Pho?!?!?!?!

[Knugget]

yea that place is pretty good. but i tend to get rice dishes there instead of pho. their to-go boxes are the shit. never heard of saigon pho, cross street?

626 represent. sup simon

[poly800rock]

got to try Golden Deli is San Gabriel , I keep hearing good things .. My usual spot is Saigon Pho on Las Tunas

it's really good.

[BIZ]

yea that place is pretty good. but i tend to get rice dishes there instead of pho. their to-go boxes are the shit. never heard of saigon pho, cross street?

626 represent. sup simon

its really close to San Gabriel blvd , right across the street from Tokyo Lobby

[Knugget]

do you mean saigon eden?

[blm14]

went to pho nha trang over the weekend, way less good than I remember it.

Is there ANY decent pho left in manhattan!?

[BIZ]

do you mean saigon eden?

yup ... love this place

[wahwho11]

seems like vietnam house(same owners of golden deli) portions got smaller. it still fills you up, but i feel a little disapointed.

[poly800rock]

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/stickaforkinit/2011/03/announcing_oc_weeklys_first-ev.php

[dismalfuture]

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/stickaforkinit/2011/03/announcing_oc_weeklys_first-ev.php

that's pretty brutal that they did a faceoff with 79 and 86 in the first round....

[poly800rock]

that's pretty brutal that they did a faceoff with 79 and 86 in the first round....

i know, and the guys that judged it aren't viet, so take it with a grain of salt.

[Spastic_Koala]

There's no good available pho in my area. Makes me weep.

[poly800rock]

I was at my cousin's house the other day and his nanny makes them food, so she made a bowl of pho ga. It's been a while since I had a really amazing bowl of pho ga, but this was it. I was asking what she does differently and she said it was the result of the free range bird (normally I don't even bother because it's too expensive and tough) but this broth was next level. Very rich and aromatic, easily one of the best soups I have ever tasted. I might ask for the full recipe next time. I know this sounds pretty strange that just a free range bird could make the difference, but in my experience, it just did.

[DJ_Flame]

^My mother's chicken rice tastes so much better when she uses lean, free-range breast meat. Same for her egg dishes using free range non-cholesterol ingredients.

[poly800rock]

it's funny, my most distinct memory of free range chicken was when I was in vietnam and my aunt made my friend and I a dish of stir fried free range chicken. It was like fucking leather and literally sat in my stomach for 1 week. I considered drinking ice to get it out.

[Vampyrvargfesten]

attn: poly800rock

finally went to pho 79. but then it came to my attention after i ate that there are TWO pho 79s??? did i eat at the proper one? the wait was long, place was crowded, but the pho was pretty ok for being in westminster, but not really amazing

did i go to the wrong pho 79?

this is the one on hazard

[blackfuture]

I don't suppose anyone knows the go-to place for pho in Orlando? There are quite literally around two dozen places within a two-mile strip on Colonial and I'm not trying to check them all out...

[broneck]

i know, and the guys that judged it aren't viet, so take it with a grain of salt.

yo this is some bullshit right here. since when do you have to be from a place to judge it's food? Does the average french have more license to judge french cooking than any of the more culinarily experienced individuals on this board (e.g. Dismalfuture?), be from Belgium to judge belgian beer (better than, say, Shufon?) You don't have to be raised in the environment it came from in order to have the ability to judge it based on its own merits.

went to Xe Lua last night, it wasnt good, it was like just hot water and msg

why does this appear to span the continent? There's a place called Xe Lua (aka Train Pho) in Chinatown here and I almost puked from the shit. I can usually put back an extra large bowl of pho with rare beef but this was just rank. I barely made it a third of the way in.

[dismalfuture]

yo this is some bullshit right here. since when do you have to be from a place to judge it's food? Does the average french have more license to judge french cooking than any of the more culinarily experienced individuals on this board (e.g. Dismalfuture?), be from Belgium to judge belgian beer (better than, say, Shufon?) You don't have to be raised in the environment it came from in order to have the ability to judge it based on its own merits.

This is true, but as with many ethnic cuisines, to find the true pinnacle of the form, you either come from a background of having eaten it many times, or know going into it what you're looking for - and I think with pho, novice eaters look at pho a very different way. Check yelp or other reviews of pho places in America and you will see - the descriptors that Vietnamese people and non-Vietnamese people use to describe the same bowls of pho (because pho is one of those restaurant dishes that will be consistent as fuck if you go to the same place, day in, day out) - totally different ideals. If you went by white people's ideals for pho, as they express them, you'd end up with something very different than it's supposed to be. Beyond the obvious dislike that people have for cilantro, you go deeper and people are like 'oh yeah so beefy' and 'nice dark color' or 'nice clear broth' - which are incongruous with what Vietnamese people say about pho. You should read lovingpho.com - came across it on google, but the guy is a verified pho freak, and he occasionally has some good points of focus when it comes to pho.

It's all about the soup and the meat, but more about the soup. Meat is easily sliced up and thrown in. The herb plate is consistent everywhere as long as it's fresh. I like sambal on the side. Cooking noodles is something that any monkey can get right eventually. Those are constants. The soup is the art.

The soup though - something very different than a clear western-style broth, which I think some people want it to be, or have heard it to be and so expect it - Pho is basically an Asian-spiced fonds de boeuf indeed, but whereas French cooking ideals would have it all skimmed and clarified, pho is better only skimmed of excess fat. Clarification would hurt the slick mouthfeel of a good pho soup, what you are going for is that cloudy collagenous look that basically coats the noodles lightly with each bite. A bowl of pho broth sans noodles should almost look like a really exaggerated miso soup, it should have some micro particulate in it that makes it slightly opaque with a whir of the chopsticks.

You get a starch, a bit of fat, and then you go to the protein left floating in the bowl. The fresh herbs, the lime juice, the sriracha or sambal, and the interspersed bean sprouts you get in a pull of noodles - those lighten the soup up, so that you can sit over a huge bowl of it and get to the bottom. All of this is why pho is so satisfying, the textures are great between the hot soup - firm noodles - blanched onions - bean sprouts - herbs that give a bit of traction to the teeth, it's clean tasting, it's soft and soothing, but really, in your head its pressing all the right buttons too, because that broth has just that bit of fat and marrow collagen in it that your body craves.

[lil brown brother]

^ just made me crave real bad

[blm14]

This is true, but as with many ethnic cuisines, to find the true pinnacle of the form, you either come from a background of having eaten it many times, or know going into it what you're looking for

Having eaten something many times or knowing what you want out of it don't require that your parents made it for you growing up. There are probably white people who have been eating pho for longer than you've been alive.

the descriptors that Vietnamese people and non-Vietnamese people use to describe the same bowls of pho (because pho is one of those restaurant dishes that will be consistent as fuck if you go to the same place, day in, day out) - totally different ideals

You're assuming that you know the yelper's ethnicities. Have you done a statistical sample, or are you basing this on your anecdotal observations which are themselves founded upon an assumption about people BEING HONEST ON THE INTERNET?

If you went by white people's ideals for pho, as they express them, you'd end up with something very different than it's supposed to be.

And who gets to determine what it's "supposed" to be? Pho bac? Pho nam? I've been to vietnam and you can't even get two vendors on the SAME STREET in Saigon to agree on what the best bowl is. Who are you to define for everyone what it's supposed to be. Like me, I love chilies. If given the opportunity, I will put a whole sliced jalapeno in my pho. Most people probably wouldn't. Am I violating some universal pho dictate from god? Give me a colossal break.

A bowl of pho broth sans noodles should almost look like a really exaggerated miso soup, it should have some micro particulate in it that makes it slightly opaque with a whir of the chopsticks.

while I agree with your prior assertion about pho being all about the broth itself, I think this is also just your opinion. I bet we could find plenty of people, white, vietnamese, Asian (not otherwise specified), and individuals with a whole host of other phenotypes that would agree with you, and equal numbers that would disagree.

[marineabilly]

[StrangeLove]

So where's the good pho @ in LA?

[Sinji]

My personal Pho attempt

[dismalfuture]

I need a proper pho recipe. Can pm me if it's a secret family recipe or something, I won't share it. I just need pho.

mine looked like this. didn't have the right flavor I was looking for though.

[willgoz]

those pho make me wanna eat it :9

[Ahlvahroe]

yo this is some bullshit right here. since when do you have to be from a place to judge it's food? Does the average french have more license to judge french cooking than any of the more culinarily experienced individuals on this board (e.g. Dismalfuture?), be from Belgium to judge belgian beer (better than, say, Shufon?) You don't have to be raised in the environment it came from in order to have the ability to judge it based on its own merits.

i get this alot man. ive been living in korea for 2 years now, and alot of my korean friends here tell me that i dont understand the food cause i dont have korean tastebuds. like i go to restaurants and eat korean food, and recommend it to my non-korean friends and they usually really like my recommendations but if i recommend it korean friends they always say, 'its ok, or its terrible' so i dont know cause i always considered myself to have good taste but who know.

sorry to side track the discussion, so to bring it back. i could really go for a good bowl of pho, koreans fucking suck at making pho!

[mapclub]

[ranonranonarat]

i can taste it already.

[poly800rock]

So where's the good pho @ in LA?

golden deli.

[poly800rock]

so i finally had the chance to run down to pho thanh lich on brookhurst, winner of the OCweekly "best of" pho challenge 2011.

http://www.yelp.com/...ich-westminster

I came in with a really open mind, I really wanted to try this place out. They're gimmick is filet migon slices as their "tai" meat. Tai reing (on the side) is an extra $.50, which is pretty ridiculous. I went at around 3pm, after 5, it's pho happy hour and pho is $3 for small bowl and $5 for big bowl. anyways, got the dac biet with filet. Smelled wonderful, didn't get the tai separate because I didn't want to pay .50 for them not doing their job. anyhow here's the review.

Broth was good, without anything (always a criteria), it was tasty without being too oily or "beefy." serve super hot like it should be.

the filet was good, not amazing. I mean, by the time it reaches your table, it's already cooked anyways (why do places charge extra for tai on the side is beyond me..). It's def a change of pace as some tai when well done is super tough. Brisket was awesome in the soup. The tendon was personally really good (it's really really well done, meaning it's SUPER soft.) It's a totally personal preference on how you like your tendon, sometimes I like it with some texture and kick back, sometimes I like it buttery soft as in this occasion. Dac biet here means no bo vien, don't know why.

ok, the noodles is where they completely drop the ball. recently, this has been the determining factor on what I perceive as good vs amazing pho. It was clumped up in a ball to the side, hard to break up with the chopsticks. It was a real let down as otherwise the soup would have been great.

at the end of the day, pho 79 STILL comes out a winner in my book, they have the complete package. GREAT everything. The filet is an interesting touch, a bit of a gimmick, but worth a trial. I can see why they won (for just the run of the mill shop, it's a good bowl), but imo Pho 79 still is undisputed champion of bolsa.

also never meant to offend anyone with the non-viet judges from ocweekly. I'm a pho head, I don't think my mom's pho is the best, and spent MONTHS in vietnam eating nothing but pho. judging pho is like someone telling you their favorite mexican joint, everyone's taste is different, some of my criteria of how I judge a place is universally if everyone will like it, I'm more looking for places that beats my mom's pho. You can take whatever I say with a grain of salt as well. I'm just a pho student.

BTW, when I was in bolsa, I made a local detour to this place

http://www.yelp.com/...ie-garden-grove

which consistently has the BEST banh mi and baguettes imo. The croissants are out of this world. It really shines and shows the best influences the French had on vietnamese baking.

Edited February 4, 2012 by poly800rock