Revisits to Banh Mi Express and Paris Sandwiches (Mira Mesa location)

I guess once the weather starts getting balmy….I start wanting some banh mi? Ok, enough with the dad jokes…for now. And to be honest, it’s been much more than balmy ’round these parts. So, I decided to revisit a couple of my favorite banh mi shops. And kind of rank the three….so here goes.

Banh Mi Express:

I’ve been wanting to return to Banh Mi Express ever since “FOY” Sage mentioned that they were closed for a whole month! And even thought Sage mentioned that the banh mi was the same….well, I just had to get my “fix”.

The banh mi here are basically all over nine fifty these days…..

The Pate -Cha Lua, aka Pate Cold Cuts is now $9.49 a buck more than it was in November.

The young man working the front of house was very nice and I placed my order. I find it interesting that they don’t list the Vietnamese names of the banh mi.

The bread size here is a “tweener”…between the usual small banh mi and the long bread that some places feature. So crisp and lightly crusty….good yeastiness.

This might be my favorite banh mi right now. I enjoy the amount of cilantro…with some, but not too many stems, the thick slices of jalapeno. Nice slice of cucumber, crisp pickled veggies.

Good amount of well placed. cha lua, mild and savory…the earthiness of the pate comes thru nicely….there might be almost too much pate, but I enjoy it.

I agree with Sage who said that the ban mi here are as good as they ever were.

Banh Mi Express
9353 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92123
Current Hours:
Mon – Fri 7am – 4pm
Saturday 8am – 3pm
Closed on Sundays

Thanks for letting me know what was happening with Banh Mi Express Sage!

Paris Sandwiches (Mira Mesa location):

I hadn’t realized that it had been over a year since I last visited the Mira Mesa location of Paris Sandwiches. I did check out the new Midway location when they first opened back in March, but since I was fairly close by, I decided to get another balmy day, banh mi fix at the MM locale.

Like the Midway location, most of the banh mi here are priced at $7.45. Though there’s an extra 25 cent addition for using charge cards for purchases under ten bucks.

Wanting to keep things consistent; I went with the “Pork Roll” (cha lua – $7.45). And unlike what happened at the Midway location; where I ordered a Cha Lua and got Nem Nuong….I’m thinking it was grand opening jitters…I did get what I ordered here. It came off the assembly line fairly quickly.

Fairly long and thin in length, the bread was nice and “crackly” as I remembered; though it did seem a bit more chewy.

Nice stack of cha lua, the flavor of the pate seemed a bit muted….in fact, it looked like it had more mayo than pate?

No cucumber and I could have used a bit more cilantro and that jalapeno had barely any spice.

Still, a good amount of cha lua and for being under eight bucks these days…..I’ll take it.

Paris Sandwiches
10606 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Mon – Fri 730am – 630pm
Saturday 730am – 6pm
Closed on Sunday

So, there you go….my first two “balmy – banh mi” visits. I actually have two more to post….can you guess where I went after these two places?

Hope everyone had a great weekend!