The Bánh Faux Mì was not our first attempt at a bánh mì-style sandwich. That honor goes to the Sitka Sushi, but—great sandwich that it is—it didn't fully scratch the itch.
With Country Pâté having a singular home (The Hedonist) outside the deli case, providing the body for bánh mì-style sandwich round 2 fit right in its wheelhouse.
Smoked Ham naturally followed as a complementary protein, and countless debates over relative portion sizes of the meats led to the creation of the "half-portion" of Smoked Ham. (The half ham portion would gain additional usefulness when we dropped Mortadella and the Italiensk needed a replacement ingredient).
The BFM is made on a buttered hero roll. Those two divergences from typical bánh mì construction alone account for the "Faux" in the name. The BFM also spurred the invention of other staple ingredients on our sandwich lines: quick pickles, and our pickled veg medley.
[Warning: Slight factual errors may be present in what follows. We're aiming for vibes above pure fact. If you, or someone close to you, can contest what we're saying, please comment below.]
The O.G. BFM was probably built something like:
Buttered hero, hoisin, sriracha, indeterminately-sized slices of country pâté, whole portion of smoked ham, fresh cucumber slices, hausmade kimchi, cilantro, done.
Ingredients were swapped out here and there (sometimes smoked pork loin, if we ran out of ham, which surely amplified the richness of the sandwich). Fresh cucumber gave way to quick pickles. Perhaps even both at times(?) Sometimes we tossed cukes into a container with hastily-stirred rice vinegar, brown sugar, a dash of salt for a few minutes when quickles ran out.
A version of our pickled veg medley took over for kimchi.
A modern Bánh Faux Mì goes:
A buttered hero roll containing two thin slices of Country Pâté (about half of what goes on The Hedonist), a small squiggle of hoisin, a half-portion of Smoked Ham, a layer of quick pickles, pickled vegetable medley, cilantro, and sriracha.
It may be our most iterated upon sandwich, but all the while a top-tier example of NWS sandwiches. Perhaps not the indeterminately large pâté portion/whole portion of ham days.
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