The Biz Beat: Mommy’s Bánh Mì in San Jose knows best

The seeds for Mommy’s Bánh Mì in San Jose were sown when owner Curtis Lai joked to his mother — who was obsessively pursuing the perfect Vietnamese sandwich — she was making so many she should sell them. Little did he know she would take him at his word.

“She was always saying, ‘Try this, try this,'” Lai told San José Spotlight. “I told her, ‘I’ve had enough sandwiches, you should go start a food truck.’ About three days later, a small trailer from Craigslist pops up in the driveway.”

Lai’s mother, Natalie Le, surprised him even more when she tried to convince him to quit his job at Apple and help with her fledgling business. Barely knowing how to cook rice or eggs, he helped for a couple of months. Then, when the food truck became too time-consuming, they abandoned it.

Two years later, his uncle wanted to restart the business, and Lai offered to help cater sandwiches for his 300 teammates at Apple. Their enthusiastic response provided him with his lightbulb moment.

“They all enjoyed them,” he said, “and wanted to order more. I thought, ‘Oh, there’s that food trailer.'”

Lai decide to quit and give it another go. He signed up for the farmers market at the San Jose Rose Garden. On the first day, he began working at 5 a.m. and finished at 4 p.m., selling only 29 sandwiches. He was not discouraged.

“I worked seven days a week and kept learning, learning, learning,” he said. “I was on a quest to share this sandwich. And I was on a mission to elevate Vietnamese food.”

The sandwiches lean heavily on two culturally different aspects of Vietnamese cuisine. The first is the bánh mì bread itself, a variation on the baguette, and chicken pâté, both of which were introduced to the country by the French during their occupation.

The second is a mix of the country’s staple foods: a protein, usually pork in Vietnam, and a healthy serving of vegetables common in the country including cucumbers, sweet pickled carrots, daikon and cilantro. Done right, it’s a colorful, chewy and complex complete meal.

“I realized we were selling to workers who enjoyed a quick lunch,” Lai said. “I kept the idea of always trying to connect with my customers, which was what allowed me to keep moving forward and develop the business.”

He expanded into a ghost kitchen, then a commercial kitchen inside Fuse nightclub in downtown San Jose and finally to The Rec Room before settling into his current location at 86 N. Market St. in 2023.

The menu at Mommy’s is short but flexible. There are six proteins: pork lemongrass patties, grilled lemongrass chicken, shredded chicken, fried chicken, slow-roasted porchetta and a vegetarian or vegan mix that includes tofu, yams and taro. Each protein can be matched with bánh mì as a sandwich, with sheets of vermicelli noodles or rice in a bowl. All come with sweet pickled carrots, daikons, cucumbers, jalapeños and crispy fried onions.

“Most Vietnamese restaurants have a thousand things on the menu,” Lai said. “I just want to try to be the best at this menu, and I’m always finding new ways to improve it. But every few months there’s going to be something different.”

Lai bakes the bread in-house, another journey of his that began with an attempt, which only yielded half a loaf. Since then, he said, he’s developed a bánh mì that is lighter in texture than the Vietnamese version and tones down its almost razor-sharp crust. The result is a sandwich that you can bite into without all the ingredients squishing out.

One departure from the traditional version is that all the meats are served hot and fresh off the grill, which provides a great contrast to the cool, crisp vegetables. But the secret weapon is the cilantro sauce, which takes the flavor in a surprisingly rich direction.

“My mom created that sauce,” Lai said. “It was just a bunch of leftover pieces of vegetables. She thought, ‘We can’t waste this food. We’ve got to figure out how to do something with it.’ It sets us apart from many places.”

The sauce is available for sale and is worth taking home. It also accompanies the two side dishes on the menu,  both of which are exceptional. The Vietnamese Chicken Wings are prepared in a crispy, Korean-based batter and tossed in a vegan fish sauce that adds sweet, sour and savory notes. The Twirly Fries, short and thick with an unusual curve, are topped with scallion oil and fried onions.

First-time customer Denise Wyl came to Mommy’s on the recommendation of her daughters and was impressed enough to say she’d be coming back.

“They know I love Vietnamese food,” she told San José Spotlight. “I had the lemongrass chicken bowl and it was absolutely delicious. And the service was quick and very friendly.”

Mommy’s has never had an official grand opening, Lai said, because he’s been working first on becoming a better business owner.

“I’m concentrating on the food and my people and people in front of us,” he said. “That’s the fun part about this journey, and that’s all that matters. People will find good food if we provide good food.”

Contact Robert Eliason at [email protected].

Editor’s note: The Biz Beat is a series highlighting local small businesses and restaurants in Silicon Valley. Know a business you’d like to see featured? Let us know at [email protected].