The inspiration for the title of this post came from the old Bill Cosby stand-up bit called Chocolate Cake for Breakfast. Stop me if you’ve heard this one but it’s the one where Bill describes his wife kicking him out of bed to make breakfast for their children. Hilarity and Hijinks ensue when he decides to feed the children chocolate cake and grapefruit juice for the first meal of the day. If you haven’t heard it google, itune, grooveshark it or something because it is amazing. consequently the title is not the main focus of the article it is merely a jump off point for the rest of the story. It’s catchy though.
But on to the story and we will get back to the title later. I have recently moved back from Colorado to the East Bay and one of my favorite discoveries has been the Vietnamese sandwich shop on international Boulevard that goes by the name of Banh Mi Ba Le. This place is not only good for a meal but I love telling people about my experiences there almost as much as I like the food, And I like the food a lot.
Let me sum up the Bahn Mi for you. I read a quote once, “The Banh Mi sandwich is really the only good argument for colonialism.” I think Mark Twain said that…just kidding it was Calvin Trillian, but who the hell is he? Just kidding again he is a very well respected journalist and food writer. The Banh Mi sandwich really is glorious. It is a fusion between french and east asian cuisine. A french Baguette with pickled vegetables, some sort of chili pepper(usually Jalapeño in america) and a meat cooked again in asian seasoning. I have had tons of Banh Mi’s from all different places: From food trucks, Whole foods markets, convenience stores, burger joints, and fancy restaurants. Everybody has a Banh Mi these days, and do you want to know why? It is because everybody loves them!
When I moved back for my new job my Fiancé stayed behind in Boulder to wrap things up before she joined me in the bay. She came down to visit me last weekend and I decided to take her to the sandwich spot unfortunately our schedule was a little full and we would have to go grab the sandwiches well before lunch. At around 9:00 am to be exact. My Fiancé brought up the very valid question of whether or not a sandwich joint would even be open that early. So I checked online, “no problem the place opens at 6:30 am.” Wait….what? No joke this Banh Mi place that has absolutely no breakfast food is open for business before the sun comes up. You may ask who would want a meat sandwich that early in the morning. Well there is one for sure, he has two thumbs and is using them to hit the space bar while typing this article…This Guy!
I have never conformed to “breakfast” food but I always thought that I was in the minority apparently I was wrong though because we rolled in there at 9:15 am and this place was bumping. There must have been at least fifty people eating sandwiches for breakfast.
Now to paint a picture of this sandwich shop, to start off this place just looks ridiculous. You walk in the door there is a large room with no windows, the counter is to your right. In the middle of the room there is a stainless steel prep table filled with all sorts of packaged snacks made in house and pre-packaged snacks bought from suppliers. The room is lined with sliding door coolers with cold goods and drinks. on the other side of this mini market is the dining area which is pretty much folding chairs and tables set up for customers. To be completely frank Bahn Mi Ba Le has not put too much thought into decor or ambiance. However, this is something the other customers and I seem to care little to none about. They one thing they have seam to have done to brighten up the place is to but a man made rock pool filled with Koi fish right next to the bathroom in the dining area. If this place was a late night spot and there was ever a wait for the bathroom those fish would all be dead from acidic water poisoning if you know what I’m talking about. When you walk up to the counter there is a board behind the cashier that has a series of pictures of sandwiches. Each sandwich has a brief description in English and Vietnamese, and each is marked with a number. There are about 30 numbers. That is a lot of different sandwiches. They have something like seven different ways of doing a pork Banh Mi. The cashier is normally the same gentleman, I give him the number of the sandwich I want. I have found out that he has recently moved from Vietnam to the states. He is a nice man and he is trying to learn english and it is coming along nicely. At this time though he doesn’t have a mastery of the language. He does however know the english pronunciation for the numbers of one through thirty down pat. I do feel like I would throw him through a serious loop if I asked for sandwich thirty-one though.
Here is my favorite part, paying for your sandwich. As I said above I have eaten a lot of Banh Mi’s in my day, and I am not saying that the sandwiches from Banh Mi Ba Le are the best I have ever had, but I am telling you that it is by far the best sandwich I have ever had for $2.50. I am talking any kind of sandwich. Out of all the grilled cheeses, the Deli sandwiches, Rubens(which you can never get that price), bagel sandwiches, ice cream sandwiches, and whatever other kind of “wich” you can dream of. The 2 dollar and 50 cent Banh me from here blows them all away. It is a quality sandwich for a rock bottom price. Please for god’s sake don’t tell them that. If they figure out that they can charge three times the price for what they are selling they probably would. I know I would. Now to put this all in perspective I don’t want you thinking I like this sandwich just because it is cheap. I have probably had one or two Banh Mis that were better than Ba Le’s. But I usually have to pay about seven or eight dollars for them. On a rating of Best Bahn Mis ever I would put Ba Le’s in the top three. Maybe this means I have to go to Vietnam to be truly schooled but if that is what I have to do then that is what I have to do.
The moral of this story is that Vietnamese sandwiches are good at all hours of the day. I have had Banh Mi from Ba Le now for Breakfast Lunch and Dinner and it is always delicious.
Yeah..I Could Eat 