Here are a couple of places I haven't been to in ages…..
Pho Van:
Man, would you believe the last time I was here was back in "the 'aughts"! 2006 to be exact……talk about a loooong time.
I ran around doing a ton of shopping during my first weekend back from our trip. I thought I should go ahead and visit this place since I pass it all the time and say to myself "I need to do a revisit".
So I parked in back of the place, walked in, had a seat, and ordered #4………I saw the "Tai" (rare steak) on the way in and decided to pass.
The veggies and herbs were pretty fresh, even the two small leaves of Ngo Gai. The broth was actually better than I had here on previous visits…..no good mind you, but better. It wasn't too salty, but had a slight bitterness to it, had to temper with all the basil, which helped a bit. There was a very slight flavor of beef, but not much else. The noodles were decent, in the clump at the bottom of the bowl, edging on starting to get mushy, but not cold. The proteins were a mixed bag, the brisket tasted off, the flank very tough, but tripe was nicely prepped. Not much tendon.
Typical old school pho shop service, perfunctory, quick, and to the point. Not quite sure when or if I'll return……but hey, if they're still around in another 5-10 years, who know?
Pho Van Restaurant
4233 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92105
Pho Ca Dao (El Cajon Blvd):
While never a big favorite, I always enjoyed the tendon here, while the Missus used to enjoy the Bun Bo Hue here. I knew I hadn't been here in a while, but looking back at my old posts, I believe it's been almost 6 years! How quickly time flies!
The interior look pretty much the same as is the service, which wasn't bad….typical pho shop, but perhaps a bit nicer. The young man who seated me was pretty friendly.
Let's get straight to the pho….#4 here as well.
Man, I still love the tendon here; it's just the right texture for me, slight chew while still being very tender. In fact, all the proteins were good, in terms of flavor the flank, while stringy and falling to pieces had a nice beefy flavor. The broth on the other hand was quite bad….as in "where's the beef"…..flavor. It's like they don't even use beef bones to make pho here anymore. Along with being too defatted it was also MSG heavy…..such is the state of pho in San Diego.
Sad because the pho banh was prepped well with a nice pull. Sad that the broth just didn't do it for me…….in spite of the tendon, it's the broth that's most important part of my bowl of pho.
Pho Ca Dao
5223 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115