Co Ba

As usual, it was a super exciting day at work. I was so pumped up and engaged with my tasks that when lunch time came around, I could hardly believe that the time flew by so fast! Reluctantly, I got off my super comfy chair and went to grab lunch. 

Who am I kidding?

Work was so boring and dull that I literally wanted to kill myself. The time was moving slower than a turtle with two broken legs. I think my eyes were fixated on the lower right hand corner of my PC the whole morning. When 12pm came along, I was already out the door!

Btw, I love work and I have the best job in the world!! (In case someone from work happens to come across this entry). 

One of the many things running through my mind the whole morning was, what should I have for lunch? Well, let me tell you. After two minutes of contemplating, I made a decision. A decision that was probably made subconsciously the day before. 

So the day before was the day of the uneventful (at least for me) Hurricane (Topical Storm) Irene. Seeing the sun out and no damage in my area, I was super excited that I would not be stuck in my house for the whole day. After hours and hours of this excitement, I finally get my butt off my rocking chair (yes, I said rocking chair) and got myself out of the house. (Yep, it took me hours to decide on what to do). So what did I do? I went for my usual walk along the water (which lasted about 5 mins and you'll see why in a minute). As I was driving there, I felt as if the wind was trying to say "screw you" by trying to push me to the side of the highway. Still determined to get my exercise (because I care deeply about my health and weight), I kept on going. I finally got there, put on my wind breaker (which, didn't break anything btw) and started my daily 2.5 miles walk. After .002 miles, I turned my ass back around and went back into my car. The wind (and the big trees that were right next me) literally dragged my behind back to my car. 

My mission to get my daily exercise failed...

Well, all was not lost. During that .00000002 miles I was walking, I did manage to do something very important. Yes, extremely important. I decided what my dinner was going to be. Yay!! My tummy had politely asked for a Vietnamese Sandwich and I had no reason to say no to it. So I called a friend to see if she was up for sharing one with me and she said yes (you are best!). 

Once again, that moment of happiness only lasted about 5 mins. She had suspected that the sandwich shop might be closed due to this uneventful HOrricane Irene. She was right. She phoned the shop and there was no answer. I was devastated. With my heart and mind no longer in the right state, I decided to just eat something at home. (Which, btw was fried rice AND instant noodles...I overate unfortunately...I blame the sandwich shop for that). 

Sooooo, what was the whole point of this story? Yes, you guessed it. I decided to get me a Viet sandwich for lunch! Now keep in mind, that this was the perfect motivation for me. This viet place near my work place has been on my list of "things to eat/restaurants to try" list for quite some time now. It went on the list when I saw that it was ranked the second best viet sandwich in NYC by Serious Eats. 

Wanting to make sure I spent my full lunch hour away from the office, I had planned to get the sandwich and eat it at a bench which is located by the water. (Yes, me and my water). 

I get to the restaurant and order their original banh mi (Viet sandwich for you noobs). I think it took 10 mins for them to hand me my sandwich. WTH? I've never had to wait that long for a sandwich in my life. Hey, but I'm not complaining (well, not really). I just figured it must be a hell of a sandwich. 

I get my sandwich and walk merrily to the water area. To my surprise, I didn't just see a bench but an actual table! They had tables! Yay! After 3 years of working in this place, how have I not discovered this earlier?? Anyway, when I got closer, I saw three tables. Table 1 was occupied. Table 2 was occupied and table 3 was free. So what was my dilemma? Table 2 had a freakin bum sleeping on it!! Standing in the middle of the sidewalk, trying to decide on what the heck I was going to do, I decided to just stop being a scaredy cat and sat my ass down at table #3. Btw, this was right after I came across another bum yelling like a mad man (maybe at me?). That is another story that I am too lazy to type up. 

After what seemed like a struggle, I was finally able to sit down with a nice view in front of me and begin to enjoy my sandwich. 

Banh mi Thit - Assorted cold cuts, grilled honey plum glazed pork, house made pickles, cilantro,

jalapenos and mayo on a French baguette - $7 + tax

Let me first start off with the good part of the review. The meat was pretty decent. It was relatively thin slices of marinated pork, cooked mostly the way I like it..."charcoaled". The favor was good but not great. I've definitely had better marinated pork. The veggies were your typical viet sandwich veggies. 

And now the bad part...the bread...it was...hard as a freakin rock. I mean, I've had stale/hard bread before but this was amazing. I've never had such a stale bread from a restaurant. I think I felt my teeth chipping away as I was biting down into the sandwich. So as you can imagine, it was pretty hard to enjoy the sandwich even though the good meat was there. I will add this though. Since I bought this the day after "hurricane" Irene came to town, I'm guessing they gave me leftover bread from either last Friday or Saturday.

Shame on you Co Ba! Screw you for not making my lunch an unenjoyable one!!

P.S.

Excuse the pics. I tried hard (somewhat) to take it at the right angle to avoid the sunlight. I was outdoors and the sun was shining directly on me. I also didn't want to look like a weirdo trying to take 100 pics of a sandwich. 

 

Oh and here is a pic of the storefront. 

 

 

Co Ba

110 9th Avenue

New York NY

212-414-2700

cobarestaurant.com