Banh Mi – Page 5

2017 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade float road test #1 -Tan Hoang Huong (Tustin), Copenhagen Pastry (Pasadena) and Burger Basket (Corona)

May 21, 2016 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Bakery, Banh Mi, Breakfast/Brunch, Burgers, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog with contributions about food consumed from various places under various circumstances. Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are relaxing today. Cathy is writing about her circumstances.

Yes, it is that time of year again. The President, Theme (Echoes of Success), Marching Bands and some float designs for the 128th Tournament of Roses parade were announced not long after the 127th Parade ended on January 1, 2016. Floats are in the beginning stages of being built and a "T-1" (first float road test of mechanics and maneuverability) of floats built by Phoenix Decorating Company (who built 22 of the 44 floats in the 2016 parade) was held on Saturday morning at 7 a.m.

Listening to traffic reports, an accident had the North 5 with all lanes closed, so The Mister and I left home before 5 a.m. and stopped at Tan Hoang Huong (THH) in Tustin, since we were there before 6 a.m. (when Cream Pan (our usual stop) opens). Located just West (under the 5) of Cream Pan, it is good place to grab a sandwich and other treats. I knew about it because of several posts on CC's blog.

We ordered two egg rolls (@65¢) and a pork pate chaud (85¢) to eat while we waited for our bahn mi to be prepared. Yes, that's a 'spam' and egg sandwich ($4.25).

Fresh items, great tasting. Not the same as K Sandwiches, but very good. THH 14081 Newport Ave Tustin, CA (714)731-1366 Open Mon-Sat 5 a.m.-7:30 p.m., Sun 7 am-4 pm website

We detoured around the accident (which blocked the North 5 for more than six hours) and arrived at the Road Test just after 7 a.m.

Raymond Street is the place. The floats were lined up. The Rotary International float is in a very basic stage. You can see exactly where the driver and spotter are seated. They are communicating via headsets, as they will during the parade. The spotter on the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs float is the lady to the left in the photo. She will be seated below the floor of that gazebo-like structure. The Kiwanis float is taking shape. The City of Alhambra float has a fire engine being driven by both a fireman and a fire dog… Lions Clubs International is celebrating 100 years of Service in 2017. I can tell this float will be even more magnificent once it is decorated.

There were more details, but you get the idea. We were off to our next stop, Copenhagen Pastry (again, I knew about it from CC's blog), located East on Colorado Boulevard. The truck (and a few cars) parked in front of the otherwise quiet street made the subtle storefront easy to find. The fresh selections were so tempting- yes, that's about everything offered- We bought a loaf of Rye bread ($6) the dense, chewy style, made with rye berries, sunflower and black flax seeds, a Spandauer ($1.95) flaky pastry topped with almond paste and custard and a slice of Kringle ($1.95) also filled with almond paste, custard and sugar. We will return.

Copenhagen Pastry 3731 Colorado Blvd Pasadena 91107 Open Tues-Fri 7-5, Sat-Sun 8-4 Website

This location of Copenhagen has closed

We began heading home, stopped at a Super H-Mart for some items and then hit another accident prone area of the 91 freeway, exited and decided to stop at
Burger Basket, which we have driven past during prior sidesteps from traffic. Order, pay, have a seat…watch the char grill happen. A double cheese burger- (charred to perfection)($5.49) Gosh, I haven't had such a great burger since Sima's. My semi-usual morning order of an egg sandwich with sausage ($5.89). Let me say, this was heavy and huge with unexpectedly large tasty breakfast sausages (skin slightly burned), a lot of egg and lettuce with tomato and mayonnaise. Burger Basket has been at this location since at least 2007 and again, wish we had stopped here sooner. We will be back.

Burger Basket 1058 West Sixth Corona, CA 92882 (951) 734-1331 Open 7 days 6:30-9:30 Website

It was a long morning and we were home before noon. I hope you are having a good weekend!

Sunday Sandwiches: Revisits to SuperNatural Sandwiches, Zgara Grill, Best Donuts, Havana Grill, and Cali Baguette Express

February 21, 2016 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Cuban Restaurants, Greek Food, Mexican Restaurants, Sandwiches, Seafood

Here's a round-up of sandwiches I had in the weeks leading up tour trip. I just realized I really circled the globe on this one.

SuperNatural Sandwiches:

**** SuperNatural Sandwiches has closed

It had been a couple of months so I thought I'd drop by after a meeting close by. I had the Siren of course.

These guys sure have the consistency down; the buttery brioche roll, nice plump shrimp, creamy aioli, a little kick of heat. My colleague from the Midwest still mentions the sandwiches during our conversations. Must have made an impression.

SuperNatural Sandwiches
7094 Miramar Rd
San Diego, CA 92121

Zgara Grill:

**** Update Zgara Greek Grill has reopened on Morena Boulevard

Another favorite that I hadn't been to in a while. They've now got a lunch special, a sandwich with fries and a drink…..don't quite remember the price as I was enjoying talking to the owner.

Crisp pork gyro…..just like Greece! Well seasoned, crisp, enrobed in a nice warm pita. The owner also gave me a little cup of a nice sauce which went well with the fries. I need to come here more often….it's cheaper than a flight to Athens.

Zgara Greek Grill
1730 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

Best Donuts Bakery & Deli:

**** Best Donuts is now Barrio Donas

Heading to work early (530 am) with no time for lunch on my schedule. The solution? A stop at Best Donuts for the A la Mexicana.

Warm and fluffy bolillo, eggs, a smear of beans, gooey melted cheese, salsa, jalapenos (to wake me up), and tomato. What's not to like? I'm sure there are little shops like this everywhere….it's just a matter of finding them.

Best Donuts Bakery & Deli
4714 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Havana Grill:

The nice folks here have put up their "Grand Opening" sign so I thought I'd drop by. There seems to have been a few changes to the menu from my previous visits, but the place looks like it's doing well. Nice change of pace for the area and heck, Faye seems to like the place. Not having much time, I took my El Cubano to go.

The sandwich seems to have a bit less meat than before, but in terms of proportion things went well together. The pork still has flavor and isn't "the other white meat", the Swiss cheese adds a nice milky flavor……and those pickles, well they add the acid and tartness to the sandwich. I do enjoy the plantain chips, which are sliced very thin, thus making it crisp. I need to head back to Embargo Grill for the Medianoche and compare.

Havana Grill
5450 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Cali Baguette Express – Convoy:

**** This location of Cali Baguette Express is now Cali Banh Mi

Banh Mi Trung is probably one of my favorite breakfast items….though perhaps I'd take a good noodle soup or natto gohan with egg ahead of it. Cali Express is an easy choice, they bake their own bread (though I think Paris makes a better baguette) and who can deny the wonderfulness of a fried egg sandwich with Maggi on it?

And don't forget about the sneaky jalapeno….now that'll wake you up, right? Again, it's about ratios and proportion to me……the pickled veggies, the fried egg, the light and airy bread, cilantro….you get the point, right?

Cali Baguette Express
4425 Convoy Street
San Diego, CA 92111

Sunday Sandwiches: Baguette Bros

December 13, 2015 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Chicken Wings, Sandwiches

**** Baguette Bros has closed

Baguette Bros soft opened to a bit of hype a couple of weeks ago. Since it was fairly close to work, I managed to visit a couple of times.

Located in the same strip mall as China Max, Xi'an Kitchen, et al, the menu features twists on Banh Mi, chickens wings, versions VN coffee and drinks, and some Craft Beer (too IPA heavy – not my favorite match for Banh Mi). For some reason this seems to be a Food Truck menu in a brick and mortar shop……after all the NRA (no, not that NRA – the National Restaurant Association) says that the latest trend is from Food Truck to Brick and Mortar.

I like the nice, wide open set-up, very much the norm in places that want to attract the demographic that would want "Fusion Vietnamese Sandwiches"

I decided to go straight for the coronary artery and went with the Belly Flop ($8). The sandwich took a while, which didn't bother me. First this is the soft opening period and systems are still being put in place. Second, it means that my sandwich is being prepped fresh.

As the name indicates, this is a pork belly based Banh Mi. First off, the bread is standard issue. Probably from Le Chef. Because of how "stuffed" the sandwich is, it didn't hold up too on the short 10 minute trip back to the office, the bread had gotten gummy and for some reason, even though it was toasted, wasn't crusty enough.

The amount of pork belly was quite generous and along with the "sweet chili sauce", which seemed like a hoisin based sauce seemed the biggest deviation on what you'd consider something other than a super-stuffed banh mi. The classic cucumber, pickled veggies, and cilantro were nicely done. I loved the jalapenos which helped to cut the sweetness of the sauce.

One complaint would be the belly skin, which, if not fried properly is like eating plastic…..a rather unpleasant surprise.

Things come bundled with Shrimp Chips.

I thought my sandwich was pretty good so a couple of days later I returned with Calvin. I just can't put away food like I used to so having Calvin along would mean we could try a variety of items. Plus, MrC, who is originally from the SGV, his wife from Little Saigon, has had his share of Banh Mi.

My favorite sandwich of the three I had was the "Broguette" ($6). Loved the pate in this, wish they had put jalapenos on it and gone a bit easier on the Maggi, or whatever sauce they used as it was on the salty side. The head cheese was really mild but added texture, as did the Cha Lua, and the bread did well minus the travel time to my desk. As a whole, this was pretty much all about the pate.

We also ordered the "Grasshogger" ($6) – basically a Lemongrass Pork Banh Mi.

Calvin and I had the same reaction upon taking a bite of this; "whoa….too much salt…too much lemongrass". It needed something to balance out the flavors. The pork was actually fairly moist.

There was one other item I wanted to try. The Fish Sauce Chicken Wings.

Calvin liked the rather large sized wings, whereas I'm more about skin to meat ratio. We both agreed that the wings were fried perfectly, but that there was too much fish sauce in this…again, making it a bit too salty. The garlic was good, not too bitter, but this had me missing Que Huong.

I was rather pleased with what BB offered (i.e. the menu), though the execution and flavors were not quite there. I am looking forward to visiting again after the Grand Opening period. Nice folks, service a bit slow, but that's to be expected as they get their systems down.

So perhaps it's worth a visit from you…..though I think they'll be pretty busy now that Eater has declared them one of the 5 new restaurants to visit.

Baguette Bros
4698 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Please check out Kirbie's post as well!

Sunday Sandwiches: Revisits to Cali Baguette Express (Convoy), SuperNatural Sandwiches and Zgara Grill

August 23, 2015 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Greek Food, Sandwiches

It's been a bust couple of weeks…running around means getting more than my share of sandwiches. This doesn't mean that you give up variety though as these three examples show.

Cali Baguette Express (Convoy):

**** Cali Baguette is now Cali Banh Mi

It had been quite a while since I'd been to Cali Baguette Express. Instead of my usual Banh Mi Trung (egg banh mi), I ordered the Nem Nuong.

It was nice light, good proportion of ingredients. The best thing about the sandwich was the bread….it had just come out of the oven. Nothing like light, crisp, flaky, yeasty, warm, goodness….

Cali Baguette Express
4425 Convoy Street
San Diego, CA 92111

SuperNatural Sandwiches:

**** SuperNatural Sandwiches has closed

I recently had the chance to take a friend and colleague to lunch. She's from the Midwest so I always like to have her try something new. The last time it was Izakaya Sakura…this time, I thought SuperNatural Sandwiches would be a nice stop…..

And it was. We got my favorite, The Siren.

The place seems to have hit stride; the shrimp was plump and moist, it seems that they've ramped up the heat as this was quite spicy. The brioche, lobster style roll was nice; buttery, but not too greasy. The aioli had that nice hit of richness.

Very nice!

SuperNatural Sandwiches
7094 Miramar Rd
San Diego, CA 92121

Zgara Grill:

**** Update Zgara Greek Grill has reopened on Morena Boulevard

I know, I just posted on this place. But I wasn't kidding when I said this little shop is a weekly stop.

All that nice crispy porky goodness…….

Zgara has become that defacto stop….you know, the place you drop by when you can't make up your mind.

Zgara Greek Grill
1730 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

Sunday Sandwiches – revisit edition: Spam and Egg Banh Mi at Cali Express (Convoy) and the Blairsteak at Monkey Paw

January 11, 2015 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Cheesesteaks, Sandwiches

So….I have a category for Banh Mi and one for Cheesesteaks, so why not both in a post, especially since they're revisits, right?

So here goes…….

Cali Express:

**** Cali Express is now Cali Banh Mi

One of the good things about having to work on weekends….well, if there actually is a good reason for working on weekends is that I don't have to get in as early as on weekdays. I'm usually in by about 6am during the week, but heck, I'm working for love during the weekend so I'm going to sleep in a bit. And my choices are a bit better at 830 am than they are at 540am.

I love a good Banh Mi Trung for breakfast, so I stopped by for a nice egg banh mi.

The egg was nicely fried, the baquette, light, crisp, and warm, a touch of Maggi brought it all together with the pickled vegetables. I should have felt great, right? Well, not really, since when picking up my banh mi, I noticed the sign posted to the right…….

Spam Banh Mi??? Spam? Banh Mi? And an egg? Why didn't I see the sign before I ordered? I wasn't going to miss another chance at a Spam Banh Mi…….

Another week went by and another weekend of work. I went and got my Spam and Egg Banh Mi and brought it back to the office to eat.

In all honesty, the previous banh mi trung was better. The Spam wasn't browned enough, leaving it without a nice crisp texture. This was Spam Lite, heresy I say….. I mean, really, if you're going to blow your day's worth of nitrites and sodium on a canned meat product, you might as well go all the way. Also, something was not right with the bread on this day……you can just tell by the color, it was cold and doughy…definitely not the banh mi that I've come to expect from Cali Express.

Oh well…. While it looks like having to put in those weekend hours may be coming to an end, there's still a few more ahead for me. So maybe I'll give this another shot. Though Spam Lite……maybe not.

Cali Baguette Express
4425 Convoy Street
San Diego, CA 92111

I'd been hankering for a cheesesteak for several weeks. So on the weekend after Christmas, I talked the Missus into grabbing a bite and a beer at Monkey Paw. I'd really enjoyed the cheesesteaks on my previous visits. It's also a favorite of my buddy Candice, who spent part of her childhood in Philly…

Monkey Paw:

**** Monkey Paw has closed

So, what I get here is the Blairsteak. For some reason, the combination of sauteed onions and bell peppers, with the milky, melted cheese on a nice Amoroso makes this a favorite of mine.

I'm not the biggest fan of waffle cut fries and these weren't prepped well. Limp and dry, lacking any sort of crispness.

One of the reasons that I'd never brought the Missus here is because bread is on the Missus's do not eat list. And other than the cheesesteaks, I haven't found anything else particularly good. On my previous visit, I tried the chicken wings, which I didn't care for…..so this time, I went with the frenched pork shank item they call "Monkey Bones",

I'd had this before and thought it was decent……I went with the sauces on the side, which was a nice move as none of them were really interesting. The pork lollipops were dry and the interior cold. So now I've got to think of something else on the menu to get the Missus down here for my next cheesesteak fix. Though the Missus did say She enjoyed the "vibe", so maybe…..

Monkey Paw
805 16th St
San Diego, CA 92101

Breakfast of Champions: Banh Mi Ba Chi (pork belly) from Cafe Dore

August 11, 2013 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Breakfast/Brunch, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Cafe Dore has closed

Man, it been a couple of years since I've been here and even longer since I last posted on the place.

Not much has really changed here. Older gentlemen gather, have coffee, chat….and do guys gossip? For lack of a better word, let's just call it that. It's the coffee culture of Vietnam translated here….mostly men, each with his group. Hey, it's almost like high school huh? I'm thinking that it is….only the topics of conversation have probably changed, or perhaps not?

What really motivated me to visit on this bright Sunday morning was a conversation I had with FOY("Friend of Yoso") YummyYummy. Her dad is a regular here so she really has a inside track on the food. She told me that the pork belly banh mi…Ba Chi had really improved over the last year or so. Pork Belly? I'm so there…..

As I walked from my car to Cafe Dore, guess who I see? It's YY's Dad! It was nice seeing him. it had been a while. I told him that the reason I was here…..his daughter's recommendation. He invited me to have coffee with his "group"….very nice, but I had errands to run and food to prep on this morning. He also told me the Ba Chi here is "famous"….

I couldn't wait to have at it. So I opened it eagerly upon arriving home. It's pretty interesting, even though the bread for the banh mi here are from the same source as every other place that doesn't make their own, it's usually pretty fresh and flakey.

The pork was rather thickly cut, not a bad thing, and very moist. The flavor was pretty good, mildly sweet, with a slight swiney flavor. YY had told me that's it's getting better and I'll agree with that.

The pickles are a lot sweeter here than what I remembered and there was some major "jalapeno roulette" going on, with some slices being very mild, but a couple of slices were just explosive. All in all, a nice sandwich, one that I'll return for.

The service was very typical Cafe Dore, guys still play on those "machines" in the back….middle aged guys….hmmmm. It was a nice sandwich for a sunny Sunday….I'd like to tell you the price, but YY's Dad somehow paid for it without me even knowing…… Sneaky, but very nice, it made my day. Make sure to thank your dad for me YY!

Cafe Dore
4135 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

The second location of Paris Bakery opens

July 15, 2013 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

Back in April, I mentioned that Paris Bakery was taking over the old Thanh Son Tofu location. Two weeks ago, I noticed they were open. So having to work this past weekend, I decided on dropping by for a "breakfast/lunch" take-out visit.

Having not set foot in this shop in about six years, I'd forgotten just how large the place was. There seemed to be so much open space. It's a far cry from the other location. Yes, I said other location. I recognized the older woman, who was always so chatty. She and the young woman making my sandwich, her daughter, were very talkative on this morning.

Apparently, they've been in need of much more space for a while now, so this location fills the gap. I was told that the other location will still be open, which I found odd since you can literally see the other Paris Bakery if you walk out to the street. Her son will be running that location, her daughter gets the new shop. I mentioned that parking….oh boy…..that triggered a discourse about how bad the parking situation is/was at that location. "People come in to buy a bread and spend two dollars, they walk outside a minute later to find a ticket on their car….it was bad!" No wonder those little old Vietnamese ladies would rush out of the place practically running me over. You don't mess with them; they're tough. In their hands, a simple baguette becomes a deadly weapon.

I ordered two sandwiches ($3.50/each) eating half of each for breakfast than lunch.

Starting with the Dac Biet. The bread for this sandwich was decently crusty and slightly bready as is standard for their baguettes. If you've had a Banh Mi from any shop that makes their own, you've either had it from here or Le Chef Bakery. It's still a bit more dense than I prefer, but not bad.

I'd forgotten that Paris tends to be somewhat heavy handed in the application of mayo at times, which was the case with this sandwich.

With regards to that most enjoyable game of jalapeno roulette….this one was pretty spicy!

There was a good amount of pickled vegetables, which were nice and crisp, though on the mild side. The meat was decent for a banh mi, except that it as ice cold. In terms of proportion, I thought it was good.

I also ordered the Jamon, which I thought was better than the "special" for a couple of reasons.

Apparently the young lady started on a new baguette for this sandwich as the bread was still warm when I got to work. It was nice and flaky/crusty and fairly light.

The amount of "Jamon" was on the small side and it was also very cold, but the flavors of the meat, pickles, cilantro, and pate blended pretty well together. All in all, a decent banh mi.

I actually thought the sandwiches here were better than I remembered. Which means I'll be returning soon. Heck, at the least you'll know that the bread is fresh…or should be fresh. I was told that both shops have the same hours, which means opening early, like around 5am and closing in the late afternoon as well.

Paris Bakery
4616 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Now I've got to check out the Thanh Son Tofu in their new location! Stay tuned!

Sau Voi Deli

October 15, 2012 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Sau Voi Deli has closed.

This is probably the only Banh Mi place in the area I haven't posted on. Mostly because I'm not the biggest fan of the place. But recently, I decided to just go ahead and give it a try again. For those that don't know Sau Voi Deli; it's the little shop inside the 99 Ranch Market structure.

The place is starting to look even more worn recently and the folks who run the place seemed to have aged a bit as well. Things don't go too quickly here, you just order and kick back and wait for your sandwich.

I ordered the Dac Biet just to get some feel of how they're making banh mi nowadays.

To be fair, the sandwiches are pretty hefty for the price ($3.75), the bread seemed pretty fresh and it was perfectly toasted….not toasted to bits where it shreds your palate.

There's a ton of pickled veggies as well, though I didn't care for the flavor.

I think you can tell the problem I had with this sandwich……man, it was so D-R-Y….really. The proteins had the texture of rousong, which I guess is ok if you like the stuff. And you may well like it that way, since I've been told by Kirbie that I'm the only person she knows of who doesn't like the stuff! It's also pretty flavorless. Look, I'm the first to say when there's too much mayo or spread on my banh mi, but this was just too dry. What mayo the sandwich had was spread over one thin line near the edge of the bread. Even the cilantro looked wilted….

Of course, being the glutton for punishment I am, in the spirit of fairness, I returned to try something else. This time the pork (cha lua) and shrimp (cha tom)cake banh mi ($4).

This time along with the bread, everything else seemed a bit fresher, but the cha lua, which has almost a light smokey flavor to my palate was like rubber and the cha tom, while decent, having a mild shrimpy flavor, this still didn't satisfy me.

I'm looking for a certain proportion of ingredients and flavors….I don't want a super-stuffed sandwich, just one that fulfills my sense of balance and this really didn't do it for me. I mean, they'll do a decent job of filling you up, but to me not much more. Kind of sad actually……

Sau Voi Deli
7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Ste 109
San Diego, CA 92111

Bale Returns to Linda Vista

August 29, 2012 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Bale has closed (yet again)

Well it took them awhile but Bale has returned to Linda Vista for a third time, this time in the space formerly occupied by Toan Ky, LV Sandwiches, and Le's…..sheesh, this location doesn't have that great of a track record, huh? Anyway, the place reopened on August 25th, a few days later the mercury was telling me that a banh mi might not be a bad idea.

Man, the place was just besieged by older Vietnamese women…..who were giving the two young ladies total hell. A lot had to do with the sign in the front.

Apparently, folks read the sign that said "Buy 1 Sandwich Get One Free…." and stopped there without reading the "coffee or Thai tea" part of the sign. In some ways I don't blame them. They could have written the sign a bit better. Anyway, when I stepped up to the counter the girls asked me if I understood the sign and I said yes. They could not understand why folks were just reading the first couple of words……I explained that many times we see what we want. Also, they were catching hell in Vietnamese, so obviously English was not the primary language here. The young ladies could not for the life of them understand…meanwhile, a woman stepped in front of me and gave the girls a piece of her mind! Yikes! I mentioned that perhaps they could let the manager or the owner take care of the irate customers….the two girls looked at me like I had lost my mind! Well then, what can I say????

Anyway, the prices looked pretty good, sandwiches ranged from $2.95 to $3.45. I decided to just get the Dac Biet (the special – $3.45):

A bit different from my previous experiences with Bale in San Diego, this place used the longer baguette instead of the standard issue banh mi. This meant less bread, more crust, which, though not as good as Cali Baguettte Express, was flakey enough for me. Bale has a long history of toasting the bread to death, not so in this case either. The pickled vegetables were on the bland side, but there was a good amount of pate smeared on the sandwich and just the right amount of mayo. Proportion matters and I found the thin slices of protein to be sufficient. Not bad at all…..

That Thursday I was at the Linda Vista Farmer's Market and did some shopping at Thuan Phat. It was pretty hot so I thought I'd grab another banh mi. I guess convenience is playing on the side of Bale here. It being about 4pm, the place was fairly empty. This time I went for defatted pork sausage – Cha Lua ("Pork Bologna on the menu – $2.95):

This time the bread was a little old for my taste…kind of chewy and not as crusty. Also, a bit too much mayo and hardly any pickled vegetables….which, based on the blandness wasn't really missed too much. Nice pate, which was about all of the flavor, except for the cilantro and jalapenos which were pretty hot this time around. Not good, not terrible……

I did take a look at the sit down menu……but I think I'll do that when the weather gets a bit cooler…..

Anyway, this past week, I had to run and buy some rice. Not really for us, but for Da' Boyz who eat rice with every meal….we hardly consume rice anymore. There's something wrong in the world when my dogs are consuming Three Ladies or Buddha brand jasmine rice!

On this visit, I noticed that the new deal was "Buy 2 Sandwiches, get 1 Free"….I felt much better for the poor young ladies….this time it was pretty cut and dried. Then I stepped in and took a look at the prices for sandwiches…..

What the heck? All sandwiches had gone up by about 10-12% in two weeks? All the $2.95 sandwiches were now $3.39. The $3.45 sandwiches were now $3.69. The BBQ Beef had been $2.95 and was now $3.69……this time, I don't blame customers for getting a bit upset. It is "only" 20 to 40 cents or so…..but it just doesn't seem right to raise prices so quickly….2 weeks?

Speaking of upset, I ordered a Dac Biet and got this instead…..

Whatever, at least it was same priced sandwich.

Tell you what though….I'm not going back for a while.

Bale Restaurant and Deli
6925 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

K Sandwiches- more than sandwiches

June 21, 2012 Cathy Bakery, Banh Mi, Caffeine Fix, Sandwiches, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the Food Blog you have stumbled upon. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are not blogging today, for various reasons. Cathy has no reason to not be blogging.

If you go to the "Search" box at the top left column of this blog and put in "K Sandwiches", you'll get 2600 links to mentions of it on this blog. Between all of us blogging here, we haven't even written 2000 posts yet. Apparently we at mm-yoso!!! post about it, or places near it, using this former Bank Building on the intersection of Convoy where it turns into Linda Vista and Mesa College Drive where it turns into Aero Drive as a Point of Reference/Landmark as well as posting about the food here.

The parking lot is not this empty very often; such emptiness is unusual.

Inside, there is a small area with fresh baked breads, rolls and croissants.

As well as a "steam tray" area, with rice paper rolls and various other savory choices.

There is also a small area of fresh made dessert items(I don't have a photo, but there is Vietnamese yogurt here; it is different and very good).

Here is a view of the cash registers from a table against the wall. You order (the menu is just behind and above the cash register area-straight ahead when you walk in) and/or pay for items you have picked up. The steam tray and all the other above photographed area is just on the other side of the registers.

This is Sandwich #25- tuna salad ($3.99). The simple tuna and mayonnaise mix is spread on the fresh baked large croissant and filled with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and pickled jalapeños.

One day we picked up (from left) two shrimp cakes (50¢ each), a pate chaud ($1) the shrimp spring rolls ($2.50)and two eggrolls ($1). All fresh, light and crispy and filled with the corresponding meats.

Our latest 'must get' is from the steam trays- the chicken curry ($4.99). When you get it to 'eat here', it is served in this glass pie plate. The chicken is tender, and the curry sauce is fascinating- coconut milk is definitely part of the base, along with those chilis you see in the photo…and it is served with a fresh, hot, crispy roll. Lately, we make sure we get here before noon, so the curry won't be gone for the day.

Then there is another current obsession. Sandwich #7- the sardine banh mi ($2.85). A fresh crispy roll. The sardines -in a tomato sauce- are heated, crushed and served on the sandwich with the standard accoutrement-pickled daikon, carrot, cucumber, fresh cilantro (still on the stem…a bit annoying, but expected here) and raw jalapeño. It is perfect. The flavors are complimented by the hot cafe ($1.75)-strong coffee- I added half and half to it…and new/not on the menu but taped near the registers- mung bean milk (iced or hot, $2.75).

Always an adventure ending in a great meal. I hope everyone is having a good start to Summer.

K Sandwiches 7604 Linda Vista Road at Mesa College Drive San Diego 92111 (858)278-8961