bonnie & jason

Bahnwich… better sandwiches than Vietnam Village?

I worked from home today so Bonnie and I took Alissa to Bahnwich for lunch.  Some of you may remember that we tried to go last week but were thwarted by their early closing schedule so we ended up at Chick-n-coop instead.  Also, faithful readers will remember that Vietnam Village has been the gold standard of Vietnamese sandwiches for the past six years and I had high hopes that a local establishment, like Bahnwich, could take over that claim.  Afterall, with “wich” in their name, how could they lose?

So, was Bahn-’wich’ up to the task?  Could David defeat Goliath?  Would 94116 prevail over 94066?

I’ll start off by noting that Vietnam Village is a good sized restaurant with room for at least 50 guests whereas Bahnwich is more of a takeout kind of place with room for eight… assuming you’re all close friends and no one has a bad B.O. problem.  Of course, as a Vietnamese sandwich connoisseur, I wasn’t really all that concerned about the ambience, but if folks are looking for a sit down place for a large group, you’d be better off at Chick-n-coop down the street.  That being said, it is cozy inside and everything is reasonably clean if not terribly new.  Also, the woman taking my order was nice (Bonnie said she spoke Cantonese with a Vietnamese accent) and was very speedy in preparing our food.

Right, the food!  I ordered the BBQ chicken and Bonnie ordered the BBQ pork.  We also got some fresh spring rolls (the kind with vermicelli, shrimp, and mint dipped in peanut sauce) and an aloe jelly drink.  As soon as we ordered the sandwiches, she put the rolls in the toaster.  Then she went back (basically two steps behind the small counter) and presumably got the meat started. 

Just a few minutes later, we were presented with two sandwiches wrapped in paper secured with a green rubber band and a ‘P’ written in blue bic pen on the pork one.  By this time, we had already dug into the spring rolls since we were super hungry.  They were quite good by the way… and really big.  But I digress.  How were the sandwiches?!

In short, they were very good.  The bread was fresh and toasty.  The fixins were as you would expect.  And the chicken was tender and juicy.  All for $3.00!  But, were they better than Vietnam Village?  Unfortunately, I’m going to rule slightly but definitely in favor of the incumbent Vietnamese sandwich king.  The Bahnwiches (clever, huh) were good, but they were lacking in a few key areas.  First, the chicken didn’t have that right off the grill flavor.  I would say this was a dealbreaker… aren’t they BBQ chicken sandwiches?  Also, the sauce wasn’t quite as savory.  Finally, they weren’t quite as fully stuffed as I hoped they’d be.  (Granted, they are a little less expensive than Vietnam Village.) 

But that’s ok… like I said, they were very good, just not good enough to dethrone “The Village.”  And now I know where to go for a Vietnamese sandwich if I don’t feel like driving down to San Bruno.

(photo courtesy of yelp.com… I forgot my camera again.)