Another Monday gives me a good opportunity to confess another of my food obsessions in life. I have already come clean on pie, doughnuts, and pockets of goodness among other things. Today is the day to give some love to the noodle.
I was given the task of choosing what to have for dinner Friday evening and as indecisive as I can be sometimes, I chose pho without hesitation. Basically it is a Vietnamese beef and noodle soup that can be adjusted to your individual liking with a number of garnishes. The Wife and I have tried a number of Vietnamese places here in town, but often find ourselves at either Anh Hong or (in this case) Pho 88. We both love Vietnamese food and it is very affordable, so pho makes it into our rotation a fair amount.
First I got settled in with a Tiger Beer (which I know is from Singapore and not Vietnam) and shortly thereafter with a BBQ pork banh mi. A banh mi is essentially a Vietnamese sub and, in this case, a very good one. I didn’t really need the extra food with the big bowl of pho coming, but I am so glad I did (especially at $2.50).
mmmm . . . . Tiger Beer
Really good banh mi
Soon the garnishes and the steaming bowls of broth and noodles arrived. My choice of pho had rare flank (it cooks in the broth), beef meatballs, and tripe as my meat components. The Wife went the vegetarian route with a vegetable broth and tofu in hers. My broth already had green and white onions in it along with the meats and noodles. The garnishes included thai basil, sprouts, peppers, and lime wedges (no culantro this time as we have seen elsewhere). As always the sriracha and its friends were already at the table.
Enough talk . . .
Friends of pho
The usual suspects
The Wife's before
Mine as it arrived
After everyone jumped in the pool
What happened after that was a flurry of chopsticks and expressions of pure happiness. Something simple but so good!
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