cali deli is coming to the old abi boutique location (see below; from yelp: “a barely tolerable mess of tanks and tees”) on 5th in hillcrest.  banh mi is a vietnamese baguette filled with all kinds of interesting stuff… wikipedia can do this better than me:

The sandwich is made up of thinly sliced pickled carrots and daikon(Do Chua), cucumbers, cilantro, Chili peppers, pâté, mayonnaise and various meat fillings or tofu. Popular bánh mì fillings include roasted or grilled pork, Vietnamese sausage, chicken, head cheese and ham.

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i’ve been mystified as to why there’s only place that serves banh mi between downtown and north park – vo’s on university, which is supposed to be good, but it’s basically a takeout place.  especially strange when you consider how many vietnamese are in san diego.  maybe the white people just don’t get it, but you have to drive to the vietnamese enclaves of linda vista (k sandwiches) or city heights (cali baguette express – wait, they just opened a mira mesa location?!) to feast on these perfect lunches.

we saw the sign last night on our way to the new location of chocolat, in the old mille feuille spot at 5th and university, but it wasn’t open yet – you’ll have to visit their downtown location on 5th for now.  so we went to the new papalecco in the atlas building across from tractor room, which looked modern, has some very comfortable seating, and offers up giant-ass chocolate chip cookies in addition to their excellent gelato.