Food & Drink Mar 22, 2017 at 4:00 am

Five Seattle Locals Put Nine Vietnamese Sandwiches to the Test

SAIGON DELI: The grilled pork banh mi has a perfect mix of pickles, meat, spread, and bread. Suzi Pratt

Comments

1
The BBQ pork Banh Mi at Saigon Deli is indeed great and also a great value. But I think the Tofu Banh Mi at Baguette Box may be the best Banh Mi I've had in Seattle.

Like the Pho at Ba Bar, it's definitely not the cheapest, and I found that off-putting at first. But ultimately, I had to acknowledge that sometimes you get what you pay for. I love meat, but that tofu Banh Mi is simply a little bit better than every other Bahn Mi I've had over the last 25 years of eating them.

That being said, Saigon Deli is closer to me, it's cheaper, and it's damn good. So I go there regularly with pleasure.
2
Is the Saigon Deli in the U-District the same people/food as the one on Jackson?

Thanks, this was a food article I read carefully and didn't flip past.
3
@2 I've wondered this. I think they're different though. The ID Saigon Deli definitely has better sandwiches, but the UD Saigon Deli's are still pretty good. Plus you can get a fried egg on them.
4
@2 @3 I was going to mention the U District Saigon Deli! It's pretty good, especially with the fried egg, though I think they have a higher meat-to-pickle ratio than discussed in the article. I've had banh mi all over town, and theirs is about 7 or 8 out of 10, but convenient and inexpensive.

Vinason Pho & Grill downtown (near Denny/Whole Foods) wasn't mentioned — they have a fabbbbbulous banh mi, but it's on the expensive end, for sure.
5
Will agree with the Pho Bac review and add, with their pork bahn mi in front of me, that the meat is really great, in fact this sandwich is 75% and 25% bread. Very little pickles or sauce. I wonder if they ran out? I went at 2pm.
6
Meant to say 75% meat and 25% bread.
7
This is missing the banh mis from Huong Xua in white center. I like it better than any of the places listed on here. You have got to try it!!
8
Any idea if the tofu bahn mi at Thanh Son Tofu skips the pate? I'd love to find a good vegetarian bahn mi, and maybe the point of the butter is to substitute for it?
9
I will definitely have to try one/both of the top places, the next time I'm visiting Uwajimaya.
10
@8 At most Vietnamese-run places, you can tell them that you're a strict vegetarian (or Buddhist), and they will make your bánh mì with absolutely no meat or meat products. They'll use different sauce, utensils, and everything. Make sure you tell them if you don't eat butter and eggs, because the Vietnamese mayonnaise they use isn't vegan. They might or might not have something else for the spread. The upscaled Americanized fusion places will, the inexpensive delis might not. Most Vietnamese Buddhists, which are the ones who eat vegetarian, do use milk, butter and eggs; so it might not be cost effective for them to make a separate spread for the ones who don't.
11
"Best" is so subjective. We like Seattle Deli sandwiches best of the ones mentioned here. Saigon Deli's pickled vegs. are good, but their tofu sandwiches are too bland for us, and the meatball sandwich has too few meatballs. Tony's and Thanh Son have more choices, but are skimpier than Seattle's and Saigon's delis.

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