Where: 2905 West Alameda Avenue
When: Open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily
For more information: Visit leessandwiches.com
Lee's interior is small and includes a walk-up counter for ordering and a selection of grocery items.
Molly Martin
The brand's history goes back to 1980, when founder Chieu Le launched a catering truck in San Jose, California. That venture morphed into "the largest industrial catering company in Northern California," according to the Lee's Sandwiches website. The Le family began serving banh mi sandwiches in 1983 and opened a permanent location for Lee's Sandwiches in San Jose that same year. European-style sandwiches with toppings like ham, turkey, bacon and roast beef on croissants and baguettes were added in 2001 by Chieu and his oldest son, Minh.
Now the brand has locations in eight states; it launched its first in Colorado in January, when Lee's Sandwiches debuted in Colorado Springs.
At the Denver outpost, the drive-thru is a quick and convenient way to get your banh mi fix, and the menu includes eighteen varieties to choose from, all priced around $8. The signature combination includes ham, headcheese and paté, while other options range from grilled chicken and barbecue pork to sardines and pork roll with fried eggs.
There is also a lineup of breakfast and lunch sandwiches, as well as pastries, Vietnamese coffee, smoothies, milk tea and more.
Inside the small space, there's a walk-up counter and a small selection of grocery items like Lee's brand coffee and toasted baguette crisps, Chinese sausage, canned pâté and Pia cakes, and you can watch the fresh bread and pastries being made through a window.
What surprised us: The skimpy toppings on the banh mi. The baguette itself is ten inches long and slender, with a nice crisp-on-the-outside, chewy on-the-inside texture. The veggie toppings, which include thick-cut pickled daikon and carrots as well as onion, jalapeño and cilantro, were fresh with a crisp bite. But the sandwich was on the dry side, with a very light slather of mayonnaise. Though soy sauce is also listed as a standard topping, it seemed to be MIA.
The barbecue pork option came with just three small, thin pieces of meat that were also quite dry. The cold cut options seem a little more plentiful, but still on the lean side. A banh mi is often eaten more as a snack than a full meal, and this fills the bill in that sense — but for the price, there are better options in the area.
Vinh Xuong Bakery has a location on the southwest side of the same intersection and another just half a mile farther down Alameda where the grilled pork is plentiful, as is the chili oil, and the sandwiches ring in at under $6.
A half-mile south on Federal is Baker's Palace, where the banh mi are a bit smaller, but priced under $4. That spot also offers a buy-five-get-one-free special and, like Lee's, opens at 7 a.m. At New Saigon Bakery and Deli, just a block from Baker's Palace, the sandwiches are priced similarly to Lee's but are more weighty.
A bit farther afield, both Banh Mi Station near the University of Denver and Banh & Butter Bakery Cafe, which opened earlier this year on East Colfax and is owned by the daughter of New Saigon's original founders, are also serving up some stellar banh mi.
But while it may not be cranking out the best banh mi in town right now, Lee's is a solid choice for a quick fix on the go, and its non-banh mi options are a draw in their own right.
