Recent banh mi excursions

I was recently sent this link from Carla B, who has been quiet on the sandwich front, but still sends her sandwich love every now and again.

The link to a Travel Story pondering if the banh mi is the world's best sandwich made me wonder why I have never visited Vietnam. Seriously, why have I not made this trek? The answer I knew was a Yes without reading the article, but the correspondent's story arc made me miss a classic banh mi, and not what I've been eating for the last while.

Take this for example: a tofu banh mi from the Banh Mi Boys, a very popular place on Queen St. West. Always busy, but never that good, I think it's popular because it's just filling and not Subway. I sometimes find myself feeling bad for Quizno's, but I just don't know who their sandwiches are for.

Then there's this little number from Ginger's further East on Queen West. I popped in there during a recent festival when I grew tired of eating pizza and popcorn as my only meals. I had a subpar papaya salad (would have been better without beef) and grabbed this chicken banh mi to go. The bread was decent, and the chicken was flattened also and mildly marinated and tender. Not much to go on here, and not really a worthy banh mi except that it's meat in a baguette.

Banh mi's from Nguyen Huong's on Spadina is the closest I've come to what I'm craving. Their baguettes are not as crisp and crunchy as I like, but the fillings are the right proportions of pickled vegetables to pate and deli meats. After all these years and all these sandwiches, Van Loc in Edmonton still stands as the best. Sadly, very sadly, during my recent trip to Edmonton, they were closed for two weeks, and my heart broke ever so slightly at not knowing when I'll ever have one of their sandwiches again.

Comments

Monty’s Bakehouse wrap, Air Canada

I’d rate this wrap as strange. Its packaging created expectations of a more appetizing experience, which it was not. After a vastly superior egg salad sandwich from London Heathrow, I could not greet this airplane freebie with serious interest, but at least it was hot, and at least I could review it for this blog. Steaming contents were oozy and largely undistinguishable, but suggested some kind of red pepper or sundried tomato origins.

Specialty Sandwich, Amtrak train dining car

Advertised as the "Specialty Sandwich" on board the Oakland to Los Angeles Amtrak train, this $9.75 grilled cheese seems a safe vegetarian bet, just as a bagel and cream cheese does when faced with weird processed meat choices aboard the VIA Rail in Canada. The specialty allegedly features gruyere and smoked cheddar, however each cheese was tasteless, plastic, and greasy, cooling to reveal six slices of highly processed cheese product. The crisp, somewhat grainy bread absorbed cheese sweat from inside, completely obliterating any relief that the mustard or tomato could have provided, and was thoroughly saturated in a meaty residue from the grill on the outside. This sandwich leaves the kind of mouthfeel that a glass of water cannot wash away. Note: pack toothbrush in carry-on.

Kim Anh Subs, Calgary

It's no secret I'm a fan of the Vietnamese sub. Hell, they've prevented my vegetarianism . But I do enjoy the vegetarian option now and again, especially when it's warm marinated soft tofu rather than the shredded fake meat variety. In Calgary one weekend, a friend and I found ourselves stranded in the city due to a snow storm, so lounging around 17th Avenue, cold, tired, hungry, and near broke, we popped our heads into Kim Anh Subs where he had ventured once before. Offering a whole wheat sub bun option, Kim Anh's subs were a bit more expensive than what I'm used to for a sub of this style ($3.50 is my price range), but it's Calgary, so what can you expect.

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