Revisits: Da Nang Food to Go and Pho Sao Bien

Noodle soup when it's 88 with 80% humidity? Yeah, I guess so. At least that's what I had this past weekend.

Danang Rev 01Da Nang Food to Go:

**** Da Nang Food to Go has closed

My first choice was for some Beef Sate Noodle from Minh Ky, which was standing room only….at like 9 in the morning. My second choice was for some Bum Mam from Nhu Y, but all those guys having coffee and the parking lot was full. It had been a while since I last visited Da Nang and the parking lot was empty….

As was the dining room…..

Danang Rev 02

I really wasn't sure what to order….but then I recalled that CC's post and the Mi Quang, which was still $5.95.

Danang Rev 03

Danang Rev 04While not in the league of, say Huong Giang, this wasn't bad at all. Mi Quang isn't supposed to have a ton of soup, so this filled the bill. The broth was a little too light for my taste. There was a ton of turmeric colored noodles. The shrimp, which looked kind of dubious at first was nicely cooked, still moist, the pork had good flavor, though it was on the tough side. I wish there were more "herbs"

Hard to complain for $5.95 though.

Da Nang Food to Go (aka Quan an Da Nang)
4745 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Pho Sao Bien:

Sunday was a crazy day, wasn't it? Things looked bright and sunny early on; but by 3pm…..well, the clouds moved in as did the record rainfall. The temps stayed high….and it became a sweatbox at home.

Sao Bien Rev 01

It had been a while since I'd been to Pho Sao Bien so I decided to check them out again.

Sao Bien Rev 02

The place had been freshened up a bit over the years, but looked pretty much the same.

Sao Bien Rev 03

The guys working here have, for the lack of a better description, sort of a laid-back, stoic kind of thing going on.

In the early days PSB made some pretty good Cha Gio, but a few years later things seemed to have gone downhill. Not sure if the latter visit was just a fluke, I got the Cha Gio……

Let's call this set of photos the "Cha Gio go on a diet"?

2006:

PhoSaoBien05

2009:

PhoSaoBienRev01

2015:

Sao Bien Rev 05

Sao Bien Rev 06Unevenly fried so that portions of the wrapper was hard and gummy, the rest of it just plain hard instead of crisp. The filling is now almost all filler. The nuoc mam cham watered down. How sad. I could only manage to try to eat two.

I hadn't had the pho here in almost 9 years, so it was time for a repeat, right?

In keeping with my previous pho encounter here; the garnishes were quite skimpy.

Sao Bien Rev 07

Sao Bien Rev 08

Sao Bien Rev 09Lordy, lordy, where to start? How about the good news? The tendon, tripe, and flank were pretty darn good. No off tastes, the tendon gelatinous and tender.

The rest just wasn't to my taste. Other than being on the salty side; the broth was really, really, weak and bland. It was also cloudy and there seemed to be an abnormal amount of scum in it. The noodles were also over cooked and mushy. I tried all kinds of stuff to bump up the flavor. But nothing really helped. Finally, I did something I haven't done in 25 years……..gasp….I added Sriracha and Hoisin….. I never thought I'd have to resort to this.

Sao Bien Rev 10

I've had a whole lot of pho in my time. I never thought I'd see the day……

To add insult to injury….it didn't help.

Pho Sao Bien Vietnamese Restaurant
1958 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109