Located in Ventura’s Victoria Village (by Harbor Freight Tools and Victoria Pub and Grill) is a hidden gem of Vietnamese cuisine. If you’re familiar with Vietnamese must-haves like Pho, you’ll be delighted with the restaurant’s fresh Banh Mi varieties, as well as other local favorites. What truly sets their Banh Mi apart is the homemade, fresh-baked baguettes, prepared daily right in their kitchen—unlike other restaurants that have their bread delivered. These crispy baguettes are filled with your choice of meat, pickled vegetables, cilantro, lime, chile, and other ingredients that give the Banh Mi its signature flavor. Aside from these delicious sandwiches, the menu boasts spring rolls, noodles, Peruvian-inspired stir fry, and rice dishes. As the weather cools, their Pho is the perfect soul-soothing comfort food.
Manager Phong Nguyen is a chef at heart, having grown up in the family restaurant business since the 1990s. At a young age, he became the main chef and kitchen manager for The Vox Kitchen in Fountain Valley, where he worked for many years. The Vox is a trendy, Orange County-based fusion restaurant that draws inspiration from cuisines around the world, and it earned a spot on Yelp’s Top 100 US Restaurants list in 2022.
Nguyen opened his first restaurant in Oxnard in 2005. With his family now living in Ventura, he decided to join Paris Sandwiches, closer to home. The restaurant launched at the end of 2019, right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which posed obvious challenges. Thankfully, delivery services like DoorDash and Grubhub helped sustain the business during that tough time.
Over the past four years, while the menu has evolved, some local favorites have stayed the same—Pho, Banh Mi, vermicelli, and garlic noodles. The restaurant continues to introduce new flavors to keep the options fresh. Recently, the dine-in area was reopened, and there are plans to expand the menu further. Be on the lookout for daily or weekly specials, along with their fresh-baked baguettes that many don’t know are made in-house daily! Be sure to visit them at the upcoming 2024 Fall Business Expo at the Four Points Sheraton on October 10, from 4pm to 6:30pm and, sample some of their delicious offerings.
