In the comments section of my post on the opening of Yorimichi 2, “FOY” Elle mentioned that the supposed second location of Phuong Nga next to World Foods Supermarket was going to be a place named 999 Quan Vietnamese Street Food. And recently, when I headed up to City Heights I passed by and noticed that the place had opened, so I changed my plans and stopped to take a look.
I saw that the place was indeed open, so I changed my plans and decided to eat here.
The photos of Banh Khot and Bun Rieu caught my eye as I entered the simply adorned restaurant.
I was pointed to a table and handed a menu, I quickly noticed that Banh Khot was not available at this time.
And also…the prices….yikes!
I had thoughts on trying the Bun Rieu, but I decided to try to get the Missus here to check that out….then perhaps Bun Bo Hue? In the end, I just went with the Bun suon bo vien – which was $18!!! But there was a 20% discount because it was grand opening week.
Ina somewhat funny moment….Vietnamese Music Videos were playing when I was seated. I was the only customer at the time. When I placed my order, the gentleman seemed a bit surprised that I didn’t speak Vietnamese….a few minutes later, Blues Videos in English started playing!! You gotta love it!
A glass of cold tea was dropped off…along with a plate of garnishes. Looks at all that Ngo Gai! Something that’s a rarity these days.
The bowl soon arrived and I quickly noticed something.
Along with the suon…the beef ribs…well the noodles didn’t look like bun, more like banh pho!
Which were perfectly cooked and not in a huge clump at the bottom of the bowl. There were nice droplets of fat floating on top of the broth adding a nice tongue feel. The amount of black pepper seemed quite excessive; but the pungency of that along with the raw onions really added to the flavor. Throw in the anise tones of the cilantro and ngo gai, all of this really complemented the soup, which to me was basically a nicely beefy pho. It did have a hint of that “sweetness” that permeates most pho in San Diego, but wasn’t bad at all.
The bo vien, the meatballs were typical, tough and squeaky, not my favorite thing in the world. The thicker slices of beef were decently tender and beefy. The crowning item of this bowl was the beef rib, you know, what I call “Them Bones“.
So tender….falling off the bone, nice and beefy!
This was possibly the best bowl of pho….even though it wasn’t called that on the menu; that I’ve had in a while. I prefer it to Pho Ca Dao which shares the same parking lot.
I tried to talk that Missus into a visit, but She kept declining. So, a couple of weeks later I returned. By now, each table had a menu placed on it! And they had changed the name of the Bun suon bo vien to Pho Suon Bo Vien. And raised the price by $2 to $20! Ouch!
I had thoughts of getting the Bun Bo Hue; but decided on just getting the Banh Mi Bo Kho ($15) instead. It had been a while since I’d had a decent bowl of Bo Kho as my old favorite place for the dish had changed ownership and my last bowl there was just ok.
The banh mi looked typical, but it was light, yeasty, crusty, and warm. The bowl of beef stew was fairly large as well.
The stew, was more of a broth, being on the thinner side. That said, it was full of beefy-anise flavor, with good tomato-pepper tones, and scorching hot!
The beef was super tender, the huge slices of carrots were as well. The tendon was super hard and crunchy…I prefer a more buttery texture.
Overall, loved the flavor, the tender chunks of beef. Would have preferred more tender tendon and a more stew like soup. Still, in terms of taste, it was quite good.
Several groups of older folks came in while I ate. A group of six women sat in back of me….they all ordered the Bun Rieu. Three gentleman, also on the older side came in a bit later, but hadn’t received their order when I had finished. The guy that I think is the owner was eating as I left….he was having Bun Rieu, so perhaps I can talk the Missus into visiting?
I’d probably come back again real soon….but those prices! They also have Bo Ne, that sizzling skillet dish that I only recall seeing at Thien Huong in Mira Mesa.
Elle, have you had a chance to visit 999 Quan? And if you did, what did you think? Thanks as always for the heads up!
999 Quan Vietnamese Street Food
5237 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92115
Current Hours:
Wed – Mon 9am – 9pm
Closed on Tuesday
Of course, the first thing I went for were the noodles; which somewhat reminded me of kway chap at first glance. Sadly, the noodles were cut into short pieces and were mushy in texture.
Where "Leo" seems to excel is with the proteins. While the rare steak was not as bright red as I prefer, it was quite tender; a definite outlier these days. The tendon, while crosscut slices were used was quite tender as well. The tripe was crunchy, and the flank, toothsome as is the norm had a pleasant beefiness to it. The beefiness extended to the brisket as well, though it was on the tougher side.
The nuoc mam was overly sweet for my taste, but the accompanying broth, which I assume is the pho broth, was much better than what I'd had during my previous visit. Yes, it was lighter…but it wasn't as sweet, with nice savory tones….I'm thinking that this was more like Pho Ga…chicken rather than beef. Doesn't it look like Pho Ga? Frankly, I should have asked.
The nice young man also kindly provided a portion of chili sauce for me as well.
The bread was much better than I recalled, crusty, though still a bit under toasted and on the chewy side. It used to be a lot worse before. 
My dishes arrived and it was interesting noting the changes since my last visit and the things that have stayed the same. First off, the Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho is still served in a shallow, almost pasta bowl, which is fairly unique for the places that serve the dish round these parts…..tho' perhaps things have changed at other places. Also, the bean sprouts served here aren't blanched so are quite crunchy.
There were two pieces of rather tough shrimp, which at least had been deveined, the squid was well "squid pro quo", a large piece of "krab", and as usual a slice of Hainan Chicken….which is the reason I don't get the Hainan Chicken here as it is pretty flavorless. The ground pork does have some good flavor though. The dish is not protein deficient….
I must have hit the lottery on this day, because the bread was still slightly warm. It was yeasty and somewhat "crackly". Maybe the best bread I've had here.
Even though K bakes their own baguette, I had never been a real fan of their bread which I'd found to be on "mealy" side. On this day, it was better than what I recalled, though still lacking in the yeasty end of the flavor spectrum and over baked and on the harder side.
Well, this was a miss in my book. The "dumplings" seemed like fried frozen chicken gyoza you'd get at the market. Cardboardish wrappers, salty – chewy filling.
To me; the best part of this dish was the consomme, not because it had the complex, beefy-savory tones of a good consomme; but because it at least had some decent flavor. Though, it really tasted like "San Diego sweet" pho broth with some birria and beef flavoring. Perhaps this is what the "Birria Pho" on the menu tastes like?
The broth had an abundance of cilantro and scallions which was good. It was very clear, though not seriously defatted. It did lack a definite beefiness and the anise tones I enjoy. As is typical of much of the pho in San Diego, it had that somewhat sweet background to it, in addition to being a bit too salty.
This was comprised of five pieces; two huge drumettes, and three "flats". The seasoning was quite good, some spice, perhaps a bit too much MSG, but I enjoyed it.
Not to belabor the statement; but the color is totally different! As for the dish itself? Well, the sauce/stew was super thick; way too thick, lacking in the nice smooth creaminess of kare kare. Coconut milk had been added and this was overly sweet for my taste. Think of getting a jar of peanut butter and throwing in some coconut milk…..this lacked a satisfying savoriness for me.
The bread was crusty, though on the drier end of the scale. It had a good amount of pickled veggies; crisp, sour, and refreshing. Huge slices of jalapeno, some of which was spicy, some not…time for some "chili roulette"? Nice, thick slice of cucumber.