A sandwich at Le Pho Vietnamese Restaurant, a bánh mì shop in Berkeley, California.
out of 100 · excellent
Excellent, with one move worth +13.
Reads as a banh mi, five of six roles on the board.
Holding the summit: balance 0.80 or better
Each bar is one pillar of the score, 0 to 100. The tick marks what a sandwich at the summit needs; an amber bar is the one holding this sandwich back.
vietnamese baguette, served cold: Beef; pickled carrot and daikon; cucumber; cilantro; jalapeno; mayonnaise.
In italics: what the name implies and the menu does not list.
Much of this build is inferred from the name; the score is a reading, and it stays out of Le Pho Vietnamese Restaurant's typical score.
Balance
| Axis | Value | Catalog percentile |
|---|---|---|
| salt | 0.5 | 24th |
| acid | 0.6 | 52nd |
| fat | 2.0 | 45th |
| sweet | 0.1 | 22nd |
| umami | 1.1 | 31st |
| heat | 0.3 | 76th |
| bitter | 0.3 | 76th |
70 Balance, out of 100
The seven flavor axes of the whole sandwich, each summed across its layers. The shaded ring is the catalog's middle 80%; the small number under each axis is where this sandwich falls in the catalog. A shape that sits inside the ring is in the range most sandwiches live in; a spike past it is where this one stands apart.
What each layer brings
| Layer | Role | Flavor and texture | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| vietnamese baguettescored as Bánh Mì Baguette (rice-flour blend) | bread | crispy soft flaky | the frame |
| Beef | protein | fat 3 umami 3 juicy chewy tender | +10 |
| pickled carrot and daikon | not scored | ||
| cucumber | bulk | crunchy juicy fresh | −3 |
| cilantro | aromatic | bitter 2 soft fresh herbal | 0 |
| jalapenoscored as Jalapeño | texture | heat 4 crunchy fresh raw | +3 |
| mayonnaise | sauce | fat 5 acid 2 creamy saucy | +12 |
Points: what the Sandwich Score would lose if that one layer were left out, everything else the same. A negative number means the sandwich scores higher without it. Flavor runs 0 to 5 on each axis.
Pairings
- Cilantro + Jalapeño: banh mi brightwork: green heat and herb
How to raise it
- Between you and 90: balance 0.80 or better (0.10 short).
All the sandwiches at Le Pho Vietnamese Restaurant · The menu this was read from · Build your own in the Sandwich Builder