Banh Mai

I ran into these folks at the lower haight holiday fair.
EXcellent pork sandwich. Pork is sauteed in somethign and served warm — not your basic $ 2.75 banh mi (which I really like) but BETTER!

It’s 12 o’ clock on Thursday. People are waiting impatiently in South Park for a certain car to pull up. As they wait they fiddle around with their iPhones. «Where is she?» one person says. «I just checked my Twitter. She said she’s running late.» A lot of people sigh in frustration. The crowd is getting antsy. When the car pulls up everyone hustles over. Some already have their wallets out. I’d tell you that this would be the perfect story for a drug deal, but it’s not. Because it’s actually a girl named Mai who sells Vietnamese sandwiches.
If you haven’t had a Banh Mi (the name of the sandwiches), you should. But I warn you, they’re pretty addicting. For $ 7 you get to taste some delicious chicken or pork marinated overnight in a very taste bbq type sauce. The sandwich is then finished off with jalepenos, cilantro and vinegar flavored daikon (root) and carrot shavings. Put everything in between a french roll and you got a banh mi. And Mai is pretty smart because she not only makes the sandwiches pre made (with a separate baggy for the condiments), but throws in plastic utensils and a napkin too. That way the buying process is nothing more than a simple exchange – cash for a sammie.
So if you’re a local to the neighborhood and need a fix, Mai’s sandwiches will definitely cure your cravings.

Simply put, an awesome Banh Mi.
And why $ 7? She makes it at home, home-​made mayo and pâté’, brilliant pork, slightly fermented daikon and carrots and a heaping mound of cilantro (definitely a plus). Perfect piquancy too.
I also had a little chat with her about the bread and Mai confirmed that a «real» banh mi roll has to have a percentage of rice flour.
I still love a french baguette banh mi but I appreciate in full her dedication to tradition and wanting to bring true Vietnamese flavors on the streets.
Did I also mention that she has an awesome fashionista look?
By the way, banh mi in New York is around $ 5 – 7 so she DOES deliver indeed for that price point.
Still wanna rave about Saigon sandwiches? Taste Mai’s pâté’ and you’ll be hooked. Forget about their cat chow…
And the hunt for banh mi continues…

I’ll be the first to admit that I am definitely not technologically savvy. I barely can operate my cell phone, so you can kind of see where I rank. Furthermore, I still barely understand the concept of Twitter. All my life, I was taught that a «tweet» is the sound uttered by cuddly little birds. So now, in order for me to procure an obscenely large Vietnamese sandwich, I must track the infamous Banh Mai via Twitter? Egads people, why not just make it easier and have a schedule that says you’ll be in South Park on Tuesdays @ 12:15pm?!
So I finally figure out this whole Twitter issue (I lie– my coworker figured it out) and we venture to South Park for our taste of Banh Mi glory. Imagine my surprise to find a 7 inch bread roll emerge from a cooler. The lady (Mai?) was nice enough, scrambling to give me my change. But wait– did I just get $ 13 back from a twenty?! So my mind was racing… did I just pay $ 1 per inch?! Blasphemy!
The size of the bread did nothing for me, as I know damn well that carbs are filler! So I open my pork sandwich and I find 4 puny strips of pork cake. Hmm. Then I realize I was given a goody-​bag of daikon and carrots. Hmm again. You see that we lined up in a park, with limited benches & tables to boot, and you require that we take an EXTRA step and garnish our own sandwiches. Hmm x 3.
By this point, I am hungry, I am cranky, I am covered in daikon & carrot jizz. Stupid ziplocks… So to sum up my experience: Banh Mai has a good concept in transporting its offerings, but the product fell short. It isn’t as tasty as the banh mi in Oakland, so I give it 2.5 stars, but I am definitely not rounding up to a 3.

Local photographer & Street Fashion Blogger (
) Mai Le is a local underground food vendor w/​a twist. She does not actually even have a cart. What Mai does is make her version of Bahn Mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) in her Mission District flat & delivers them via bicycle to customers who reach her via Twitter. She sometimes can be found at street food venues alongside Brian Kimball’s Magic Curry Kart, of whom she’s recently teamed up w/​to sell Magik Chao.
Aside from using soft rolls from San Jose’s Bui Phong Bakery instead of the more traditional crunchy rolls, Mai’s sandwiches are neatly wrapped in parchment paper & tied w/​string & accompanied by a small bag of thinly sliced daikon & carrots on the side. Meat, vegetarian, & vegan versions are available for $ 7.00 a piece.
While they are larger than most typical Banh Mi’s at half the price, they are a bit expensive & do not stand out in taste from other Vietnamese sources.
Deliveries are currently limited to the Mission area, & only on Wednesdays & Thursdays, between noon to 1:30pm. Minimum order of 10 sandwiches for free delivery.
Santa’s Unilocaler sez:“Too expensive! I’d get my banh mi sammies elsewhere, but am going to try out her Magik Chao!” Hope it’s a better deal, SY.

Banh Mi sandwich + Mai Le = «Banh Mai»
First, LA’s Kogi taco truck triggered a wave of Korean taco imitators in the bay area. Now, after the Nom Nom truck (banh mi & tacos) debuted in LA, SF followed with 2 banh mi street vendors of their own.
BM is one of those 2 new banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich) street vendors. Mai Le is the girl that makes them — she’s a local photographer and her website has been around for many years (
).
Place orders thru Twitter with direct messages, to schedule the delivery at least a day in advance (similar to Bike Basket Pies’ system).
Currently, deliveries are limited to the Mission area, and only on Wednesday & Thursday, between noon to 1:30pm. Minimum order of 10 sandwiches for free delivery.
Alternatively, u can pickup any size order directly from her. But the timing is very short — between 11:30am-noon or after 1:30pm.
Price is $ 7 each, Ouch! — yes, more expensive than Saigon’s $ 3 sammies that I’d normally get, but BM’s sandwiches are much, much larger than any other. This is a SUPER size banh mi, loaded with fresh and tasty ingredients. One per person is plenty.
The sandwiches are neatly packaged, and come with the customary pickled veggies (carrots and daikon) in a separate ziploc plastic bag, plus a fork.
The 2^nd thing you’ll notice is that she uses soft rolls, instead of the familiar crunchy baguettes that almost everyone else uses. Purists might be disappointed by this. For me, the sandwich was so good that I quickly forgot about that detail.
Last week we got the following (I took the pics before adding the pickled veggies):
Lemongrass pork, with pork pâté — really excellent pork meat taste!
The meat was very tender, different from what u get at most shops.
Tofu with mushroom pâté (vegan) — just a little spicy, delicious!
This tofu sammie was really good, much better than Saigon’s version.
This week’s meat is chicken floss. Get menu updates via Twitter.
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The latest news is that Mai is collaborating with Magic Curry Kart to expand his menu — rice porridge (chao). Yay! for more variety.

Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) delivered by bicycle for $ 7 each. Definitely on the pricy side considering you can find them for $ 2.50 in the Tenderloin. To their credit, they are bigger than your typical Tenderloin sandwich. On to the important stuff: the bread was perfectly fresh, the pork was tasty, and the jalapenos, while plentiful, had no trace of spice. Whether this is good or bad, I’l let you decide. The strips of pickled carrots and daikon were handed to you in a separate plastic baggy. I immediately dumped out the contents directly onto my sandwich — it’s the only way to eat it, and they were delicious as well. I suppose my 3 star rating is due to the price and because I had to wait about an hour for them to arrive. Hungry = grouchy! I’d try them again, but only if I ran into them serendipitously in the street, instead of waiting for them to show up (hopefully) during my lunch hour.