Which Sandwich?

Lee’s Sandwiches is a small, but quickly expanding chain of Vietnamese sandwich shops. There are Lee’s Sandwiches locations in Garden Grove, Westminster, Irvine near UCI, Fullerton, Lake Forest, Santa Ana, as well as other cities. Lee’s Sandwiches is credited with making Vietnamese sandwiches popular among non-Vietnamese by also serving other sandwiches and having photos on their menus, and English speaking staff.

Vietnamese sandwiches are called Banh Mi. Banh Mi is basically a baguette sandwich, usually filled with meat, as well as shards of pickled carrots and daikon, fresh cilantro, sometimes jalapeno slices and cucumbers. The French culinary influence is definitely seen in the nice crispy baguette. All these flavors, fresh and pickled veggies, come together to make a very new and interesting taste I really love.

Lee’s Sandwiches is a fast service restaurant, where you order and pick up your food at the counter. It’s a very interesting place, as there is a huge menu board with dozens of different types of sandwiches, as well as accompanying pictures for purposes of identification. The fillings available include juicy pork meat ball (xiu mai), barbeque (thit nuong), shredded (bi) and pork roll (cha lua). There are also cold cut combinations (pork roll, ham, and/or head cheese), grilled chicken (ga nuong), sardine (ca moi), scrambled egg (trung chien) and vegetarian (chay.) In addition, Lee’s Sandwiches also has "European" sandwiches served on either croissants or 10 inch baguettes, mostly with more traditional fillings such as ham, cheese, salami, turkey, and the like.

The front counter has a huge selection of other items, from pre-packaged meals of rice and spring rolls, meat filled pastries, potato and corn chips, fresh baked breads and croissants. There are refrigerated displays for different drinks from easily recognizable colas and bottled waters to wheatgrass, dessert items such as individual servings of ice cream, jellos, agar, jellied fruits, and yogurts. Lee’s Sandwiches also has a fountain section that will make fresh Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk. They will also whip you up a fresh smoothie, with traditional flavors like vanilla, chocolate, and banana, to more exotic flavors like durian, coconut, avocado, or green bean. Hmm…green been smoothie, maybe next time.

Let me warn you now, all these displays will serve to overwhelm your senses, I’d just stick with something easy first. I ordered the grilled pork sandwich, Vietnamese style, naturally, and a pate chaud pork pastry. I really wanted a Vietnamese coffee, but they’re brewed quite strong, and it was too late in the day for me to enjoy one. I’d never fall asleep. The food is quite cheap here, my total for the sandwich and pastry was $3.64. And here’s a warning too, Lee’s Sandwiches only takes cash, no credit cards, no checks. Fortunately there is an ATM located near the door.


You know the bread is definitely fresh, as you can see 3 huge rotating bread ovens behind the counter, with trays upon trays of hundreds of little baguettes and pastries baking away. Sometimes I come here just to buy fresh loaves of baguettes. They do sucker you in, as I usually find an excuse to buy a sandwich.


After a few minutes, my number was called and I picked up my order at the counter. I bit into my crispy, crusty baguette and was rewarded with a nice tangy taste from the bits of pickled carrots and daikon, as well as the fresh cilantro. My next bite hit the barbecued pork, and the nice, rich pork taste marries well with the rest of the sandwich. The pate chaud pork pastry is a fluffy pastry (made with lots of shortening) filled with a meatball of Vietnamese pork pate. The pork pate has a nice peppery taste, although the pork does shrink a bit and the pastry expands and separates from the pork during baking.

I love these Banh Mi sandwiches, it’s a refreshing alternative to the same stuff you get at the chain places like Subway. While most of these sandwiches aren’t as filling, they are quite cheap, and for the same price of a $5 sub sandwich, you can usually get 2 Banh Mi sandwiches, perhaps even different types to sample. If you want to try these sandwiches out, I suggest you start at Lee’s Sandwiches. Skip the drive thru (most locations have a drive thru) and walk inside to see all they have to offer. Lee’s Sandwiches serves a wide variety of tasty sandwiches, it’s cheap, clean, and very accommodating to non-Vietnamese.