Banh Mi Saigon Bakery- and Jewerly Shop

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Sometimes when I am in the mood for a Banh mi, I also want some jade jewelry

The first time that I had a banh mi sandwich was in the exotic and mysterious location of Toronto. I was in High School on vacation with my parents and like all Asians in a foreign land, we “stumbled” upon the Chinatown. The Toronto Chinatown has a high Vietnamese population and this one shop was plagued with people which of course even at a young non-culinary age keened my interest. In this shop was a line of old women churning out ba minh sandwiches assembly line style that would make Henry Ford proud. There was no menu, you just told them how many you wanted and that was it. I bought one and after the first bite, I knew I was hooked. The rest of my family was hooked as well that an hour before we were due to go to the airport, we quickly rushed back to this shop before departing to buy a couple of sandwiches to munch on the plane. 

 Only dilemma you have here is if you buy a sandwich first or a bracelet.

Since then, banh mi sandwiches got smacked with the trendy stick and have been popping up everywhere. I mean a turkey and cheese hoagie? So 90s. The New York Times published a recently written article in which describes what banh mi sandwiches are and some of the top places to get banh mi. I am a fan of the New York Times food section but this time, they straight up failed me. Some of the top places they named in New York City were Baoguette and Momofuku Ssam bar. First off, ssam bar has not served a banh mi in ages and the closest you can get  a banh mi from the Momofuku group is terrine one that is at Ma Peche and Baoguette is a uber chain that makes an alright quality banh mi and does a descent job given the 20 million restaurants Mr. Bao is opening. The article disappoints me because publication such as the Times, that is an authority in the food world, has given such outdated and subpar suggestions and in turn just discredits such a delectable creation.