Timelines

The Bánh Mì Boom: A Grub Street Timeline

Baoguette's new location.
Baoguette’s new location. Photo: Melissa Hom

Eater points to some bánh mì sliders mentioned in Wined & Dined’s brunch roundup and echoes Tom Colicchio in saying he’s “so over” the Vietnamese sandwich. With Baoguette 3 opening imminently, it seems like a good time to look back over two years of bánh mì buzz, to see just how we got here. Cue the Family Ties flashback music, folks — here’s your bánh mì timeline.

1/12/07
Momofuku Ssäm bar, then just a burrito bar during the day, features a bánh mì on its late-night menu.

1/07
Paris Sandwich Shop opens — the first bánh mì shop to have Yolato.

3/19/07
Newcomer Silent H’s “Polish bánh mì” is named Sandwich of the Week.

3/28/07
Boi to Go brings bánh mì to Turtle Bay.

5/9/07
Chinatown hole-in-the-wall Viet-Nam Banh Mi So 1 gets a renovation.

6/1/08
Sáu Voi Corp is named New York’s best under-$5 breakfast.

1/7/08
Tú Quynm Pharmacy loses its bánh mì counter (what were they thinking?).

9/18/08
Boi opens a midtown outpost.

10/1/08
Bánh Mì Saigon Bakery and Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich raise their prices by a game-changing 50 cents.

10/20/08
First word that Angelo Sosa is working on an Asian sandwich concept.

12/5/08
Seoul Station offers a Korean alternative.

12/8/08
Baoguette launches the first of what will be at least four stores serving “sloppy Baos.”

12/16/08
First word of a sleek newcomer, An Choi, and a new location of Hanco’s.

1/28/09
Bep, a pop-up café in Williamsburg, serves bánh mì.

2/19/09
Three words: bánh mì cart.

2/23/09
The Vietnamese sandwich finally arrives on Bedford Avenue.

2/23/09
Hanco’s and An Choi open. The $8 takeout bánh mì is born.

3/16/09
Num Pang offers a Cambodian alternative.

3/25/09
Baoguette opens its second location and plots a third, Angelo Sosa’s Xie Xie gets an opening date, and Williamsburg’s Nhà Tôi introduces the “Pho Bánh Mì”.

4/5/09
Citing Pegu Club’s fried-oyster bánh mì and Terroir’s mortadella-stuffed bánh mì Italiano, New York declares the bánh mì to be the new panino, and rounds up the city’s best.

The Bánh Mì Boom: A Grub Street Timeline