Taken at Joju’s Elmhurst location; Photo by Jeff via Flickr
Vietnamese sandwich chain Joju has opened a location on the Upper East Side, marking the latest addition to the neighborhood’s flourishing Southeast Asian cuisine scene. This is Joju’s fourth location in the city and second in Manhattan.
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Joju, which has two locations in Queens and another in Midtown Manhattan, specializes in Vietnamese banh mi (pronounced “bon-mee”), a specialty street food of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) which combines savory meat and/or pate, fresh slaw and condiments in a French-inspired Vietnamese baguette.
Photo by Jeff via Flickr
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“The first banh mi came about in the late 1950s, when a Saigon sandwich shop expanded on a simple mayonnaise, pâté, or butter-spread baguette by adding meat and vegetables,” Joju’s website says. “Since then, the banh mi has traveled all over the world, seeing countless international iterations grown from that very first sandwich.”
Joju’s opening is great news for the neighborhood, considering how much customers seem to love the eatery’s banh mi.
“I have yet to try anything else here, but these banh mis never miss,” one five-star Yelp review for the location on 46th and Fifth Avenue states; another simply claims that Joju was “one of the best banh mis I’ve had.”
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In addition to banh mi, Joju offers rice bowls, spring rolls, salads and French fries, as well as Vietnamese coffee and other beverages.
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Joju is the latest addition to the Upper East Side’s growing Vietnamese food scene. In addition to more established spots like Vietnaam and Pho Shop (which is still open, despite this glaring report by East Side Feed earlier this year), Ly Ly Vietnam Cookhouse opened last month at 306 East 81st Street (between First and Second avenues).
Joju is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily at 1603 Second Avenue. Here’s the location page.
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Banh mi seems to use meat instead of paste and not be as mayo-laden as at some other places.