can't find good pho here phoenix either. the bay area is definitely the place to go, heck i was coming back into reno from tahoe and an ex told me that we should eat at a place that looked kind of like a pei wei but i think was called pho or something and i was actually quite surprised.

azrider wrote:can't find good pho here phoenix either. the bay area is definitely the place to go, heck i was coming back into reno from tahoe and an ex told me that we should eat at a place that looked kind of like a pei wei but i think was called pho or something and i was actually quite surprised.

1) Westminster, VA (Orange County)
2) San Jose, CA
3) San Gabriel Valley area CA (near Pasadena)
4) Northern VA
5) Houston area
6) Philadelphia

Boston, Seattle, Minneapolis and New Orleans is in the mix after this.

Pho Who, Pho What

PhoFS, Calvin

lethal = pho pro

lethal wrote:

jamiethekiller wrote:guy i work with just opened up a Bahn Mi place with his family. he's vietnamese. i asked him about his pho and he was liek "yo, ours suck. don't even bother trying it." said it just takes too long for them to make for it to be worth while. there's a place near work though that supposedly is good pho though.

his Bahn Mi's were pretty #$!&@ killer though

A good pho place should specialize in it, as in 2/3s or more of the patrons are eating it when you walk in. The key is the broth. The noodles and meat, you or I can buy from the store. If they overcook the noodles or serve low quality meat, that's one thing, but possibly correctable. If the broth is bad, that's a recipe flaw that can't ever be overcome.

Turnover should be fast, you don't want broth that has been simmering for too long. Water will have evaporated off and the proportion of spices won't be right.

Lastly, any decent place should be able to get you a bowl in front of you within 5 minutes of walking in. Any longer and they're just too slow to be very good.

easily one of the most useful posts I've read on here.

another important thing opening a pho restuarant is that BSGers get a lifetime discount

Pho Inches of Pain

I've had really good Pho in Richmond, VA.

Also:

Mo Pho.

Pho Sho.

The Dude wrote:Pho Inches of Pain

the lin diaries

Didn't I? wrote:I've had really good Pho in Richmond, VA.

Also:

Mo Pho.

Pho Sho.

I grew up there, its decent stuff, but the 3 better places all use too much MSG. Still netters than the crap I find in NYC. I trekked out to Sunset Park yesterday to satisfy a craving. Place had decent broth, but the meat was poor and the noodles were overdone. Also way too damn slow. Better than the places in Chinatown, but not worth a trip that far out of the way.

I make better pho. But it takes like 20 hours to make good broth and I'm not doing that just for myself.

lethal wrote:

jamiethekiller wrote:guy i work with just opened up a Bahn Mi place with his family. he's vietnamese. i asked him about his pho and he was liek "yo, ours suck. don't even bother trying it." said it just takes too long for them to make for it to be worth while. there's a place near work though that supposedly is good pho though.

his Bahn Mi's were pretty #$!&@ killer though

A good pho place should specialize in it, as in 2/3s or more of the patrons are eating it when you walk in. The key is the broth. The noodles and meat, you or I can buy from the store. If they overcook the noodles or serve low quality meat, that's one thing, but possibly correctable. If the broth is bad, that's a recipe flaw that can't ever be overcome.

Turnover should be fast, you don't want broth that has been simmering for too long. Water will have evaporated off and the proportion of spices won't be right.

Lastly, any decent place should be able to get you a bowl in front of you within 5 minutes of walking in. Any longer and they're just too slow to be very good.

coworker said that a good broth takes hours of simmering to get it right. what do you qauntify as 'too long?'

My favorite pho ever was at a place called Jenny Pho in Issaquah, WA. I did try What the Pho in Bellevue but it wasn't as good.

Have yet to try any in Philly, but Pho Thai Nam in Norristown is pretty decent.

jamiethekiller wrote:

The Dude wrote:Pho Inches of Pain

the lin diaries

lethal wrote:

SK790 wrote:there's a pho place opening down the street from me that's going to be called pho shizzle. not sure how i feel about this development.

Been looking for good pho in NYC for almost a decade now. Nothing. At. All. I'm not talking as good as my mom's, I'm talking about even average pho for say the DC/Philly/Boston area.

Better pho restaurant name, "pho shizzle" or "what the pho?" (Seattle area for you, SK).

Gunna have to go up to Bellevue soon.

mickbayne wrote:My favorite pho ever was at a place called Jenny Pho in Issaquah, WA. I did try What the Pho in Bellevue but it wasn't as good.

Have yet to try any in Philly, but Pho Thai Nam in Norristown is pretty decent.

Suddenly, this guy swoops in with another clutch Seattle tip.

I couldn't find my nail clippers this morning. Things are gonna get a little weird if I don't find them soon

My life hasn't been the same since I learned how to pronounce meme correctly

SK790 wrote:

mickbayne wrote:My favorite pho ever was at a place called Jenny Pho in Issaquah, WA. I did try What the Pho in Bellevue but it wasn't as good.

Have yet to try any in Philly, but Pho Thai Nam in Norristown is pretty decent.

Suddenly, this guy swoops in with another clutch Seattle tip.

I probably mentioned Jenny Pho before in another post. Fucking love that place. It's also in the same shopping center as one of my favorite Thai restaurants (O'Char) in Issaquah. And there's a decent sushi place called iSushi right next to O'Char. They have a conveyor belt with plates of sushi, teriyaki, desserts, etc that snakes around the restaurant. Just take plates from the conveyor belt at your convenience, then when you're done the waitress comes by and writes up your total based on the colors of the plates you selected.

edit: It's probably worth noting that Jenny Pho seemed to be pretty heavy with the MSG. Didn't bother me personally (in fact, my guess is that's why I liked it so much), but I had co-workers who wouldn't eat there because they were allergic or sensitive or whatever.