Well, well, well…..guess what time it is? Actually, I hadn't been here since the place was Green Papaya Vietnamese Pho & Grill. And after reading CC's post on this place which started with "Pho-ck This"….well, who'd blame me, right? There's is however, an acquaintance of mine who thought I should try the place and kept asking me if I did…..more on that later.
Anyway, the weather has cooled down a bit and the Missus had me running to Trader Joe's the next block over, so I thought why not?
The interior of the place hasn't changed much since I last visited the previous restaurant in this spot like almost ten years ago.
It looks a bit more run down and even though there's quite a bit of space in the place, it seems like they choose to kind of crowd the tables together. If you do visit, take a look upward; the high ceiling and windows are quite nice.
The menu is typical of your neighborhood pho shop, though the prices reflect this neighborhood; Pacific Beach. Though, of course, pho is hitting ten bucks a bowl at Pho T Cali. Another thing they have in common with Pho T Cali on my visits…I was the only Asian in the place on both visits.
Anyway, I went with the #4……regular size, even though the young man kept trying to convince me to order a large size. He didn't understand that I approach my ex-pho-rations with caution these days.
There were three distinct things that put this in the category of typical San Diego pho. First, the broth was seriously defatted and lacking in richness. Second, when did having an overly sweet broth come into fashion? I've been noticing that quite a bit lately. Third, pretty skimpy herbs and sprouts going on….the basil starting to turn color too. The one typical "San Diego Pho" attribute the soup lacked? Thankfully, it wasn't too heavy on the MSG. It did have quite a bit of anise flavor, but lacked any real beefiness.
In terms of protein….what you see on the top of the bowl was it…..not much. The flank and brisket really lacked flavor…..what there was of it. Surprisingly, the tendon had a nice texture, not as buttery as my favorites, but quite tender. It seemed that they tried to make up for the lack of meat with a ton of noodles! Man was there a huge clump in this bowl. A bit softer than I prefer, but not mushy.
Pretty much a typical run of the mill mediocre bowl of pho….not horrible, not good…….
So anyway, you know me……I decided to give the place another try on this past rainy weekend. I ordered the Banh Mi Bo Kho, not cheap at $9.25, and ended up with this rather spooky looking dish.
I'm guessing they don't sell too much of this stuff or it was the bottom of the pot as all that cloudy matter made this thing look dark. It kept separating on me; the top layer rather greasy, the bottom layer had a very strong anise flavor. Funny, no onions here….on the pho and on this. The carrots were almost raw….the beef very tough and too chewy.
The bread was nicely toasted and warm….the best part of the dish.
Like I said, almost like scraping the bottom of the barrel…..and almost ten bucks too!
The place actually had me wondering about Pho Sao Bien……
What was interesting is that I asked one of the friends of the guy who kept recommending this place to me why he thought this place was so good. turns out he's related to the owners. so I guess blood is thicker than water…..but it sure isn't thicker than that beef stew…..
Pho Time
1820 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109