Linda Vista Food to Go:Crouching Restaurant, Hidden Banh Mi

*** Update Linda Vista Food to Go has been replaced by Mi Ngoc So 1, you can read a post here.

02/13/2008 - Mi Ngoc So 1 is now gone as well....this location is now home to Thai by Tara.

Do you have a restaurant that you pass on a regular basis, that you know is there, that you glance at, but have never had any reason or desire to patronize? I've been glancing at this little hole in the wall for almost five years. It's readily visible from the intersection of Linda Vista and Ulric St. For some strange reason I'd always thought that this was a Mexican restaurant, and had developed no real desire to check this place out.

But now, under the guise of Food Blogger, I actually have a (flimsy) reason to enter through those doors. And to my surprise, it's a little Vietnamese take-out restaurant! Even better, there's Banh Mi on the menu, though it seems that it's not the main product that this little place is trying to sell. At 7 am on a Sunday morning there are 2 Vietnamese Women rolling spring rolls and loading them into trays, seems like there's a major catering operation going on. So I step up and order the "Dac Biet" Banh Mi and a tray of spring rolls. The Banh Mi cost me $2.50, even though the sign said $2.25, I figure that the extra quarter was probably a penalty for my lack of patronage over the last 5 years, or more realistically, they probably had raised prices and not changed the signage. The spring rolls set me back 3 bucks.

This sandwich was on the smallish size, and had cross sliced cucumber and a green chili, the usual pickled carrot and daikon, and two sprigs of cilantro. The meat filling was ham, pate', and sausage. The bread had a good crust and minimal bread filling, the pickled veggies were under marinated and quite tasteless, the cucumber was fine, but the green chili was not hot at all and had that "green" taste that under-ripe peppers have. The meat was sorely lacking and the sausage really brought nothing to this sandwich. And one of my pet peeves are the long "branches" of cilantro. All in all, the poorest Banh Mi I've had so far.

The spring rolls were pretty good - lot's of "Bun", and the lettuce was folded around pork in the bottom of the roll. I thought these were pretty decent.

The verdict? I really didn't miss anything by passing by this place for last few years, though I liked the spring rolls. Who know maybe the other dishes are pretty good, and I may try them in the future, but not the near future. Another funny thing, the hours listed on the business card are Mon-Sat 6am-5pm, closed on Sunday; but the day I visited was Sunday. Maybe that's what the extra quarter was for....a convenience charge!

Linda Vista Food to Go
2405 Ulric Street
San Diego, CA 92111
858-279-1491

Comments

[clare eats]

*Sigh* still no good bahn mi for Kirk!
Hopefully I will get some on thursday to show you ;)

[Kirk]

Hey Clare - I'll keep trying until I reach the inner circle of Banh Mi Nirvana!!!

[clare eats]

Go Kirk! Go Go, Go Kirk!

LOL!
I am sure the journey will be worth it, but even more so once you get to taste the perfect bahn mi. You do realise that to accomplish your goal you might have to visit Saigon don't you? I dont know which is farther for the swim OZ or vietnam hmmmm...

[Jo]

::laughing:: Somewhere out there Kirk, there is a lady that hears a whisper in the wind that says... }}very softly{{ If you make it, he will come and spend his last nickle buying it... ::grinning:: Whaddya tink?

I do have a question here... How does the Vietnamese pate compare to Euro style pate? I'm kinda thinking that maybe we could do our own while you are up here. We could get pate and meat from Dittmer's then first thing in the morning walk around the corner to the Acme Bakery (are you listening to this Reid?) and get some bagguettes still hot from the oven. We would have to take them a little something in trade because they will happily give you bread but they won't take any money from you. So I won't hit them up unless I have an offering in kind. Then we can come back & make 'em up... That could be one of Peppers first walks around the neighborhood.

[clare eats]

hmm are the vietnamese style rolls? if so I made a passable one at home... but they are very important. I know you can buy vegetarian vietnamese pate(comes in a tube) in sydney they might have it over there too??

[Kirk]

Jo - Most of the pate' I've had in the sandwiches are pretty solid, almost sausage-like, though I've had soft pate as well - you can buy it in "tubes" like Clare says. The pickled veggies are easy as well - I've made them before. I think it's the $2.00 - $2.50 price that makes this. In LA you can buy the VN French Rolls, 10 for a $1.00! Also the pate' is seasoned very differently.....

Hi Clare - Yes, I've seen those tubes of mystery meat!

[milgwimper]

Hmmm...My Dad has found a bakery in San Jose that makes the VN rolls. I will have to find out how much they are and where they are located, and the name of the bakery. Because some where near seventh street dont help so much for directions.

Kirk,
hmmm I have only had the soft pate in the Bahn Mi. It would be interesting to eat the other kind. hmmm gotta make a trip to Miltpitas or San Jose SOON! gotta have a Bahn MI...

[Kirk]

Hi Milly - It's really interesting - each Banh Mi I've had has been different. And even here in San Diego "French Rolls" in Vietnamese market are at the most (last time I checked) 5 for a buck...

[Jo]

Don't you DARE go without me Mills! They have several different VN breads at the Golden Phoenix, but with the rolls being in a plastic bag, I'm not sure they would be crisp. LET'S GO TOMORROW!!! ::begs with her eyes, lips a tremble:: ::whimpers slightly for good measure::

[Jack]

I too have seen this place but never ventured in. Thanks for the report. I haven't had much luck finding an outstanding Banh Mi around San Diego as well. Don't you think that this sandwich would do great somewhere in downtown SD? Boy if the "mainstream" discovered it, it would be a hit.

[Kirk]

Hi Jo - Sounds like ya' got a little "field trip" on your hands...:)

Jack - Well this is the fifth Banh Mi place I've checked out - I'll do one or two more, than maybe try and break things down to a criteria or something, maybe I'll need to retry a few places, and I'll do a summary post! At least they all cost under $3.00!

[Jo]

See, that's what we love about you Kirk, DEDICATION! It's 7:23 right now, I just yaked at the girl and she's trying to get her hubby out the door and off to work. Don't know if she's 'nappable yet or not. Not to mention the fact that the guysletts are still asleep...

[Kirk]

Hi Jo - Yes, dedicated all right! Dedicated to my appetite....

[Jo]

HOLD ON TO THAT BM THOUGHT! She was indeed 'nappable and we did indeed get bahn mi. OH MY! Oh man, I had the grilled pork with pate. I couldn't really detect the pate, don't know why but Mills confirmed that it was indeed there. That was one of the best sandwiches ever!

I almost didn't save any for Mike to taste. And THERE WERE SO MANY OTHER GOODIES IN THE SHOP! HOLY COW! I just wanted to marf my way from the front door to the back! There were little pyramid shaped packages wrapped in leaves of some sort and obviously steamed, tube shaped packages wrapped in the same leaves and steamed, a rainbow of cakes, fried balls covered in sesame seeds that I just KNOW were filled with some sweet deliciousness! ::sigh::

Mills says this isn't the best bahn mi place. So, between now & the time you get here we are going to make the rounds and decide which is the best and take you there.

hmm... I need to go take care of Mike I think... ;o)

[Kirk]

Jo - I think you're under the spell of the "Banh Mi" now aren't you?

[Jo]

OMG YES! Oh it was SO delicious! The crunchy veggies, the sweet meat... I have a confession though, sweet pepper slices would have been AWESOME! I realize it would be a sacrilege, so I won't mention it again... ;o)

[Kirk]

Jo - I think you have a bad case of "Banh Mi fever" soon to be spreading everywhere...

[Jo]

ACK! I think you are right! I've had 3 now. The first one isn't even worth mentioning. When I find some time under a pillow I'll finish the post I tried to start!

[Jen]

You should check out A-Chau on
4644 El Cajon Blvd # 111, San Diego, CA. I'm from LA and I haven't found a decent vietnamese sandwich yet. They run pretty expensive in SD compared to just $1.00 in LA. But this place has decent sandwiches. The hook it up with meat. You should try the special sandwiches. I'm not crazy about the bbq or chicken ones, but what keeps people coming to this sandwich shop is there vietnamese eggrolls. It's probably the best vietnamese eggrolls I've ever had. 3 eggrolls for only $1.00 and well worth it.

[Kirk]

Hi Jen - Thanks for the recommendation - I did A Chau waaaay back in June:

http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2005/06/achau_vietnames.html#comments

Thanks for the reminder as I am due for another visit, or I might just end up at Minh Ky which is in the same strip mall.

http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2006/01/minh_ky_restaur.html#comments