During my first try at checking out Phonomenal the place was packed. I drove by and saw a line down the block and of course no parking to be found. I hadn't even considered a "plan b". Then I recalled a place that was mentioned to me a while back. I parked on the side of 8th Street and looked up the address. The only reason I remembered the place was that the guy recommending the shop said something that sounded like "Fa-Kha"…….now this was right after we got back from a visit "home". I think ex-pat Kama'aina's like Mar, Kyle, Bruddah James, or Alan might understand why my first response was "what you called me?" Of course I started cracking up when I realized that was the name of the restaurant. The guy had no idea why I was laughing to myself…..he gave me one odd look and went back to having his beer.
Anyway, looking up the place, I noticed the address 2424 Hoover Avenue……whoa, this was in a part of National City I hadn't been to in ages! I think the last time I was close by was when Mi Pana was open. I drove on over and found the shop in that strip mall, with a Starbucks, Denny's, Jersey Mike's and Handel's.
It's a tiny shop, this was a weekend, if I recall, with all businesses, weekdays are busier here. Plus it was 1030 on a Sunday, thus the place was empty.
I was pointed to a table, had a seat and given a menu.
I was here to see how the basic pho was; so I went with the P3 – Rare Steak, Brisket, Tendon, and Tripe; regular size ($15.75).
And then the utensils arrived……
And along with the single sprig of basil….well, you know.
The bowl didn't look to bad when it arrived.
The broth was super salty and "San Diego sweet". It was really defatted, thin, and lacking in richness. There was an abundance of scallion which was nice, but not enough cilantro to overcome the overly salty-sweet soup.
The most interesting was when I took a look at the proteins. Check out the "rare steak"……all the pieces were fully cooked, dry, and tough. There was one piece of hard tendon. The brisket/flank was sliced a bit thick, but had nice beefiness. The best item was the abundant tripe; nice and crunchy.
There was a generous amount of noodles which were decently prepared.
I guess this is what a sixteen dollar bowl of pho is these days?
I'm glad to have tried the pho here, but see no reason to return.
The service was all business and my bowl came out fairly quickly.
Pho Kha
2424 Hoover Ave.
National City, CA 91950
Current Hours:
Daily 9am – 9pm