When Zon Baguettes first opened, I got some sort of cheesy chain-store feel from their logo. “Don” means crunchy–”Zon” is where I get 2-day shipping with Prime.

With Hoolux, I got to finally try Vietnamese sandwiches–or banh mi, at Zon Baguettes. We got the Dac Biet (special) featuring headcheese, Viet bacon, porkroll (lol. ?!. cha lua), and the standard house mayonnaise, pickled daikon and carrot, onion, jalapeno, and soy sauce. $4.25.

The bread blew it and the ingredients inside didn’t compensate for it. Looks good though doesnt it?

It felt hollow and like it was lacking something. I wanted some crunch and chew to it. The one sandwich shop I got to visit in Vietnam is already burning Zon out of my brainz. Still looking for decent banh mi in Orange County–to Little Saigon!

Food: B-
Value: C
Service: A
Ambience: B

Zon Baguettes
14081 Newport Ave
Tustin, CA 92780
(714) 731-1366
Mon-Fri: 7:00am-8:00pm
Sat-Sun: 8:00am-8:00pm
www.zonbaguettes.com

This place is ridiculously Irvine-clean, and full of business people on their lunch. If you want to come to a place that makes you feel underdressed look no further.

Make sure you park on the side lot and not directly in front of the store (I found out the hard way–that’s emergency parking only=O ). They’ll validate your parking for about an hour.

I have tried and loved the Chairman, Hot Italian and the BLT sandwiches. Fresh bread baked on-site makes ALL the difference. Specialty’s Cafe and Bakery understands that quality sandwich ingredients is just as important as the bread.

I’ve had one off-day at this place (the bread wasn’t toasted right, or was slightly old), but otherwise it has been excellent. These sandwiches are sometimes dripping with water. I’m not sure if it’s from washed lettuce, the pickle or what, but I could see this buggin some folks. Also, the mustard can be a bit strong, or heavily slathered. Just ask for it on the side if you are timid.

Despite my nitpicking I can’t think of a place that combats the quality here on these types of sandwiches. If you know of some, let me know.

The Chairman:
Sprouts, Herb, Mayonnaise, Stone Ground Mustard, Roasted Turkey Breast, Swiss, Green Leaf Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion, Cucumber, Dill Pickle, Avocado, Italian Vinaigrette, Ranch Dressing, Black Pepper.

Hot Italian:
Toasted Thyme Focaccia, Mayonnaise, Stone Ground Mustard, Salami, Bologna, Mortadella, Swiss, Provolone, Green Leaf Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion, Dill Pickle, Mixed Bell Peppers, Pepperoncini, Italian Vinaigrette, Black Pepper.

Hoooly smokes. The Hot Italian hit the spot! It had a tad too much salt on top of the bread, so I just scraped it off. Still, the bread remains incredible. Pairing with quality ingredients sets this one off.

This puts my bread baking to shame. To the kitchen!

Specialty’s Cafe and Bakery
20 Pacifica
Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 453-0137

My most recent visit was the Fullerton location with David Ronquillo and John Wu. It was of biblical proportions. The Knowlwood menu is has many variations of the hamburger. You get a choice of either 1/3 and even a 1/2lb. burger since some of us can’t seem to get enough beef in our blood (e.g. David). And if you’re wussing out for the day, you can get a Baby Hamburger too.

I was surprised to find fish sandwiches here too. They have fried fish, grilled mahi mahi and salmon. Isn’t it great when they just sell fried “fish”? Imagine ordering “fish” sashimi, steamed “fish”, or if your bagel came with smoked “fish”. However, this is America, where we are used to ingesting loads of dodgy foodstuffs without question anyway.

Knowlwood’s trademark is “Home of the World’s Best Hamburger”. Not limited to food, Americans will compete with their neighbor, cross county, or nationally then claim for themselves a world title. Classy. Knowlwood’s burgers are good, but far from world’s best. Luckily they let you add bacon.

I ordered a Pastrami Reuben sandwich. This one packed a punch–it’s a hand-held heart-attack of pastrami, thousand island dressing, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese, squeezed between perfectly buttered and grilled rye. Get ready to get your hands dirty. It was delightfully gooey down to the last bite.

It’s a shame when fries pretty much come with everything and it isn’t done right. Maybe I had old fries or something, but that’s no excuse.

I’ll be back for the Reuben.

Knowlwood
150 S Harbor Blvd
Fullerton, CA 92832
(714) 879-7552