Bread certainly would make a difference. There are places here (Houston) Vietnamese owned, that use French baguettes, which are crustier, heavier and chewier, and others that use a locally produced loaf that is a knockoff of the NOLA baguette (but not quite as good) I prefer the ones with rice flour.
Pickled carrot and daikon and cilantro are also key but with the Vietnamese element in NO, there’s probably a lot of crossover going on.
