Lê From Hop Sing Laundromat’s Upcoming Banh Mi Shop Is Called …
We wish we could see the looks on your faces.
Lê’s grilled pork banh mi
Back in January, we told you about the “North Korean” banh mi spot that enigmatic Hop Sing Laundromat proprietor Lê has in the works.
Though we still don’t know exactly where he’ll set up shop with his excellent sandwiches — he tells us he’s very, very close to signing a lease — we’ve been given the go-ahead to release its potentially controversial, already-trademarked, barely believable name.
Knowing Lê, it’s entirely possible that this is an elaborate prank on Foobooz and we’ll be summarily roasted on social media by the mysterious cocktail impresario (er, even more than usual). It’s a risk we’re willing to take.
The name will be … Pussyfoot Johnson.
Setting aside the fact that the name is made up of three things you definitely don’t want anywhere near your sandwich, it sounds less wild once you know the backstory.
William E. “Pussyfoot” Johnson was a temperance advocate in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who lectured and campaigned against alcohol around the country.
He was a real buzzkill who once dumped 25,000 gallons of liquor into the Arkansas River. In 1906, Teddy Roosevelt made him a special U.S. marshal tasked with halting illegal liquor sales to Indigenous people in Oklahoma Territory. It was during this time that he earned his nickname, thanks to the sneaky way he’d work by night to catch smugglers.
So, while nobody in their right mind would name a banh mi spot after this guy, it actually makes a lot of sense that Lê named his banh mi spot after this guy.
