restaurant she ran for about 16 years. Though she has since closed the restaurant because it was "too much work," she still maintains her cart, now located in the parking lot of Bar Marco, from spring to late fall. She spends winters in her native Vietnam.

Nguyen's story is one many of her customers know: She moved to Pittsburgh more than 40 years ago, following her husband, a serviceman whom she met in Hue, Vietnam. They had three daughters. Nguyen worked in hotel housekeeping before opening her restaurant.

Guerrero says the food isn't the only reason he gets excited about seeing Lucy: "A lot of it is Lucy herself. ... [T]he food is good, but I'm also taken care of here."

She's located in the parking lot of Bar Marco on the 2200 block of Penn Avenue (map).