Recently, the Missus was craving some com tam…..so, after some, ahem “com-tam-plation”, we headed off to what was Her favorite during our round of visits; Pho Ban Mai. Upon arriving, the place seemed quite bustling….but unlike our previous visit, the young lady working front of house was so very nice and friendly!
And the Missus got Her Com Tam Dac Biet, which is now priced at $20 (it was $17.95 last December)……but after all the recent price craziness, this actually seemed quite reasonable……I guess everything is based on time and perspective, right?
She plowed thru that steamed egg and said the crispy bean curd with shrimp was even better than last time!
The only fail was the Bi – the shreds of pork and pork skin were sliced a bit too thick and it lacked enough rice powder.
For some reason, the portion size of the grilled pork and chicken seemed larger.
She saved most of this and we had it for dinner over rice. Good toothsome texture, not overly salty, good savory-sweetness.
As for what I had….well, it was a bit of a quandary, as the Banh Xeo was not to our liking the last time. Just in the nick of time, I saw a sizzling plate of Bò Né pass by. I’d had it before and though it was just ok, but this looked different…so, I decided to order it. Just based on portion size, I think it was worth the $22.
And yes, I was dodging (Né literally means “to dodge”) all that sizzling oil. In terms of what I had last time; this was worlds better…..the meat was much more tender, though the seasoning; other than that wonderful load of garlic was on the milder side. There was a lot of it as well….again, most of that went home…..
Because I ate that entire banh mi with the pate and egg! It was soooo good, definitely a “pate party” if you know what I mean.
Creamy – velvety, savory, pleasantly “offal-ly”…man, this was so good.
I guess I’ve found my go-to dish here now!
And we had two meals from this.
And with the lovely service….I’m guessing we’ll be back when the Missus needs for Com Tam fix…..or I feel the need to do some “Beef Dodging”!
Pho Ban Mai
8991 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Sun – Thurs 9am – 845pm
Fri – Sat 9am – 945pm