Vietnamese Restaurants – Page 52

Pho Thanh Restaurant

March 21, 2007 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** Pho Tay Do has closed, this location is now Pho DaKao and Grill

*** This location of Pho Thanh is now Pho Tay Do.

Waaaaay back in November, "NancyP" recommended the just opened Pho Thanh (it used to be Phuong Trang II), so it's about time I did a post. Sorry for taking so long, Nancy! And it might have been a bit longer if not for a conversation I had with the nice lady at the Dry Cleaners…yeah, I guess I'll talk to anybody about food.

The Dry Cleaner Lady recommended a few dishes at Pho Thanh, as well as the Pho. Both recommendations mentioned the very clean, and somewhat "stylish"(I'm quoting here) interior.

First thing we noticed were that the prices were a bit higher than what I'm used to, but on both visits the service was very nice…….

The Missus was in the mood for Banh Mi Bo Kho(Beef Stew – $5.95):

In fact, the Missus had the Beef Stew on both of our visits to Pho Thanh…which illustrated a very important point when it comes to these type of restaurants, the inconsistency, not in a bad way…but in a "life is like a box of chocolates" kind of way. On the first visit, the beef stew was full of very tender lean beef, which made the Missus quite happy, in spite of the rather mild(in a Bo Kho way) broth. On the second visit, there was a very large quantity of fat, gristle, and what made me happy, tendon! But of course this was the Missus's dish, and it seemed that the stew was on the thin side and very mild in flavor, lacking the flavor of the herbs and seasonings that we have become used to with Bo Kho. This stew was also lighter in oil content, and the portion size was on the large. To high lite both the serving size and the service, we were asked if we wanted, and got extra Banh Mi(baguette) with our stew. At no charge!

And, in what was a bite of a change(for Bo Kho), we were given a plate of "garnish" with every bowl. Overall, not the best Bo Kho we've had flavor-wise, but it sure had a lot of meat…….

The DCL (Dry Cleaners Lady) said her friend enjoys the Bun Mang Vit here, so that's what I ordered on my first visit(Bamboo and Duck Noodle Soup – $6.50):

First off, I enjoyed the way the duck meat was served, sliced and separate from the soup, covering a large pile of shredded cabbage, peanuts, and cilantro, along with a little bowl garlic nuoc mam cham. The duck was moist, and had good flavor. That is not to say that there was no duck flavor in the soup:

The neck and bony parts of the duck could be found in the broth. Also, unlike many bowls of Bun Mang Vit, the bamboo had been rehydrated, and was very tender. Still, I thought the broth to be on the weak side, and the portion of bamboo to be on the skimpy side. Still, I think it's my second favorite bowl of Bun Mang Vit so far…I still enjoy the more "rustic" version at Chinese Kitchen more. If you don't enjoy the strong flavor of bamboo, you may like this version of Bun Mang Vit.

Of course, I had to do Nancy justice and try the Pho. So on our second visit, I had the Pho Dac Biet(House Special – $6), quaintly called the "Super Bowl":

The bowl that arrived was quite large, and the garnishes had the largest amount of bean sprouts that I could recall. So let's get down to business here…. I thought the rare steak was cut too thick making it tough, and there was a severe lack of meat, other than a few meat balls, and one or two pieces of flank,(and no tripe!!!) in comparison to the huge amount of noodles in the soup.

The broth was very neutral, with no anise, cinnamon, clove or other seasoning standing out. In spite of the large amount of green onions, cilantro, and onions in the broth it was still fairly mild. If you enjoy a huge bowl of neutral, low oil broth, and a ton of noodles, this is your bowl. In fact, if you like to add "stuff" to your Pho, this is the place. On both visits we noticed groups of young people having Pho, and we watched them pour the Hoisin, Sriracha, and other "stuff" into their Pho like it was going out of style! One guy must've dumped half a squeeze bottle of Hoisin into his bowl of Pho…

And in case you think that there wasn't supposed to be any tripe in this bowl of Pho:

I will say that we had some really nice, efficient, and friendly service. Everyone was so very nice. If you're looking to have a bowl of Pho, or Bun Mang Vit, or HieuTieu, in a nice clean restaurant with friendly service, this might be your place…. maybe……

Pho Thanh
5296 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Thanks for the recommendation Nancy! Sorry for taking so long!

Quoc Te 2 International Restaurant

March 18, 2007 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

*** Quoc Te 2 has closed

You know, I haven't had anything for my "One Trick Pony's" category in a while…but then again, I hadn't been back to Quoc Te in a while.

Over the years, I've been to Quoc Te more than a few times, and have tried more than a few items on the menu. In what became a disturbing trend, I've found that the food has gotten steadily worse over the years, to the point that the Missus has given up on eating here. I'm not sure that I'm the only one who notices this. But then again, check out the cavernous dining room at 12 noon on a recent Thursday.

There is basically only one item I order here(though I've been told the fried rice is pretty good):

I order the Banh Cuon Dac Biet($5.95), which is quite a lot of food for the price.

On a bed of steamed rice flour rolls(think Cheong Fun, but more delicate) and bean sprouts, resides shredded pork(always on the dry side), Gio Lua(lean pork sausage), two slices of a sour sausage, four slices of a mung bean and shrimp cake(also usually very dry), topped with fried shallots.

It is a good amount of food….after all the Dac Biet(special) contains a little bit of everything that the other Banh Cuon dishes have.

There are up to six(I've had a few as 4, and as many as 6 – don't ask me why) rice flour rolls, on this day there were 3 types(I've had some different versions on occasion), one type with cloud ear fungus and ground pork, another with shredded pork, and the last with shredded dried shrimp.

I just realized this has sort of read like an inventory of sorts…but it's kind of how I approach this dish whenever I order it…."hmmmm, let's see what we got today…."

I pour Nuoc Mam Cham(Fish sauce based dipping sauce) all of it and devour the whole thing. It doesn't strike me as anything amazing or out of this world, but is very filling and refreshing on a hot day. Come to think of it, I've never had Banh Cuon that has knocked my socks off, but maybe "Friends of mmm-yoso" Beach or Billy can recommend somewhere, or even my good Blogger Buddy Wandering Chopsticks.

Until then, I'll just drop by Quoc Te whenever I want some Banh Cuon. Quoc Te has two locations, here's Annie's post on the University Avenue location, from Her Blog Green Beans in Writing. To the right is a photo of the listed "specials" in Vietnamese, I'm including a photo of the Chinese version below.

Quoc Te 2 International Restaurant
4344 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Thanh Son Tofu – San Diego

March 1, 2007 mmm-yoso Desserts, Markets & Grocers, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Thanh Son Tofu moved, then closed

We'd been trying to get to Thanh Son Tofu on El Cajon Boulevard for a while. First off, they are located a bit off the street with one of those psycho-free-for-all parking lots where people seem to define their own parking stalls and rules. In addition Thanh Son seems to close rather early, so I've missed the boat a few times, before we finally made it at about 1pm on a recent weekend afternoon.

We entered the large almost empty shop, and no one was around, and not much food either. There were many, many signs though!

Wow, so Thanh Son does Banh Mi? But I really didn't understand much else.

In the meantime, the Missus had struck up a conversation with a nice young man, who told us that they were out of tofu. In fact, they usually run out of fresh tofu before noon. Bummer. Meanwhile the Missus's short attention span had gotten ahold of Her and She had moved on, and was checking this stuff out.

A large variety of Che, otherwise known as "sweet soup", those very refreshing dessert drinks of which there must be hundreds of variations. These were $2.50 a piece which I thought was on the high side until I noticed a sign over the cash register.

Basically buy 2 get one free! Baaargain city….. So, the Missus hit the jackpot and selected Her Che. I'm not a dessert person, but the one She enjoyed the most had taro and slices of ginger in coconut milk, which I thought was pretty good. Unfortunately, there's no photo since it never made it home. Here are photos of the other two cups of Che the Missus had.

Come to think of it, these were 12oz cups…and were pretty large.

We also got some of the fried tofu we saw(10 pieces for $1.25):

After the Missus talked the young man into giving Her some samples(She is very useful sometimes…) we got the version on the left, it had onion, bean thread, and black fungus in it. Crunchy exterior, nice flavor, with just a touch of salt. The version on the right was a lemongrass tofu which we didn't think had as much flavor, nor the great texture. We were still a bit disappointed that we missed out on the tofu….

At this point, getting some tofu from Thanh Son had become a mission. My mantra became, "I'm going to get me some tofu…or die trying!" I got up at 630am on a recent Sunday, and made my way to Thanh Son. If there is one benefit to arriving at 7am, it's that I had my choice of parking spaces without having to worry about being blocked in. I walked into the shop and noticed three people hard at work making spring rolls and other items. Luckily the same young man who served us the other day was there; the other two people only spoke Vietnamese. I ordered two block of tofu($1.25/ea), and also an order of the noodles that looked really good.

The large container of the noodles cost $3.50, and was okay, just a bit under flavored for us.

Oh yes, and finally the tofu! Now due to communication problems, I'm not sure if Thanh Son sells a variety of Tofu. I was given two large blocks of firm tofu.

The tofu was quite dense, but short on the strong "soy bean" flavor I was expecting. The tofu is well suited for deep frying or various stir fries. I'll probably be back to see if other tofu products are sold. Till then, if you're in the mood for some fresh tofu, you know where you can get it.

Thanh Son Tofu
4616 El Cajon Blvd Ste 15
San Diego, CA 92115

Revisits to Various Vietnamese Restaurants – Thien Thanh, Saigon, and Da Nang Food to Go

February 12, 2007 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

I guess you could say we've been eating alot of Vietnamese food recently…..not much Pho, but alot of other "stuff". It also seems that I've got a terminal case of food photus obsessia, and can't help but take photos of food. I think I need to seek some help for this…what do you think? In the mean time, here's few updates on a few of the Vietnamese Restaurants along El Cajon Boulevard.

Thien Thanh

*** Unfortunately, Thien Thanh has since closed. What a bummer.

I've already posted on Thien Thanh twice, on our first visit, and on another visit when I tried the Bun Bo Hue. I hope you don't mind this third post, which is actually comprised of several visits. I excluded anything that I've posted on before. So let's get started.

The Banh Mi Bo Kho($5.50):

Yes, during our cooler evenings a nice bowl of beef stew with french bread sure hit the spot. The version at Thien Thanh is chock full of herbs and seasonings, I pulled out large pieces of cinnamon and other stuff from the medium thick broth. The oil content was not overly high, and I enjoyed the flavor….I needed another loaf of french bread to help me finish this. Currently my second favorite Vietnamese Beef Stew next to the version at Lucky Pho.

One of the reasons we enjoy Thien Thanh is that along with the good service, the garnishes and vegetables are always fresh. So it almost goes without saying that the Bun Cha Ha Noi($5.95) at Thien Thanh is our favorite.

The meatballs may be kinda tough, but the sauce is nice and mildly sweet. And the veggies are always fresh.

Of course the Missus loves her Bun Rieu($5.50):

As with the Bun Bo Hue at Thien Thanh, the Bun Rieu has a more assertive sour-tangy flavor than other versions, with the pungency level on the low side. The Missus wanted to make sure that I took a photo of the large shrimp-crab cake in the Bun Rieu.

The noodles were okay, on verge of being too soft, but passable.

The Bun Mang Vit(Bamboo and Duck Noodle Soup – $5.50):

The Bamboo was under hydrated and tough, and the duck much too bony. The broth had a decent flavor, but because the bamboo hadn't fully steeped, the earthy flavor that the bamboo brings to the soup was hidden in the background.

Can't beat the garnishes though:

A generous portion of Rau Ram(Vietnamese Coriander) for my soup.

There are still several dishes that I need to try at Thien Thanh, the Bum Mam, Bun Nuoc Leo, De Nuong(goat), and the Canh Ga Chien Bo(chicken wings), so I may end up doing another post in the future. I hope you don't mind……

Thien Thanh Vietnamese Restaurant
4658 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Saigon

I'm pretty sure most people know Saigon, it's pretty much a fixture. With the huge menu, and inexpensive seafood it's favorite of many. Here are a few other dishes we've had at Saigon recently.

The Ca Ri De Banh Mi(Curry Goat with French Bread – $7.95):

Too much coconut milk, too little curry flavor, and too watery for my tastes. There was a good amount of goat meat though.

One of our favorite dishes at Saigon is the Thit Nuong(BBQ Pork with Rice Paper – $8.95):

Thinly sliced marinated pork is rolled into a tight "roll" and grilled, it is served on a bed of vermicelli noodles, and with a huge plate of pickles and vegetables, and a plate of rice paper. It's one of those, "make your own spring rolls" kinda thing. All served with Nuoc Mam Cham for your dipping pleasure…we always make a huge mess and enjoy ourselves, though on occasion the pork has been very tough and sinewy, that is the exception and not the rule.

The Bo Bia(Chinese Sausage Spring Roll – $3.25):

This has got to be the tightest stuffed spring roll in San Diego, it should say "contents under pressure", I was sure it was going to explode when I bit into it, but it didn't. Pretty good overall, with a ton of filling.

Now what do you think the Missus ordered? One guess…

Bun Rieu($5.50) of course! The Missus enjoys the Bun Rieu at Saigon, it's tied for second with the Bun Rieu at Thien Thanh. Her favorite is served at Mien Trung. The broth is a bit more fishy in flavor, and the Missus enjoy the seafood cake, which has the texture of almost being steamed. The two things which bring this bowl of Bun Rieu down are the over cooked noodles and the Missus would rather have fried bean curd, instead of the just plain old tofu in the dish.

The Bun Mang Vit($5.50):

My least favorite Bun Mang Vit, from the mushy noodles to the hard bamboo, to the almost flavorless broth. As with most of the soups at Saigon, the Bun Mang Vit had a generous amount meat in it, in this case duck, even though it was mostly bones.

Still, with over 300 items on the menu, you're sure to find something you'll like at Saigon. Though according to this sign, you should make sure that you'll eat it.

My original post on Saigon.

Saigon Restaurant
4455 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Da Nang Food to Go

*** Da Nang Food to Go has closed

During a recent conversation with John from Sandwich Emporium, he mentioned that he had heard that the Bun Mang Vit at Da Nang Food to Go was really good. So of course I headed down there as soon as I had a chance. I arrived early(they open at 7am) on a recent weekend morning so I could snag one of the few available parking stalls in the strip mall.

I was amazed at the take-out traffic the place was getting. I looked over the menu and ordered the Bun Mang Vit($5.00), and my garnishes arrived in but a minute.

Pretty much status quo…I felt bad for that lonely chili, all on it's own.

The Bun Man Vit took a while to arrive, but it was piping hot when it hit the table.

It was a very surprising bowl of Bun Mang Vit. Instead of the usual clear broth, this version was quite spicy, in fact it tasted almost like Bun Bo Hue! The coarse ground pepper also added a alot of flavor. I thought that the spicy flavors overwhelmed any of the woodsy-earthy flavor that the bamboo shoots add to the dish, and this ended up tasting like Bun Bo Hue with dried bamboo shoots and duck.

There were some very meaty pieces of duck in the Bun Mang Vit, which tasted fine with the Nuoc Mam Cham that was provided. But still, it didn't seem like I was having a bowl of Bun Mang Vit. Still it was different, and maybe you'll enjoy this version.

On this morning I had a short but very nice conversation with the owner, we mostly spoke about the Gio Lua he makes. Right now he's selling a ton of the stuff because of Tet. I still have to pick some up for my own use…if I can find a parking stall!!!

My original post on Da Nang Food to Go.

Da Nang Food to Go (aka Quan an Da Nang)
4745 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Thanks for indulging me(as always), I hope you all didn't mind some revisits.

Hey what's for dinner?

I'm starving!

Say what! Vietnamese again!

DietChiliCheeseFries is right, all you ever eat is Vietnamese! You better get this fixed soon or I'll report you to Aunt Passionate Eater! And she'll fix your wagon!

Sheesh, what does it take to get a dog something good to eat around here?

San Diego Tet Festival 2007

February 9, 2007 mmm-yoso Festivals & Events, Vietnamese Restaurants

Yes, it’s that time again…time for the San Diego Festival. Just as last year, it’s being held at Qualcomm Stadium. I usually feel really bad after doing festival posts, since most of them have come and gone by the time I do my post, and I always receive email and comments from people who wanted to attend….. So this year, I made sure to drop by on my way home from work, on the first day of the festival, which is today!

I arrived at a bit after 3pm, and found that admission had gone up to $5 this year. One thing that admission brings is a more efficient and clean festival, plus parking is not a problem.

Many of the booths, and displays were still being set-up, and the crowds had not yet arrived when I entered.

As with last year, the "heart" of the festival is the "Cultural Village":

And all of the community information, vendors, and rides:

So there you go…..

Oh wait, what about the food you ask? Well, just as last year, food booths line one entire end of the festival grounds:

I do think that there’s better variety of food this year…more than just the Fried(Cha Gio – Eggrolls) and skewered meat that was everywhere last year.

Like this:

As I passed this booth, I saw a pretty nice looking bowl of soup, so I walked on over. One really great thing about arriving early, before the crowds is that you can always strike up a conversation. So, this is a "famous" pork soup from a specific town called Trang Bang. Nice pork belly, there was some meat on the pork hock, the noodles were not very good, chopped into small pieces and mushy…but who really cares. It’s good festival food. The broth was decent, with lot’s of herbs and green onions, and I was glad to have the little container fish sauce and lime. It cost me $5.

After polishing off my soup I walked over to this booth and was looking over the food and menu.

A lady standing in front of the booth started talking to me about the food. So I asked Her if she was working here, her answer, "no, but I enjoyed the food from here…." So I decided to order the Beef Papaya Salad.

Topped off with Sriracha, this was pretty good. Nice and refreshing.

The thinly grated crunchy papaya was topped with lemongrass flavored fried meat and thinly sliced beef liver, not my favorite thing in the world, but it tasted fine in this salad.

Of course you need the ubiquitous fried item, in this case some Cha Gio(Egg Rolls – $2), which I got from this booth.

These were pretty large, and filled me up.

Completely stuffed, I made my second pass, and bought some food for the Missus.

From this booth I picked up a Papaya Salad($4).

The Missus enjoyed this.

And from this booth:

Some Spring Rolls.

And Egg Rolls:

There are just too many food booths, you can’t possibly try everything.

And in case you’re not in the mood for Asian food, there is the ubiquitous Funnel Cakes and….other stuff. Overall, it is festival food, I think the food is better than last year, though it could be because I arrived before the crowds. Still, I enjoyed myself, and the very friendly people manning the booths.

The San Diego Tet Festival is presented by the Vietnamese American Youth Alliance of San Diego. And in case you can’t make it this evening, the festival runs through Sunday.

San Diego Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium.

Friday, February 9th : 2:00pm to 10:00pm
Saturday, February 10th : 9:00am to 10:00pm
Sunday, February 11th: 9:00am to 8:00pm

There are a variety of programs and other entertainment, the schedule can be found here.

Road Trip: Viendong Restaurant – Garden Grove(OC)

January 30, 2007 mmm-yoso Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Vien Dong has closed

The day after our aborted vacation, we decided to take a drive up to Garden Grove and check out a restaurant that was included on a list that the ever knowledgeable Wandering Chopsticks so very kindly provided for us. The name of the restaurant is Viendong, and is located on busy Brookhurst street.

The restaurant was fairly large, very bright, clean and roomy. With many large parties having a late lunch.

The menu was full of various dishes that I longed to try, from the Goi Mit(Jack fruit salad) to the Bun Bung.

We ordered some hot tea while we tried to decided what to order…now this is what I call a teapot!

We started with the Banh Tom($5.50):

We ordered this mainly because it was on almost every table…plus it looked really good. Some quick research showed that Banh Tom is "Deep Fried Sweet Potato and Shrimp Patties". Strips of sweet potato(think sweet potato fries) and shrimp are deep fried in a lacquer like batter, and served up with Nuoc Mam Cham and a generous amount of Lettuce, Mint, and Cilantro. We noticed that there were two different "schools" of eating; one set placed everything in a bowl, and ate the Banh Tom out of the bowl, another group did the "wrap" thing…so we tried a little of each. We found that the sweet potato had a very nice and delicate sweet flavor, so delicate, that it was lost when mixed or wrapped with herbs and dipped into the Nuoc Mam…though the textures were interesting. So we kinda just ate them like fries…..

The shrimp had a good crunch and flavor, though there really weren't many of them in the dish. the portion size was quite substantial…and the leftovers were still pretty good!

The Missus went according to character and ordered the Bun Rieu($4.95):

This was a nice looking bowl of Bun Rieu. The first thing we noticed was that the instead of a Crab/Shrimp "cake", the crab and shrimp were scattered about the soup. The Missus prefers the condensed flavor of a cake. The broth was very balanced, though quite mild in flavor, and needed the addition of lime and shrimp paste to bring it up. Not a bad bowl, but lacking in the depth of flavor that the Missus desired.

I ordered something I don't ever remember seeing before, Bun Gia Cay (Northern style Pig's Feet Stew – $5.50):

You can tell can't you? Man this was delici-yoso!!! Thick and rich, full of flavor, such a hearty stew. There was a generous amount of Pork Hock, and a plate of "Bun" (Vermicelli) was provided, along with a bowl on the side.

There was a mild curry flavor, and well…..it was just plain good stuff! I'll leave to someone else to describe. Let me just say, it made my day!

The service at Viendong was very good, friendly and helpful. I'm hoping to try some other items on the menu soon.

Thanks for the recommendation WC!

Viendong Restaurant
14271 Brookhurst St
Garden Grove, CA 92843

(714) 531-8253

Road Trip – S Vietnamese Fine Dining – Westminster(OC)

January 16, 2007 mmm-yoso Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** S Vietnamese has closed

On our recent quick trip to Marukai in Gardena, we thought that perhaps a stop in Westminster would be in order…and maybe we'd try something different. So after hearing about S Vietnamese Fine Dining, and noticing it was right off the 405 freeway, we thought it would be an interesting alternative to the Brodard's, Quan Hy, etc……..

S Vietnamese is located right at the edge of Westminster Mall, in what looks like a highly retrofitted chain restaurant facade.

'S' bills itself as a higher end modern and stylish Vietnamese restaurant, and when you enter and notice all the wood paneling, the grand piano, and the art work lining the walls, it sure does look like the right place.

Strangely enough the restaurant was totally empty, at 1230 on a Saturday! The complete stark lack of customers made us feel a bit uncomfortable, and made the large, airy, spaciousness of the restaurant seem a bit "cold".

This was all remedied by our wonderful, warm, and friendly Server, Linda. As we were seated and handed our menus, we were asked, "have you ever eaten Vietnamese food before?" The Missus and I traded puzzled looks, and the thought "uh-oh, was this a mistake" entered our minds. We managed to choke out, "yes, we've had Vietnamese food before…..", and ended up having a nice conversation regarding the various dishes, and got some recommendations.

Based on the recommendations we started with the 'S' Skewers($12):

6 skewers arrived accompanied with 3 dipping sauces. The skewers were a mixed bag, the Garlic Shrimp Skewers barely had any garlic flavor, though the shrimp were of good quality and cooked perfectly. The Soy and Sesame Beef skewers had the most flavor, and mild sweet-soy flavor, but the meat was on the tough and chewy side. The Curry Infused Chicken was the best overall, with moist dark meat chicken. But again, the flavors were really muted; there was barely any curry flavor, in fact, the chicken tasted like a very mild lemongrass chicken. The sauces were so-so, the supposed "peanut sauce" tasted almost like 100% coconut milk, the sweet chili sauce tasted like bottled stuff, the best of the group was the soy-scallion sauce, which we ended up using on everything.

We wanted something with a little "punch" so we ordered the Bun Rieu($8) as our soup:

Supposedly the most "savory" soup on the menu, we thought of it as Bun Rieu Shadow soup…a mere shadow of the pungent Bun Rieu. It didn't help that the soup was served lukewarm, and that the vermicelli noodles were overcooked and mushy. On the positive side, the crab-shrimp "cake" was the absolute best I've ever tasted, sweet and so very soft. The fried tofu was fine, but the soup was very mild in flavor. The garnishes were on the skimpy side, but I must admit that the julienned banana blossom served was the freshest I've ever tasted, slightly tangy and refreshing. Requesting extra garnishes is a must.

The Missus ordered the Banh Mi Ca($8):

This was a breaded catfish Banh Mi. First off the baguette was excellent, perfectly crusty without being hard and dry. The panko breaded fish did not fare as well. The fish strips were dry and flavorless, and we thought that the use of Honey Panko was not the best choice, making the fish too sweet.

I ordered the Bun Cha($10), a dish of grilled pork and pork meatballs that are meant to be wrapped in lettuce leaves with various herbs and eaten:

This was by far the best dish of the day; the pork meatballs had great flavor and the grilled pork served in a sweet-garlic-soy sauce was very soft and tender. In keeping with the use of high quality ingredients butter lettuce was served for wrapping, along with a very large portion of vermicelli, which I ended up pouring sauce over to finish up….we also dipped the leftover baguette in the sauce, it was that good.

For us S Vietnamese Fine Dining was a real mixed bag; on one end many of the ingredients were of good quality, the restaurant decor is very stylish, and the service was excellent. On the other end, we thought that some of the dishes were not prepared well, the presentation of the dishes are not quite at that "fine dining" level, and that many of the flavors that we consider to be the heart and soul of Vietnamese cuisine were severely muted. We didn't think the prices were really too bad; our entire meal cost $45. It seems that S Vietnamese Fine Dining would be a great pick for someone who is perhaps a bit intimidated by Vietnamese food. The dinner menu is much larger with many interesting almost fusion style dishes like Lamb Nuong Xa, a lemongrass and peppercorn crusted lamb dish.

I think the Missus had a very interesting observation; as we were leaving She turned to me and said, "Why do I get the feeling that we just ate at Vietnamese PF Chang's?"

S Vietnamese Fine Dining
545 Westminster Mall Drive
Westminster, CA 92683

Open Sun-Thurs 11am-9pm
Fri-Sat 11am-10pm

Pho Van

December 27, 2006 mmm-yoso Bun Bo Hue, Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

If you drive on El Cajon Boulevard, you must have passed Pho Van many times, and if you’re like me, I’m sure you’ve wondered, "Hmmm, Pho Van I wonder how good the Pho is there…." And have just driven off down the road. After all Pho Van is located a few blocks away from the main "strip" of Vietnamese markets, restaurants, and businesses on El Cajon Boulevard.

But, if you’re like me…I think my buddy, Diet Chili Cheese Fries recently called me a "Pho Whore"(Check out the comments), though I prefer "Pho Bo Ho", you will actually make an effort to stop and check out the Pho. Pho Van is located in a pretty quiet location, and though it seems that parking may be at premium, there is a small parking lot down the alley, to the rear of the restaurant.

The interior is not quite as small as you think, but the decor screams generic Pho kitchen.

I entered and found my own seat, and almost immediately a menu was slapped onto the table, and the Server stood there, poised, pencil in hand, tapping his foot, and I hadn’t even opened my menu yet….but being an experienced Pho-nephile, I knew how to handle the situation, so it was going to be really easy. I opened the menu…….. and couldn’t find any Pho! What the Pho??? Now with a pair of eyes staring unwaveringly upon me, I was thoroughly discombobulated, I had to order something, and got the……

Bun Bo Hue($4.50), what else?

The garnishes were on the skimpy side, though it did include Tiet To(Purple Perilla) and Mint. I found the amount of shredded cabbage and bean sprouts to be pretty small.

The Bun Bo Hue arrived piping hot, but it wasn’t much good. The broth was nice and spicy, but very flat, and other than the heat, didn’t have much flavor. The pork hock had some tender meat, but the meat tasted a bit "off", the Gio Lua (Lean pork sausage) was fine, but any thick cut beef was a rare find indeed.

The noodles were overcooked and mushy.

I had also ordered some Cha Gio($4.25 for 4), and in keeping with the meal, they arrived when I was almost done with my Bun Bo Hue:

I could’ve gotten 2 for $2.50, but what I should have done was get 0 for $0.00. I really didn’t care for these, it seemed to be mostly filler, and the wrapper was too thick, having been folded over several times. What do you think?

So much for feeding the Pho obsession….as I paid for my meal, I grabbed a menu, and there it was, Pho…..I was given a menu that was missing the first page, the page with the Pho on it!

So being the Pho-natic that I am, I paid another visit to Pho Van, and this time ordered the Pho Dac Biet Xe Lua (Special – Extra Large Bowl, $5.00).

The garnishes arrived first, and though there was only one sprig of Basil, the garnishes included Ngo Gai, which was very fresh. I found the various meat to be on the very tough and fatty side, and the amount of Tripe to be minuscule. The noodles were in a clump in the bottom of the bowl and was very mushy. At first glance I thought that the broth would be pretty good, the color was good, and the oil content looked to be adequate. But the broth turned out to be way too salty, I couldn’t even finish half of the broth.

Bummer, I’m always on the look-out for a good bowl of Pho, especially with the recent cooler weather.

So what can I say about Pho Van? Well, the prices are very reasonable and the service is very fast, though cool and detached, no different from any number of restaurants. Since everyone else I saw eating at Pho Van was getting Pho or another noodle soup, I really see no reason to return.

Pho Van Restaurant
4233 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92105

Oh, and this post is dedicated to Diet Chili Cheese Fries……one of my favorite lines is from a movie that is a favorite of ours…"Eat the Pho!"

Pho Sao Bien Vietnamese Restaurant

November 13, 2006 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** An updated post can be found here.

Right at the outskirts of Pacific Beach is Pho Sao Bien Vietnamese Restaurant. You really can't miss the sign.

Though if you drive a bit too fast you'll zoom right past the restaurant and the small 8 stall parking lot. I'd been told that the Owner of Pho Sao Bien is the son of the Owner of Pho Hoa Huong. But whereas Pho Hoa is all business and bustle, Pho Sao Bien has a more peaceful and laid back "vibe".

The interior of the restaurant is bright and clean, and taking a page from those Asian restaurants with a customer wall, Pho Sao Bien has it's own "Wall of Fame".

This being Pacific Beach, I expected the prices to be a bit higher, but was still a bit taken aback by the prices, most everything was over $5.65. Still this is PB, not Mira Mesa where paying over six bucks for a bowl of mediocre Pho would be hard to understand, when you could get good Pho for under five bucks right down the street.

The one item I was told that I "must" have here were the Cha Gio (Egg Rolls – $6.25). Yep, it's Egg Rolls for over six bucks…these had better be good. What I got were 6 huuuge Cha Gio, that needed to be steroid tested:

These large Cha Gio were wrapped with the thin type of rice paper that bubbles up and gets very crunchy when fried, but due to the amount of filling they start getting soft pretty quickly…so fried lip be damned, it's full speed ahead with these. The Cha Gio filling didn't have very much filler, and I could only finish two of these. This reminded me of something that would be made when suffering from "dumpling fatigue", that happens when the Missus gets tired of making Jiaozhi after making 3 dozen or so, the dumplings start getting more and more filling…The Missus's Mother still can't figure out how She manages to get so much filling into a dumpling!

The Nuoc Mam Cham was mildly sweet, and overall this wasn't a bad dish. Is it worth over six bucks…I dunno, but this could be a meal on it's own.

During that time my garnishes arrived for my Pho:

Pretty skimpy, I ended asking for more basil and bean sprouts.

As for my Pho, I had ordered the Pho Dac Biet("Special" – X-Large – $6.50):

Since there was a connection between Pho Sao Bien and Pho Hoa, I expected a very dark and beefy broth. So much for expectations…the broth was medium dark in color, with a mild amount of oil. The flavoring pulled more toward a clove and anise flavor, not bad overall. The noodles were not the usual clump in the bottom, but loose, and of the thinner variety. There was a good amount of rare steak, which was soft and tender. There was just a scant amount of tripe and brisket, 1 piece of tendon, and 1 piece of flank, not much overall, I'm guessing in keeping with the clientele in PB.

In spite of the price, would I eat here again? Well considering that the nearest Pho is at least 6 miles away…..who knows? And if I'm craving for jumbo Cha Gio, or the Missus wants some Bun Cha Gio with Cha Gio suffering from Elephantiasis….you get the picture.

Pho Sao Bien Vietnamese Restaurant
1958 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

Da Nang Food to Go

November 6, 2006 mmm-yoso Bun Bo Hue, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** Da Nang Food to Go has closed

I'm not quite sure how many times I've passed this little restaurant on El Cajon Boulevard. And I've lost count of the times I've attempted to find parking within a reasonable distance to Da Nang Food to Go. This little restaurant has but 7 little parking stalls that is shared between 3 businesses, and maybe the few stalls in the parking lot of the 7-11 next door, and the curb out front is a no parking zone. So, each time we drove past Da Nang Restaurant, we'd always end up somewhere else…possibly Nhu Y, which is right up the street, or Thien Thanh. But there's a reason we've been pretty persistent about getting a meal here….just read the signs.

Yep, it says Banh Bot Loc, Banh Beo, and most of all Bun Bo Hue. A quick look at the map and you'll see that the city of Da Nang is located in Central Vietnam, South of Hue, and right smack dab on the South China Sea. Even more reason to try and grab a meal here.

We finally figured that we would need to eat there during the evening when the businesses around the restaurant were closed, and indeed on a recent Monday evening the entire parking lot(all 7 stalls) were empty. We felt like we hit the lottery! The interior of this little restaurant is….well quite small, and most of the business seems geared toward take out orders.

The menu at Da Nang Food to Go is small, and limited to mostly Central Vietnamese style dishes. Which for us is a good thing….it usually means a pretty darn good bowl of Bun Bo Hue.

We started with an order of Banh Bot Loc($3.00):

A plate of 8 plump and moist and sticky tapioca flour dumplings made it's way to our table…we could smell the freshly fried shallots, which started our stomachs rumbling. These Banh Bot Loc didn't have an abundance of the smokey, tea like flavor imparted by being wrapped and steamed in banana leaves for a long period of time, but each dumpling held a very tasty piece of shrimp, and a small piece of pork that was a bit less fatty and tough as is normal for Banh Bot Loc. The Nuoc Mam Cham, was slightly spicy and sweet, almost approaching the flavor of sweet chili sauce.

Our garnishes arrived as we were eating our Banh Bot Loc.

In this case mostly bean sprouts….

The Missus ordered Her latest favorite soup Bun Rieu($5.00):

This version of Bun Rieu had a very cloudy broth, with a pronounced sour flavor. It wasn't bad…just different. The noodles were the standard "Bun", the version a bit thinner than the noodles in Bun Bo Hue. The noodles were firm and a perfect al dente. The best thing about the soup was the very good fish cake, and the wonderfully flavored seafood "meatball". The fish cake had a wonderful flavor, and texture. Fried tofu topped everything off. We noticed that this version of Bun Rieu did not have as much tomato as other versions we've had. To sum it up, a not bad bowl of piping hot soup.

I of course had the Bun Bo Hue (no blood – $5.00):

As with the Bun Rieu, this slightly spicy broth was on the cloudy side, and the broth a bit more sour, and not as pungent than I'm used to. The noodles were good and firm. The slices of beef and tendon were okay, on the tough and dry side, and the Pork Hock was most skin. What made this bowl of Bun Bo Hue stand out was the Gio Lua (lean sausage), it had a very strong smokey fragrance, the large pieces of black pepper added a nice zip, and the flavor of the sausage was also a bit more "porky-meaty" than what I'm used too. The dark color also made it a bit unique.

We found out that Da Nang, as many restaurants do, makes their own Gio Lua. In fact, as we ate three people came in to buy the Gio Lua…who knows, I may drop by and pick up one of these banana leaf-wrapped, meat-paste product myself……

Though in our opinion the Bun Bo Hue and Bun Rieu at Da Nang is not as good as Mein Trung, I'd still give it a try again….and order something else like the Bun Mit Thit Ba Roi(Vermicelli with Pork and Jackfruit), or the Bun Mang Vit(Vermicelli, Bamboo shoot and Duck soup), or the Mi Quang, or…….after all, I'm guessing you all are getting pretty tired of my obsession with Bun Bo Hue by now!

Da Nang Food to Go (aka Quan an Da Nang)
4745 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115