In my post on revisiting A-Chau and Avian, "FOY" Franklin asked if I'd be doing a post on K Sandwiches, or as he calls it "De-K Sandwiches". Funny thing, but I had just revisited a couple of days before. Funny thing, though Cathy has done a number of posts on K Sandwiches over the years. I've only posted on the place once, nearly 20 years ago! Yeeesh…. My reason being that I've found the product at K to be not to my liking. I've had banh mi from there several times since; mostly takeout when our offices were in Serra Mesa and Kearny Mesa, but still hadn't really enjoyed the banh mi. But I felt it was time to head on back. Especially since I had been doing my "rounds" of banh mi shops in recent months.
The parking lot was quite busy on this day and the shop bustling with customers.
There was a short line to order….I quickly noted that other than the employees, I was the only Asian in the place? The folks manning the counter were quite cheerful.
I ordered the Pate Cha Lua ($7.25). I got a chuckle thinking about RD's comment on my recent post on Paris Sandwiches recalling the price of a banh mi a K being $1.99. Those were the days!
Even though K bakes their own baguette, I had never been a real fan of their bread which I'd found to be on "mealy" side. On this day, it was better than what I recalled, though still lacking in the yeasty end of the flavor spectrum and over baked and on the harder side.
The fillings were done haphazardly. Thin slices of cha lua are fine with me; it's all about proportion. In this case the thin slices of cha lua are lining the top and bottom; except that slices are missing from the bottom third of the sandwich. As expected, no cucumber. Hardly any pickled radish and carrots. Ditto the pate. There was one slice of jalapeno locted at one end of the banh mi. The cilantro was mostly stems.
In my opinion, a very poorly made banh mi. Kind of sad, since this is a family run operation, though "FOY" Vi mentioned that the family learned how to make bread from the owners of Lee's and were going to open a franchise here. But decided to open their own shop instead.
Really not my top choice in the area when I want a banh mi; though they are super popular and bustling. And they've lasted nearly 20 years so they must be doing something right.
K Sandwiches
7604 Linda Vista Rd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Mon – Sat 730am – 6pm
Sunday 8am – 6pm