Saturday, September 19, 2009

Bánh Mì from Lee's Sandwiches

Number 1 Bánh Mì Thịt Nguội

This was completely unplanned. Not far from L&L Hawaiian Barbecue today was an outlet of Lee's Sandwiches, a San Jose-based chain of Vietnamese bánh mì shops that I'd been meaning to try for ages but hadn't had the chance to visit yet. I really didn't have any stomach space left, but I still went in to grab a sandwich, figuring that I could take a bite first and then save the rest for later.

I'm glad that I did. The crisp light bread and spicy yet refreshing garnish in this thing just reminded me of why I love bánh mì so much. The crunchy bits of headcheese in my "#1" order of cold cuts with ham and pâté weren't what I would have instinctively picked, but the taste of everything else was so good that I didn't really care. Yum.

The restaurant itself is kind of interesting though. Actually, one shouldn't even call it a restaurant. It was more of a neon-lit food court counter meets bakery meets plastic mini-mart, but complete with a seating area and Wi-Fi, of all things. I'm definitely coming back to try more, particularly the gỏi cuốn rice paper rolls and the #11 dặc biệt sandwich, the latter of which will be interesting to see what other funky cuts of meat they can add to that "special combo."

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