Little Saigon boasts a veritable cornucopia of Vietnamese restaurants, perhaps the best collection of this cuisine's eateries in this city, let alone the country. Driving down the wide boulevards of Westminster afford ample views of the swollen strip malls, lined with shops, markets, cafes, and restaurants of every cut and color. My companions, Josh and Allison, joined me and my lover Christine along this marathon of a bender through six different spots highlighed in Amy Scattergood's article in the Times.
We started out at Tip Top Sandwiches since it was the closest to our freeway exit of Brookhurst off the 22.
I just love this photo of the thin baguettes lined up, hot from the oven. They almost resemble thick pretzels, with a slight glisten and hearty crunch along with a soft, squishy interior - all the perfect vehicle for the banh mi contents.
We had to order a pate chaud at a mere $1 apiece. The warm puff pastry held a simple mincemeat of savory pork.
Most of the banh mi we had were wrapped tightly in butcher paper and held together with high-quality rubber bands (which Allison collected for future use).
A closeup of the warm pate meatball banh mi. Buoyed by fresh pickled vegetables (the best of the bunch that we had that day), this was a delicious start.
The barbeque pork banh mi, ever the standard of banh mi shops, was amazing. Perfectly grilled meat with grateful chunks and a balanced flavor, this was my favorite one of the day. While it wasn't all downhill from here, this barbeque pork banh mi was the one I set as the standard amongst all of the other sandwiches we had. I should mention the nice, crusty bread - neither too soft nor overwhelming, I appreciated the smaller size that fit nicely with each bite instead of some of the more monstrous baguettes we had at other places.
The franco-fied exterior of Boulangerie Pierre & Patisserie gave the impression that we were in for some more delicious banh mi. We were disappointed.
This barbeque pork had bland vegetables and an overwhelming baguette that was a bit dry and scratched up our upper hard palates. Something that's usual while eating Captain Crunch, but definitely unwelcome with banh mi. The meat was passe.
This Special Pork banh mi featured thick slices of white ham and meatballs. Bland. And often painful. Next.
Before I left, I couldn't resist a shot of this cool looking toward of pastry balls (chouquette). I think the rotisserie chicken (looming in the background) and the pastries probably overshadowed the sandwiches here.
The next place we went to, Gala Bakery, didn't have any seating areas, so we settled for a single 'wich and ate it on the trunk of my car. Not the best way to eat it, but it worked.
The special pork banh mi was pretty good, with nice pickled veggies and a solid meaty filling of pork paste and ham. A rich aioli covered any deficiencies. I think I'd rather sit down when eating banh mi. The little green bean shake on the right was excellent, something I'll order if I stop by here again.
Top Baguette's received a lion's share of Yelper love, so we made the stop to this renovating strip mall that had a dusty outside area.
Top Baguette had some slightly different fillings, which we really appreciated. The beef with lemongrass was superb, with a nice lemony finish to the sweet, succulent meat. I also liked the barbeque pork, which was sweet, oily, and rich; it was well-foiled by the vegetables and above average baguette. Portions were extremely generous for the price, which was just lower than some of the other spots at around $2.50-$2.75). My only qualm was that the crust of the bread was a little too hard, producing some of the aforementioned palate-cuttage (probably b/c they don't bake the bread fresh on-location).
Cho Cu was nestled in a tiny strip mall along Magnolia. The storefront was drab, but punctuated by a glowing sign featuring banh mi.
One bite of the warm meatball banh mi was proof that it was delicious, though the extremely thick jalapeno slices started to sizzle my mouth. In fact it was unbearably spicy so we got relief from some sports drinks and quickly plucked the slivers out.
Still, which banh mi here was definitely very good, with the meatball filling being one of the best of the day. Note below the literal ceiling fan affixed above the door to prevent flies from coming in. Love it.
Our last banh mi regrettably had the worst filling of cold meat patty and overly sweet syrupy sauce with perhaps the best baguette, a crusty, buttery piece that cried out for a better inside. We'll come back here and get a more standard version.
By this point I was so stuffed I just wanted to go home, but we were too close to Tastea, one of the best boba shops in the city, to pass through. I ordered a mango-strawberry drink with fresh fruit and perfect (yes perfect) green boba. The texture of these boba are second to none and the drink itself was delicious, a refreshing finish to this at-times arduous, but ultimately valuable banh mi journey through little Saigon. I've come a long way since college days and eating Lee's Sandwiches, but I know a bit more about this wonderful Vietnamese sandwich and the imprint it has left on our veritable ethnic food scene in LA. Next up, a banh mi bender through San Gabriel Valley.
Tip Top Sandwiches, 14094 Brookhurst Street, Garden Grove, 714 530 9239
Boulangerie Pierre & Patisserie, 14352 Brookhurst Street, Garden Grove, 714 418 9098
Gala Bakery, 14570 Brookhurst Street, Westminster, 714 775 7327
Top Baguette, 9062 Bolsa Avenue, Westminster, 714 379 7726
Banh Mi Cho Cu, 14520 Magnolia Street Westminster, CA 714 891 3718
Banh Mi Saigon, 8940 Westminster Avenue, Westminster, 714 896 8782
Tastea
10189 Westminster Avenue
Garden Grove CA 92843
13 comments:
Ah, banh mi are notoriously difficult to photograph well. It isn't built like a sliced bread sandwich that you can photograph open-faced.
Occasionally, I'll make my own pickled daikon and carrots and buy a baguette to make my own banh mi. Although for the prices they charge, it's not bad to just buy one.
True, but I think these samples came out pretty nicely, and that's sans any photoshop work. You're right though, most of the time someone had to keep the sandwich open to take the shot of the insides (though that kind of felt weird to me...)
Anyways, you'll make your own pickled veggies? that's impressive. I wonder what a banh mi made with a Breadbar Tour de France baguette (best ever, btw) would taste like. Then again, I do think banh mi is one of those things that's just not meant to be gussied up. Like, imagine a foie gras taco. In one sense - cool! in another sense you're like, hell no. Same with banh mi. I don't want pate de foie gras in that! I want some mystery pate of questionable origin at a bargain base price.
how are they compared to Lee's Sandwich?
What an fun outing! I always think it's great to be able to compare specific foods side by side on the same day because then you can really know what's quality and what's not. :)
The Banh and on and on Food Marathon?
foie gras taco? I had one at nobu in vegas. felt so wrong but so right. its not ur typical taco by any means. it was most excellent :)
Matt,
Nice round-up, and your photos turned out great, though Aaron made a good point about the difficulty of photographing banh mi. Based on my experiences, you'd be disappointed with a SGV banh mi crawl, especially after our Little Saigon bender. Let's come up with another option that plays to the SGV's strengths. Dumplings? Rice cakes? Onion pancakes?
beef noodle soup! shanghainese bao! beef noodle soup! xiao long bao! beef boodle soup! :) :)
abby (pleasurepalate): yeah, it was really fun, and very educational. Trying and comparing so many different kinds of the same food is helpful. I know you do this a lot as well.
frank (enomooshiki): Lee's is to Mickey D's and Tip Top is to In-n-Out.
Food Marathon: haha, funny. You should do this marathon too. It's a good test for your eating prowess.
christine (choisauce): yeah, I need to try that foie gras taco, I remember you telling me about it. And NRM/SJB/XLB (neu-ro-mien, shin jin bao, xiao long bao) bender in SGV? oh man, MSG heaven! :)
Josh (foodgps): too bad SGV's banh mi doesn't hold up to little saigon, but that's perhaps like saying Garden Grove's korean corridor competes against K-town.
i'm just hungry. i love how you make what may seem like a simple sandwich into such a complex arrangement of flavorful ingredients and the perfect bread. keep posting!!! =D and tell lover christine i say hi!
I absolutely adore that picture of the baguettes on the rack!
Susan: banh mi are not as simple as they look :) And yes, I do love my Christine.
Foodyi: yeah, that's my favorite shot too. I wish it was just a tad sharper..need a newer camera.
Hey Matt, nice round up on the Little Saigon's shops. There is two of them on your list that I always wanted to go. It gave me a good idea on which places to try. Now I'm hungry!
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