“#1 Special”
Ba Le
5014 N. Broadway St.
Chicago, IL 60640 (Uptown)
(773) 561-4424

“#1 Dac Biet (Special)”
Nhu-Lan Bakery
2612 W. Lawrence Ave 
Chicago 60625 (Lincoln Square)
(773) 561-4424

“#4 The Classic”
Bon Bon Vietnamese Sandwiches
2333 W. North Ave.
Chicago 60647 (Wicker Park)
(773) 278-5800

The Super Bowl is just as much about gluttony than it is about football and commercials. But since we weren’t blessed with the insane talent to make this stunning (and impressively accurate) Soldier Field replica, we had to settle for a sandwich battle. Taking our favorite sandwich—the Italian Beef—and pinning four of Chicago’s best against each other seemed like the ultimate, culminating matchup. So, when we learned that two of the four spots were closed we were Bradying in defeat before the game even started. It was tough, but we dug deep, drew up another game plan, and went with Banh Mi.

Now Banh Mi isn’t as polarizing as Italian Beef, but it definitely deserves some discussion. Three establishments consistently come up in conversation as being the best in the city: Ba Le, Nhu Lan and Bon Bon. To make things fair we ordered the same sandwich from each place—their respective version of the “Special.” Basically, it’s the original Banh Mi sandwich. Ingredients are as follows:

• french baguette
• jalapeños
• pickled carrot
• pickled diakon radish
• cucumber
• cilantro
• ham
• pork roll
• head cheese
• pate

If you’re a little confused by the combo of ingredients you might be unfamiliar with this Vietnamese sandwich.  Check out Battle of the Banh Mi—an outstanding resource for all things Banh Mi. They even have have a directory broken down by state. And now for our scientific judging algorithm. There are three main components to the original Banh Mi sandwich: bread, pickled vegetables, and meat. We judged on each component and added an “Overall Taste” category for good measure. Scoring was done on a scale of 1 - 4, four being the best and one being the worst. And the winner is:

Bottom line, Nhu Lan had the complete package. Bread always plays an important factor and Nhu Lan easily won with their crispy, crackly crust (4). Ba Le’s bread was soggy and disappointing (2). Bon Bon’s baguette was good—a little tough (3). Vegetables were a little underwhelming across the board. A tad under pickled for everyone. It’s clear from the pic that there’s no shortage of veg in Bon Bon’s (2), but Nhu Lan edged it out with more flavor and crunch (3). Ba Le, barely had any vegetable (2). Meat was tough to score. Ba Le, had nice flavor, but seemed to skimp a little. Nhu Lan (3) also had good flavor and layered the meat cuts nicely, but Bon Bon (4) was not shy with their pate, so that put them over the top. There’s no doubt we’ll have each sandwich multiple times in the future, but if all three were in front of us, we’d fight over Nhu Lan’s.