Plum Alley
111 E 300 S
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
(801) 355-0543
Welcome to lunchtime, Plum Alley!
The new lunch menu drops a few items and picks up rice bowls and three banh mi sandwiches – the traditional cold cut, a pork shoulder, and a chicken curry.
These are not your grandma’s banh mi.
First, the cold cut sandwich is stuffed with Creminelli mortadella. It is buttery, rich, and pocked with peppercorns. Then there is a good portion of ham. I’d say that, compared to most banh mi I’ve had, these are fairly protein heavy. That is not a criticism.
Also along the less traditional vein are the pickled veggies. I believe I saw some green beans in there, but definitely not the usual daikon. It’s hard to be accurate at this point. I planned to open it when I got back to my car, since I got my order to go, and have a single bite and save the rest until I got home. I had my bite, pulled out into traffic, and found bite after bite of the sandwich willing itself into my mouth. I blame some sort of Plum Alley long-distance mind control device.
Delicious. Not traditional, but no complaints here. Did I mention the sauce?
I should mention the sauce. Most banh mi have some mayo and chicken liver pate. So, the mad Plum Alley geniuses think, why not just combine the two?
Please welcome to the world patéoli.
The mortadella is so unctuous that the sandwich almost doesn’t need it, but it does push the whole proceeding over the top. I was especially glad that the pickled veg was way to the sour end of the spectrum, since it cut the fat nicely.
I should mention that, at $7, they are well over double the cost of the other banh mi you’ll find around town. Using extremely high quality meats and hand making devilish pickles definitely brings with it a price tag. Worth it? Probably so, and definitely worth trying to decide for yourself.
Can’t wait to try the other two varieties.
