Just Pho the Taste of It

Yum! One of my favorites. I tried making it at home but it was time consuming and required lots of spices that I didn't use for anything else (like star anise). So it was faster, cheaper, easier and far more tasty to not make it myself.

Fortunately it seems to be easier to find around the country. One of my favorite places is in Philadelphia ( http://www.toppa.com/phonatic/264 ). But Xicanista is right, we Californians are fortunate in that tasty Pho can be found practically on every corner in the Bay Area and hit the jackpot in Southern California's Little Saigon ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Saigon ) where signs on the freeway guide you.

I was introduced to Pho by a co-worker. It is so good. I feel cheated by discovering it so late. There are a million and one Pho places in California so I'm guessing if you did a quick web search you could probably find one in your area.

I've never had the privilege of eating Pho in Vietnam, but the stuff in the SF Bay is really good. My favorite part is adding my own hot sauce, lime, sprouts and oyster sauce. Some days I feel extra spicy so I lay the hot sauce and lime on heavy. Other days I want sweet so I 'muddy the waters' by adding more oyster sauce. Of course, the broth alone has plenty of flavors (I've heard is made with 32 ingredients), but the fact that I can make a personal experience each time is awesome.

I recommend this place: Pho Vi Hoa ( http://www.phovihoa.com/ ) Good food, good prices.

XICANISTA
xicanista.blogspot.com
http://www.xicanista.net

Only it tends to be for lunch on Saturdays. The kids are crazy for Pho (fur?) and sushi. Give 'em one or the other & they're happy campers (which in turn makes for happy parents!).

Vero.
Blogging at Little Elephants ( http://www.littleelephants.com )

It sounds like the perfect dinner for the whole family. I got an e-mail from someone who read this on Blogher, tracked me down through my food blog, and told me a place that supposedly has the best Pho in Salt Lake. Can't wait to try it.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen ( http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com )

Delicious, fast and cheap. Even mediocre pho is good pho as far as my family is concerned (the kids love it too). We have a little ritual of going for pho after Thursday swimming lessons. We all look forward to it.

laurie
www.notjustaboutcancer.blogspot.com ( http://www.notjustaboutcancer.blogspot.com )

Though not the best Pho I have ever had, you'll have to appreciate the name of this place in the Westminster/Fountain Valley area (near Little Saigon) I went to a couple of months ago: "What the Pho?"

Hey Kalyn,
How funny -- I just blogged about faux pho last night -- as a tribute to the inventor of instant ramen! We love it -- both the faux and the real, or I should say as real as we can find here in Portland. The place we go to is called Pho Van on the east side of the city and it was recommended to us by one of Dave's culinary teachers, so it's definitely got a good rep. Some day we'll try to make the real stuff at home from scratch. (Right now we're just a tad bit too lazy!)

-MizD

Belly Timber ( http://www.belly-timber.com )
Playing with our food since 2005

... and Americans have screwed up the name so you can call it FO and the restaurants will take your money. It's the best comfort food there is. I cannot explain how good this soup is. I live across the street from a Vietnamese restaurant and could use a bowl of Pho right now.

From these comments it sounds like there are lots of places to get great Pho on the West Coast. I must remember that the next time I go see my fabulous brother who lives in Venice Beach!

Mz. D, I have Anh's recipe in my del.icio.us cookbook when you're ready to tackle the from-scratch version.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen ( http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com )