YW Picks: Pho

[kimpossible]

It's all you guys. I've never been one for pho. List 'em here.

[deez nuts]

pho hua and pho bang.

and a mom and pops vietnamese restaurant that closed down and i forgot the name.

those are the only ones that i've been to. apparently ny isn't a good place for good pho.

[mrazntre]

There aren't any good places to eat Pho that I know of. I know of OKAY/DECENT places, but homemade is the best because the broth is not part of a mass-marketed/consumed food product. It's hard to make pho really good when you have to make so much of it to order.

Pho So 1 is the best place in the Valley (Los Angeles) in my opinion
Pho LA in Ktown sucks, but it's the only one in the joint so it's 'okay.'
Pho 79 in Chinatown is where AB found a cochroach head in his soup. :P
Ba Le another Valley restaurant used to be ok. I dunno about the quality anymore.

Little Saigon (OC)
Pho 54
Thanh My - It used to be good, but not anymore. Their other dishes are usually good too.

[kasia]

i like pho hoa hiep in oakland chinatown. i think it's 10th street.

[BeTheReds]

Pho 75 on MD193 is the best I've ever had.

And how much is a bowl of pho at Pho 75?

"Pho-seventy-five" $4.75

[SunWuKong]

Northern Virginia generally have some pretty good pho. but i can't really distinguish good pho from bad pho. :tongue: i like most places i've been to.

[mrazntre]

Pho King!

watever happened to Pho Shizzle?

[kboy75]

i like pho hoa hiep in oakland chinatown. i think it's 10th street.


ME TOO! Great for just a simple bowl of pho.

I also like Pho 84 in downtown Oakland. 17th St and Franklin/Webster I think. Lil fancier, but lots of dishes are good there.

[xdlin22]

for good pho i like the viet store in brooklyn 25th ave and 86th street

[haru908]

"pho beef #1" on capital blvd in san jose

"pho thanh lich" on brookhurst in fountain valley

"hanoi" on sawtelle in west la. it's decent for west la, a lot better than anything in westwood. pricey as heck though $7/bowl

[Cipherous]

damn, I might have to pick some pho up after work.

[fossilfuel]

as heck though $7/bowl

:eek:

holy crap! $7 for pho? what do they put in it? gold bullion?

All the Pho places have the same names, Pho Hoa, Huynh, Ha, 99, 76, 69 - it's hard to tell them apart.

I found most places in San Jose ok, if they're no good they die pretty quick deaths.

[haru908]

:eek:

holy crap! $7 for pho? what do they put in it? gold bullion?

All the Pho places have the same names, Pho Hoa, Huynh, Ha, 99, 76, 69 - it's hard to tell them apart.

I found most places in San Jose ok, if they're no good they die pretty quick deaths.

it's completely ludicrous, they don't even have meatballs! the most essential ingredient of all.

[AngryABCGirl]

Golden Deli, Las Tunas and Mission in Alhambra

[Bishop]

Okay, I know that Pho originated in Hanoi, but what is in it?

[fossilfuel]

Okay, I know that Pho originated in Hanoi, but what is in it?

have you ever had it before? the ingredients are pretty easy to discern by inspection

beef broth
rice noodles
meat (can be beef steak, meatballs, chicken, etc...)
tripe and tendons (optional and non-Asians rarely have it)
fresh herbs (mint, onions, and other stuff i have no idea what it's called in english)
sometimes a dash of lemon or lime, hot sauce, whatever floats your boat

the broth is the key ingredient and jealously guarded by the people that make it, it's the only real differential between different pho places, if everything else is fresh

[Bishop]

I'll try to make it, it seems like everyone really likes it! I haven't had any Vietnamese dishes before.

[mrazntre]

have you ever had it before? the ingredients are pretty easy to discern by inspection

beef broth
rice noodles
meat (can be beef steak, meatballs, chicken, etc...)
tripe and tendons (optional and non-Asians rarely have it)
fresh herbs (mint, onions, and other stuff i have no idea what it's called in english)
sometimes a dash of lemon or lime, hot sauce, whatever floats your boat


I'm going to expound:

You can have either beef broth or chicken broth, it just depends.

The trick to making the broth is to let it sit all day in a big pot. Add 1 full, peeled but uncut onion to the mix.

fossilfuel is talking specifically about Pho Dac Biet (this just means special, as in house special)
tripe and tendons are actually standard
the fresh herbs aren't really part of the pho since you put it in after you get the bowl (you have some onions and cilantro in there, but that's part of the broth flavoring) - normally you have mint (i think there are two kinds), lime, jalapeno and mature bean sprouts.

You have many other kinds of pho that you'll see on the menu such as:
pho tai - basic pho with just the raw meat (either in the broth not yet fully cooked or on a separate plate for you to play with)
pho bo vien - pho broth with meatballs

Golden Deli, Las Tunas and Mission in Alhambra


i gotta try that place. do you know if that's a real Viet place or is it an ethnic-Chinese but born/raised in Vietnam type of place?

"pho beef #1" on capital blvd in san jose

"pho thanh lich" on brookhurst in fountain valley

"hanoi" on sawtelle in west la. it's decent for west la, a lot better than anything in westwood. pricey as heck though $7/bowl

every viet place that i've been to in the westside SUX.
Le Saigon on Santa Monica Blvd is expensive and crappy (i don't even think those people are vietnamese, although they're some sort of asian).

i been to pho thanh lich i think, it's a pho only place right? near taco bell?

[haru908]

every viet place that i've been to in the westside SUX.
Le Saigon on Santa Monica Blvd is expensive and crappy (i don't even think those people are vietnamese, although they're some sort of asian).

i been to pho thanh lich i think, it's a pho only place right? near taco bell?

the ppl at le saigon are vietnamese, their food just plain sucks though.

pho thanh lich serves a lot more than pho, can't remember the exact location but it's across from some mini mart.

[fossilfuel]

yeah i was trying to be pretty general. at many places, they put all the possible choices on the menu - which is why the pho section is like 30 items when it's really just 1 thing. Dac biet is the works though. as a side note - the biggest bowl is usually called "xe lua" - which means fire truck for some reason.

and i thought it was always beef broth? unless it's chicken pho, in which case i'm not sure, maybe they do use chicken? but then what makes it different from chicken soup?

and the KEY to the broth is a magical bag of spices that they put in. they tie all the spices in a little linen sack and that's what gives it special pho flavoring. i believe they sell canned broth with flavoring already though, which is probably easier for anyone interested in making it at home.

also everyone forgot the most important pho ingredient - MSG :P

[lethal]

the biggest bowl is usually called "xe lua" - which means fire truck for some reason. "xe lua" is the word for train. Specifically, the engines that run on wood. That's why you'll sometimes see a neon train in the windows of some pho places.

I think a fire truck is xe chua lua.

[fossilfuel]

"xe lua" is the word for train. Specifically, the engines that run on wood. That's why you'll sometimes see a neon train in the windows of some pho places.

I think a fire truck is xe chua lua.

oh yeah, man, for some reason i always thought of it as fire truck though, i guess it seemed cooler.

although i don't get the connection between trains and pho either. anyone know?

[kimpossible]

yeah i was trying to be pretty general.

general isn't bad because there are people like me on the board that have no experience with pho at all.

[mrazntre]

oh yeah, man, for some reason i always thought of it as fire truck though, i guess it seemed cooler.

although i don't get the connection between trains and pho either. anyone know?

i have no clue.. i've always wondered about it myself. I've just accepted it.

general isn't bad because there are people like me on the board that have no experience with pho at all.

that's cuz you're a loser.

the ppl at le saigon are vietnamese, their food just plain sucks though.

pho thanh lich serves a lot more than pho, can't remember the exact location but it's across from some mini mart.

well, they weren't speaking vietnamese. but yeah that shit over there sux. i refuse to go back there.

There's a few places down in Hawthorne also off of Prairie and Rosecrans (unsure about the East/West street - whatever that Costco exit is). They're not that bad, but it's further than I'd like to drive for lunch.

[haru908]

There's a few places down in Hawthorne also off of Prairie and Rosecrans (unsure about the East/West street - whatever that Costco exit is). They're not that bad, but it's further than I'd like to drive for lunch.

what's it called? anything is better than driving all the way to oc =(

[mrazntre]

what's it called? anything is better than driving all the way to oc =(

I'll try to remmeber the place next time i go.

btw: I passed by that Pho Thanh Lich place a couple hours ago, it's on Brookhurst and Hazard. I ain't never been there tho.

[mrazntre]

Okay.

So that place is on the Northwest corner of Rosecrans and Prairie. (it's actually on prairie, 1 lot north of the corner). That place is really vietnamese-ish, looks like it got picked up outta Santa Ana and dropped right there.. It's got that Bo loc Lac (i don't know how to spell that shit) - the beef cubes and rice, hu tieu, and i think bun rieu.

From the westside go 405 south take the rosecrans exit, make a right, then another right to get onto rosecrans (EAST) and drive east until you hit prairie. make left and then another quick left into the spot OR you can jump on prairie from florence (by way of centinela or la cienega), roll through the hood, check out the old GS Forum and go all the way down, hit it on the right before Rosecrans.

and if anyone else cares, there's more viet place kitty corner.

And as an added bonus, afterwards you can head west on rosecrans and go to fry's electronics, Costco, and some mo shit. Fry's is on the southside of the street just before Sepulveda Blvd.


My moms just made some pho ga last night. shhwwweeet. :biggrin:

[IndescribabLGuy]

My family owns a few Pho restaurants in Houston- Pho Binh. i dont mean to brag but our slogan is... 'Best Pho in Houston since 83'.. ^^ i worked there for 4 years before working in an ER.. so you can say im the resident Pho expert eheh..

Most pho is cooked with powders. msg, buillon,salt, and whatever other ingredients the house recipe calls for. this is the bad quality stuff, usually sold at places where they also sell other dishes. the reason for this is powder-pho is a lot faster/easier to make, thus giving the cooks more time to concentrate on their other stuff. another way of being able to identify powder pho is by looking at the broth. if its clear , then in all likelyhood its powder broth. if it has tiny bits of meat/fatty stuff floating around, thats a sign that the restaurant cooked the broth the traditional way. which is the way my family cooks it. ^^

The recipe for broth, as someone else pointed earlier, is a highly protected secret. my family has actually been offered 75,000 just for the recipe, but of course we declined because if someone has your recipe they'll take your clientele. another thing we of the pho industry gotta look out for are pho SPIES! yes, i said spies lolz. Men who go to us for employment just to try and find the recipe. >.<

anyways. blah.

peace

[moJo]

My family owns a few Pho restaurants in Houston- Pho Binh. i dont mean to brag but our slogan is... 'Best Pho in Houston since 83'.. ^^ i worked there for 4 years before working in an ER.. so you can say im the resident Pho expert eheh..

Most pho is cooked with powders. msg, buillon,salt, and whatever other ingredients the house recipe calls for. this is the bad quality stuff, usually sold at places where they also sell other dishes. the reason for this is powder-pho is a lot faster/easier to make, thus giving the cooks more time to concentrate on their other stuff. another way of being able to identify powder pho is by looking at the broth. if its clear , then in all likelyhood its powder broth. if it has tiny bits of meat/fatty stuff floating around, thats a sign that the restaurant cooked the broth the traditional way. which is the way my family cooks it. ^^

The recipe for broth, as someone else pointed earlier, is a highly protected secret. my family has actually been offered 75,000 just for the recipe, but of course we declined because if someone has your recipe they'll take your clientele. another thing we of the pho industry gotta look out for are pho SPIES! yes, i said spies lolz. Men who go to us for employment just to try and find the recipe. >.<

anyways. blah.

peace
so, even the high-quality, traditional way of cooking the broth adds MSG? :(

[fossilfuel]

My family owns a few Pho restaurants in Houston- Pho Binh. i dont mean to brag but our slogan is... 'Best Pho in Houston since 83'..


Where is Pho Binh? Is it in the downtown area or some shopping center? I used to live in Houston - probably ate there but I have no recollection of the names of the places

I'm pretty sure all places use a little MSG - just the good ones use a lot less because they don't need to. When I eat bad pho I get super thirsty after because of the MSG.

[SunWuKong]

so, even the high-quality, traditional way of cooking the broth adds MSG? :(


well, a Vietnamese friend of mine says that real authentic pho broth doesn't use MSG. but that's just what he says, i wouldn't know for sure. he sometimes have pho parties at his place and he invites his friends over to eat his pho.

[rice cracker]

well, a Vietnamese friend of mine says that real authentic pho broth doesn't use MSG. but that's just what he says, i wouldn't know for sure. he sometimes have pho parties at his place and he invites his friends over to eat his pho.

Who is this friend and when are we going over there?

[SunWuKong]

Who is this friend and when are we going over there?

he's a friend of Sandra and Derek. i've never been personally invited to his pho parties. the bastard.

[rice cracker]

he's a friend of Sandra and Derek. i've never been personally invited to his pho parties. the bastard.

Well, fuck him and his stupid parties. We can pay six bucks and have better pho AND without dealing with the yups.

[SunWuKong]

Well, fuck him and his stupid parties. We can pay six bucks and have better pho AND without dealing with the yups.


i like MSG anyway. :smile:

[lethal]

Most self-respecting Vietnamese people will say no Pho is as good as your mom's Pho.

You guys can come down and have my mom's Pho sometime.

Or maybe she'll come up and cook if I move to DC for some (school related) reason.

[nola]

The best I had was near the LA airport.

[nola]

after reading this thread i've had pho six times in about two weeks with my famille. chicago's vietnamese town on broadway and argyle has lots of good pho shops. the best are the small, simple, more out-of-the-way ones, of course. there was one we used to on argyle we always went to for pho with simple wooden tables and little decor whose name i never knew. i wanted to go back to that one but we just went to the big one on the corner and it was good. hong kee moved to the new chinatown strip and it was good too. the pho at the trendy joy yee's noodle shop is okay but the meat is a little tough. it's got about 200 bubble drinks so i like to go there often. i like it with beef brisket or tendons or tripe.