Adam & Eats: Pho Hoang

Editor’s note: Adam Brandt is a graduate from the Cobra Kai School of Culinary Callousness, where he received their highest award, the Red Apron of Merciless Eating. Aside from eating and talking about eating, he makes pots, paintings, prints, books, photographs, and generally, a big mess. He has been the studio assistant at Mudpuppy Pottery for almost nine years and is attending a local university in a desperate attempt to earn a biology degree.

There are a handful of great Vietnamese restaurants in the River Valley. Over the course of 2011 I’d like to talk about some of them and what sets them apart from the rest.

As with all places, each of our Vietnamese joints makes things a little differently, so I eat different things at each one. I’d like to begin this journey with a restaurant that I’ve been going to as long as I have known that Vietnamese food and Chinese food are totally different things. Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present Pho Hoang.

Located right next door to El Super Taco on Grand Avenue is the famous Pho Hoang. To the best of my knowledge, and according to the trusty innernet, Hoang means Phoenix in Vietnamese. So the name literally means “mythical bird of fire noodle soup.”

Awesome.

I’ll be sure to order that next time.

Anyways, if you have never been there, it is excellent. The place is very clean and tidy, or at least appears to be. It is probably because the interior is all white. As we know from our tighty whities, the color white is not great for hiding dirt or discoloration. So, I can say pretty comfortably, the place is clean.

There are around ten or so tables, and most of them are occupied constantly. Somehow, there is always a place to sit. Even though there is always customers moving in and out of there, it never has that frantic feel of a restaurant under the throws of a lunch or dinner rush. The wait staff is always genuinely happy to see you and treats you as if you are the only customers in the place. They are on one hand busy and on the other totally relaxed. It boggles my mind. I don’t have time to think about it for long before big bowls of delicious things begin arriving at my table though.

When I was younger, the texture of steamed spring rolls freaked me out. It was like eating an old, flaccid balloon filled with cabbage and meat. As an adult, I can appreciate more complex textures, so it is rare that I don’t get an order with my meal. Maybe, I got over my texture issues because the peanut dipping sauce is so fantastic. Whatever the reason, the spring rolls here are great. If you haven’t ever had one, they are like an egg roll, but they are pork and imitation crab, rice noodles, and veggies rolled up in rice paper, not an egg wrapper, and steamed, not fried. The end result is something fresh and bright. It is like taking a bite of spring itself.

Also, if you like Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup), I recommend the “Seafoods Pho.” It is filled with tender bits of shrimp, squid, and imitation crab meat all in a delightful beef broth with big rice noodles. When you order Pho, you get a plate full of goodies, like mint and bean sprouts and peppers, to add to it as you like.

Probably my favorite dish at Pho Hoang, though, is the beef stew. A big piping hot bowl of beef stew on a cold winter’s day, what could be better? Taken from the heavy French influence in Vietnamese cuisine, this dish is a real star. Rich broth filled with big, tender chunks of beef and carrots, all slow cooked with some chile oil and seasoned perfectly with herbs and spices, and topped with a pinch of cilantro. It is heavenly.

A little caveat before you go running to eat some, though. The beef they use still has tendons attached, so unless you like eating rubber bands, you’ll be spitting out big hunks of tendon. Just thought I should warn you before you start cursing my name (more than some of you already do). Plus, the beef stew comes with a nice little loaf of homemade French bread. All I need at this point is a big slab of butter, and I’m in Heaven.

So, there you have it, the first part of what will turn out to be one long rant about how I enjoy eating bowls of soup. Be sure to visit the good people at Pho Hoang some time and bring a big appetite. Until next time, good eating.

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Adam also has this thing called Sandwich Control.