Now that the voice-to-text function on his EVO has evolved so it no longer renders “tofu” as “snafu,” the Lunch Miser generally makes a point of calling ahead to avoid the long line at Saigon Sandwich (560 Larkin) — the bahn mi (Vietnamese sandwich) place that started it all in Little Saigon. (“Little Saigon” is the City’s four-year-old marketing appellation for the Tenderloin’s western region, comprising half a dozen blocks of cheap eateries, Asian groceries, jewelry repair shops, and massage parlors on the seediest stretch of Larkin Street. Apparently erecting those two marble stanchions with the dragon-dogs on top -- on Larkin, north of Eddy -- was cheaper than actually cleaning things up.)
The line at Saigon Sandwich is long because the bahn mi are excellent, but also because the tiny premises (perhaps 6 may squeeze inside) are operated by two lone women who must process hundreds of orders everyday — aided only by each other and the world’s oldest operating microwave oven. Regardless of quantity (ranging from the Lunch Miser’s “single tofu, please,” to a construction crew supervisor’s “three dozen roast pork”) orders are processed strictly in the sequence received.
A bahn mi — literally, cake or biscuit (bánh) and wheat or flour (mì) — consists, as increasing numbers of San Franciscans are aware, in a wad of Vietnamese coldcuts or pate (or grilled or barbecued pork, chicken, or tofu) mixed with a salad of pickled daikon and carrot and sometimes cucumber, and stuffed, along with sprigs of cilantro and sliced jalapenos or another hot pepper (if “you want spicy?”) into a crusty French baguette. Saigon Sandwich boasts a varied selection, each meeting the Lunch Miser’s requirement of a full lunch for under $5 available within 15 minutes’ walk of Civic Center.
Lunch Miser tip: skip the wait by calling ahead to place your order — but don’t be put off by the chilly telephone reception you are likely to get. The trick is to specify your bahn mi straightaway at the outset of the call (as in “one tofu in 15 minutes, please”). While the surly helper who answers likely will hang up without acknowledgment (irritated at having to interrupt the sandwich-assembly process in which she has been furiously engaged since 11am), she lacks the courage, apparently, to fail in relaying the order. Her employer, the motherly-seeming proprietress out front, whose culinary and business acumen have combined in such wildly successful fashion on this obscure corner of skid row, would take a dim view. In the Lunch Miser’s experience, the sandwich is always waiting as ordered.
Calling ahead facilitates speedy pickup and preserves the bulk of one’s lunch hour for dining al fresco at the Federal Building’s mini-park, or in Civic Center itself, perhaps on one of the comfortable benches inside the fenced play area near Larkin and McAllister that is signed: “No Adults Allowed, Unless Accompanied By Children.” Eating outside is really the only option, because there’s no actual interior seating at Saigon Sandwich — just a couple of plastic chairs to accommodate the occasional elder who collapses in queue.
One block south of Saigon Sandwich — and plainly calculated to siphon off the latter’s excess traffic is a competing establishment, Wrap Delight (426 Larkin), located one block to the south and sporting a similar menu. The woman who runs this place formerly was associated with her competitor — and (perhaps inadvisedly, given the delicacy of successful restaurant formulae) she endeavors to improve upon the original by providing indoor tables and chairs, and widening the selection of snacks and desserts. She’s also a bit of a wheeler-dealer (BART passes and City parking cards may be bartered, as well as purchased) and for awhile was seeking to enhance revenue by renting out the front reaches of her commodious storefront to other food vendors (including, for awhile, a Chinese steam-table and, more briefly, a taqueria).
Both Saigon Sandwich and Wrap Delight price their bahn mi within the $2.50 to $3.50 range and, as noted, at each restaurant one may round out one’s meal with snacks and drinks well within budget. Wrap Delight’s greater proximity to the State and Federal government buildings on Larkin Street makes it marginally less likely (over waiting in Saigon Sandwich’s line, at the corner of Eddy) that one will be importuned, as one’s bahn mi is being prepared, to purchase (or to subsidize another’s purchase of) illicit drugs, or that one’s purse will be snatched before the sandwich is in hand. For one reason or another, however (extra creaminess in the sauce?), popular acclaim continues to favor Saigon Sandwich. The North wins again.
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cut and paste
Saigon Sandwich
560 Larkin Street (between Turk & Eddy)
415 474 5698
Mon-Sun; 7am-5pm
The bahn mi place that started it all in Little Saigon.
Wrap Delight
426 Larkin (between Golden Gate & Turk)
415 771 3388
Mon-Fri; 7am-6pm
No waiting bahn mi.
Lee’s Sandwiches
625 Larkin Street (between Eddy and Ellis)
415 929 6888
Daily; 6am-9pm
Half bahn mi available ($2.50)
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