Nom Nom Truck

Every time I think of you
I always catch my breath
And I’m still standing here and you’re miles away
And I’m wondering why you left
With my banh mi sandwich

Food=4, Price=2 — so 3-​stars, it is.
I’m Asian and I grew up in Chinatown. I grew up with $ 2 banhmi’s and I expect around $ 4.50 now. so $ 8.32 (after tax) is pretty damn steep.
Given, the bread is great and you can tell it’s not «Chinatown» quality when it’s still soft but still has a bite/​crunch. The meat is cooked pretty well and the whole sandwich has a good balance of flavor and texture. Still, I don’t want to pay 85% more of what I’d usually pay to get a banh mi.

Ever since 2011’s season of the Great Food Truck Race, Nom Nom got Unilocal bookmarked so I was jazzed to find out that they post in a gas station parking lot on Ygnacio in Walnut Creek every Sunday for lunch.
Service was fast and friendly. Nom vehicle: 3 bahn mi. Proteins: 1 lemongrass chicken, 1 grilled pork, 1 vegetarian. Works: fried egg on the pork & 1 on the veg. Result: a happy little Asian girl with busted buttons.
The bread is fresh… unique flaky texture from the rice flour. Our sandwiches were loaded with crisp pickled daikon and carrots, lined with a bit of cilantro & thin slices of biased cut jalapeños, and crowned with a glorious fried, runny yolk egg. Unlike other reviewers, they weren’t skimpy on proteins. Grilled pork was juicy and tasty. Lemongrass chicken was flavorful with a spicy kick, and the sautéed tofu was «nom» — my fave of the three.
Also, they were huge! At 7.50 each (excld add-​on egg), each was at least 10 inches long and 3 – 4 inches wide. Yes, size matters. Nom Nom was definitely nom.

Nom Nom is probably one of the most famous food truck names (thanks to a TV show) u can find in the city, other than the Chairman Bao truck. I was surprised to see one of the owners, Marisa C. working inside the truck. She must travel a lot between SF & LA to supervise all her food trucks.
The menu is simple: banh mi ($ 6.50) and tacos ($ 2.50) with your choice of pork, chicken or tofu. There’s a deli special banh mi for $ 7.50.
The specials last week were vegan mushroom pâté and Vietnamese iced coffee.
The food is made to order so u need to wait a few minutes at the pickup window.
I got the $ 10 combo, with a chicken banh mi
+ a pork taco,
and a drink.
Although it’s true that the Nom Nom trucks in LA charge $ 5 for banh mi, and $ 8 for the combo. I don’t think that people should compare Nom Nom to prices of hole in the wall banh mi shops in SF, Oakland and San Jose. Those shops are family operated so they don’t have the expense of employee salaries, the meat is not the same quality, and most use a cheap generic bread. Compare that to Nom Nom’s custom bread.
Also consider that the food trucks have to pay 10% of their sales to the OTG organizer. And that doesn’t include the cost of annual permit fees they pay to the city.
In my opinion, if it’s reasonable to pay $ 6.50 for an American style sandwich, then Nom Nom’s banh mi prices should be okay too.

Wait, really?
Why is the average only 3 stars?
Honestly, Nom Nom Truck is so nomworthy and nomalicious… I want another VietNOMese sandwich, please.
Anyway, I LOVED the grilled pork sandwich. Maybe it’s because I’m a sucker for pickled vegetables and refreshing-​tasting food. But eating a sandwich made me understand why they won 2^nd on the Great Food Truck Race… I thought Lee’s Sandwiches was amazing, but nope… now I probably can’t get Banh Mi’s anywhere else but Nom Nom Truck. Luckily, Nom Nom Truck comes near work every Wednesday lunch! Thank Buddha, God, Shiva, Santa Maria, and all existing omnipotent powers out there.