Best bánh mì
Bánh Mì Thit Nguoi, aka the Lee's Special Sandwich, is the most popular sandwich at Lee's Bakery in Atlanta, your pick for best bánh mì. Staff photo.
YOUR PICKS
1. Lee’s Bakery
You say, “For me, Lee’s Bakery narrowly beats out Quoc Huong. Lee’s bread is light and not too crusty and the BBQ is perfect every time” and “Lee’s Bakery has the best by far. Incredible sandwich for $2.50.”
2. Quoc Huong
3. Huy’s Sandwiches
4. Viet Tofu
OUR PICKS
1) Quoc Huong
The AJC dining team’s specialist in International Cuisine Gene Lee says, “Ultimately, it’s how the flavors all come together on Quoc Huong’s banh mi sandwiches ($2.50 each) that easily make the Vietnamese restaurant my number one choice. The sandwich baguettes (sourced by a local bakery) are replenished daily, and the sweet charred flavor of the grilled barbecue pork sandwich — cut with pickled carrots, daikon and cilantro — alone is worth the trek.”
2) Pho Viet
3) Lee’s Bakery
4) Viet Tofu
5) Huy’s Sandwich
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63 comments Add your comment
Nicki
June 29th, 2011
11:45 am
Definitely Quoc Huong, I’ve tried other banh mi but no one comes close to Quoc Huong! I want one now!
My vote
June 29th, 2011
5:05 pm
Quoc Huong over Lee’s Bakery.
J and K
June 29th, 2011
9:58 pm
Lee’s Bakery fo sho. Totally.
Ted Bogard
June 30th, 2011
4:35 pm
Great atmosphere, friendly folks, the best banh mi this side of Portland, Oregon.
Ted Bogard
July 1st, 2011
11:36 am
I just finished beef soup at lees bakery. It is a gastronomic delight, and I heartily recommend it to all who have an appreciation of all things fresh and exciting! An A in my book!
R. Thompson
katz
July 1st, 2011
7:40 pm
VN tofu(inconsistent but can excel), Lee’s(generous), Quoc Hong(tastier but skimpy on filling compared to Lee’s) are all good. The problem is that every time the AJC does this banh mi thing, I have to wait three times as long for lunch!
The best thing at Lee’s is not the banh mi, it’s the beef stew, the jook(congee) is also very good.
How about a best Lao food survey? I want to know where I can get good duck heads!
Edward III
July 2nd, 2011
5:34 pm
@ DD… Your comment is still idiotic! With your attitude I doubt that you were in VN! We went to war with England and won our independence in 1776. We still enjoy a good meat and potato. Go on enjoy your life, eat some good food, and stop the hate… the war is over! Quoc Houng is the best in Atlanta.
dwx
July 2nd, 2011
6:57 pm
I’m a big fan of the ones at Pho&Com in Roswell.
JL
July 2nd, 2011
7:25 pm
To Anon at 6:47 p.m. on 6/27/11 — you said “I love “best foreign food” articles like this, because xenophobic racists like Deb or DD always come out to give their worthless, close minded opinions.”
No, some of us are NOT xenophobic racists. We respect and admire other nations and things about their culture. We just also happen to be very strong supporters of AMERICAN culture, and perhaps we prefer foods we grew up with and have enjoyed to perfection by our families or our favorite restaurants. To me, some of you hip, cool, little progressive people just love to go try something different BECAUSE it’s different. I don’t fault you for that, and I’m glad you have found some unique places to enjoy. Personally, other than a really good, classy Chinese restaurant, I find VERY little in Far Eastern food that I enjoy, and I’m not even going to bother trying Vietnamese or Indian food because I know I won’t like it, and based on the ingredients, I find some of it a bit disgusting to be honest with you.
I’m not politically correct nor uber-trendy and hip, so I didn’t even know what “bánh mì” was. Then I saw the description in the article… “… most of them come on a crusty baguette and feature crispy pickled vegetables such as carrrots and daikon radishes, cucumber, cilantro, pâté and pork.” Sorry, yuck, not impressed, I won’t try it. More power to those of you who like this, and I’m glad the AJC has a variety of ratings and “Best Of” series, but for my taste, I’m not crazy about pickled radishes, I don’t like cilantro, and pate and pork don’t go together in my book… so I won’t be trying bánh mì anytime soon.
So don’t look down upon some of us that choose to be less adventurous in our food choices. Palates are highly individual, and anything out of the norm of mainstream Americans is going to have less appeal. Please don’t try to “force us” to try it, like it, or accept it as the norm… it’s more of a specialty and a niche, so just accept that and be fine with it.
Just because some of us enjoy a good steakhouse, fine wine, traditional Georgia BBQ, a nice Tex-Mex bar, or a small town meat-and-three place, it doesn’t make us any less intelligent or less cultured that you folks. Maybe it means we’ve tried some things and find we don’t like it, so to each their own. However, don’t get on your high horse and be pretentious and condescending just because we don’t love your random, niche international foods… just accept it and move on, and no harm done.
Mark
July 2nd, 2011
7:42 pm
Pho Bac on Buford is pretty darn good compared to Lee’s, which is a little mild. Pho Bac bites!
Edward III
July 2nd, 2011
8:26 pm
@ JL… Why are you here spewing your political persuasion? This post is about food, the love of food, and to recommend to others what we have enjoyed. If you have never eaten banh mi than I think you’re missing the point. I can’t imagine anyone would be discussing about the politics of Georgia BBQ or cheese burgers. By the way, banh mi is not a Vietnamese food in origin. It’s a derivative of colonial French…you should try it. It has bread, homemade mayonnaise, roast pork, and an Vietnamese twist, which you may have a problem with, but it’s delicious and it actually has its origin some where in Europe. Try it at Quoc Houng, Tofu House, or Lee’s Bakery, you will love it!
dirty souf
July 2nd, 2011
8:46 pm
I know who JL is. JL grew up 30+ miles outside of Atlanta in a mostly white suburb, went to UGA, so he thinks he is “cultured.” He now lives in Roswell/Alpharetta/Hiram/[insert suburb here] and drives a SUV in which he takes his 2 sons to and from baseball practice. He will act like he respects other cultures in front of you, yet he is a firm supporter of all anti-immigration law and will often yell racial slurs in his SUV while driving alone.
I was born and raised in Atlanta, as were my parents, and banh mis rock the socks off any other sandwich I’ve ever had. If you want to get political, I think Americans could learn a lot from the far east’s culture. As a whole, we are a whiny and overweight bunch who want everything handed to us on a silver platter. I’m glad I’m not a closed minded person who thinks they are open minded like you. Shame on you and your Tahoe. I can’t hate on you though. I have friends just like you. Have a happy 4th!
Jessmess
July 3rd, 2011
9:46 am
Lee’s Bakery, no contest