Let’s take a moment to address the big elephant in the room. Pho, a steaming bowl of noodly goodness, is a Vietnamese dish; and its pronounced “fuh” not “fo.” Trust me on this one. The proper pronunciation has lent itself to many slap-knee, hilarious restaurant names or innuendos. Among my favorites are: Pho Ever Yum, Pho Show, un PHO gettable, Pho-natic and Good Pho You. I digress.
When I’m feeling under the weather, there are only two things can hit the spot: my mom’s homemade chicken soup or a piping hot, heaping bowl of pho. Jay offered to make my mom’s chicken soup, but I was pretty adamant (read: stubborn) that it wouldn’t taste the same. So he did the next best thing: looked for the best pho place in our area. There was only one listing. It didn’t have a witty name and whether it was “the best” was yet to be determined, but it was open and that was good enough for me.
The ambiance of the restaurant was cozy, albeit empty, save for the two of us & an elderly lady tucked in the booth furthest from ours. The lack of patrons made ordering and getting service lightning fast!
Yes, I’m that person that takes pictures of their food before diving in; and this habit of mine garnered some attention tonight. The waitress politely asked why I was taking pictures and I sheepishly replied with the dreaded response, “I blog.” She scurried back into the kitchen and returned with the owner. Cue the panic attack – I didn’t think taking pictures would be so offensive that they would need to get the owner – were they going to throw us out over this? As it turned out, the owner was thrilled! I had to explain that this here blog o’ mine is not a big deal to anyone outside my immediate family & closest friends. Still, he was thrilled.
We learned that the restaurant opened less than three months ago and business has been steady, but slow. After chatting for a bit, the owner went back to the kitchen and returned with two shot glasses of ginger tea – Chef’s special. Call it what you will, but that was no ordinary ginger tea. It’s like they bottled up the holidays. Amazing.
The verdict (as evident by the near empty bowl): House of Pho was “pho-nomenal!” (Too much?) Unlike a lot of other pho places I’ve been to, this one didn’t smell funny. The decor was tasteful. The service was quick. The owner was incredibly friendly & it’s hard not to want someone like that to succeed. The pho wasn’t oily – have a bowl or two – and you’ll know just how important this is. I’m by no means an expert on pho, but I’ve been spoiled by some of the best restaurants in California thanks to Tracy, and I’d like to think that this place ranks pretty high. We will definitely be back.
Sidenote: I thought the name of this post, “Pho-nomenal,” would have made for a cool restaurant name, but alas, many are in existence. Guess I’m not as witty as I think. Womp, womp.
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