Bánh Mì Sandwich Store Comes to Eagle Rock

Here’s a piece of good news for foodies: Eagle Rock’s newest gourmet venue specializes in sandwiches and smoothies of a kind that you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in the neighborhood.

Located on the south side of Colorado Boulevard, in a shopping mall between Glen Iris Avenue and Highland View Avenue, the store’s name offers an unsubtle hint about what to expect: Yum ♥ Me Baguette.

The shop opened Monday and is the brainchild of Julian Pham, a Vietnamese American restaurateur from Orange County. Yum-Me’s business concept is simple: Although meant to be a to-go store, “people can come and sit down as well—like Starbucks,” Pham says.

But does Colorado Boulevard really need another sandwich shop, given that is just three and a half blocks west and has quite a following in the neighborhood?

Yum-Me sandwiches are “more French style,” says Pham, explaining that she makes bánh mì, the popular French-Vietnamese baguette filled with thin slices of seasoned meat and plenty of marinated vegetables and such ingredients as lentils and tofu.

On Monday afternoon, Pham had one helper in the shop. By 3:30 pm, some 30 customers had stopped by to sample the spicy-savory sandwiches from the East. Given that bánh mì is one of the most popular street foods in the world, it was only a matter of time before such a venue set up shop in Eagle Rock, where residents take their food seriously.

Yum-Me Baguette, 1916 Colorado Blvd., Suite B, (323) 259-6499.

Editor's Note: A small portion of this article as it originally appeared has been edited at the request of Julian Pham to avoid any misunderstanding between her store and Dave's Chillin-n-Grillin, as reflected in some of the readers' comments.