Q Bakery

The Q Bakery is located in the same complex as Viet Wah on MLK and Graham down in my neck of the woods in South Seattle. It's not hard to find a good banh mi in Seattle, but a good vegetarian banh mi a stone's throw from my house is cause for celebration!

To start with , the Q Bakery is indeed a real bakery and it pumps out baguettes and rolls at regular intervals all day. If you choose to eat in the small shop, you'll know the bread is almost out of the oven because the population temporarily swells with people eager to load up their baskets and bags with hot bread. So this means that the backbone of the banh mi, the baguette, is oh so fresh and tasty. Off to a good start!

I'm not sure if they actually remove some of the center of the baguette, but somehow the ratio of fillings to bread is way better than usual, and the sandwich feels packed with innards and not just a bread baby.
Another reason I especially love Q Bakery is the sauce on the table. I recently discovered that one of the little plastic jars of red seedy sauce is NOT the typical vinegary chili garlic, but chili garlic lemongrass. I loaded up my sandwich and was in heaven.

The prices are similar to banh mi elsewhere: amazingly low. And in addition to sandwiches, Q bakery has a wide and interesting selection of other foods and snacks that are largely mysterious to me. Definitely worth a stop in if you're in the area!