The Violent Munkee

Vietnam Delight



Last night after Paraclesis we met up with Sara's dad and sister for dinner. Earlier in the evening we had mentioned going to a Greek spot for some falafel, and this set my appetite hungering for such delights. So, service ended (Which BTW is such a beautiful and refreshing service) and we scurried out to our little car anticipating nourishment. Sara rang her father while I drove merrily down the road. As I listened in to her conversation and slowly deciphered the message, great disappointment set in. The message paraphrased in my mind read like this, "No falafel, pita, or tahini tonight...instead you will eat noodles in hot water."

With great sorrow and frustration we drove past the beloved Greek spot, our faces pressed to the glass in longing, and instead pulled up to the Vietnamese establishment PHO 99. Now I consider myself to be rather open-minded and even a bit adventurous when it comes to exotic and ethnic foods, but for some reason or other Vietnamese fare has always slipped under the radar. I simply had no real interest in it, and I have no idea why. All I know is we were at PHO 99 and I clearly did not want to be.

We walked in the door of the restaurant and were greeted by a warm halogen glow with neon highlights. Purple Vinyl booths enclosed the room filled with faux marble formica tables and small wooden chairs. The black carpet was a nice anchor to semi-wild aesthetic. A young vietnamese man with randomly placed highlights in his hair quickly came over with ice water...ice water with lime (Nice touch).

At this point I was beginning to calm down a bit, if it wasn't Greek, at least it was interesting. To be honest, standard Greek fare can grow a bit dull with time. With my reservations waning and Basil happily drumming out a standard 1-2 beat with his chopsticks, I opened the menu to see what we were in for.

Pho (rhymes with duh) is a traditional Vietnamese noodley soup of sorts. Like curry it comes in 700 varieties each with its own nuance. Judging by the menu at PHO 99 they are 1/7 of the way to having every conceivable version. Pho with rice noodles, vermicelli, big noodles, small noodles, they had no shortage of noodles. Pho with beef, pork, fish, shrimp, and tofu. When I say beef and pork I'm not simply referring to hamburger. This was a veritable "pick yer part", and the combinations were endless.

I nervously chose the shrimp pho (Pho Tom). I say nervously because shrimp can often be hit or miss as far as quality is concerned. If shrimp is overly "shrimpy" then it's a simple problem of less than fresh shell fish(yuck). Before the pho showed up our hip Vietnamese water boy brought out a plate with a large cutting of fresh basil; a pile of bean sprouts; freshly sliced jalapeno; and a quartered lime. Next came the pho. Which is a very simple presentation composed of broth, noodles, white onions, green onions, cilantro, and shrimp. All the doctoring is up to the eater, a concept that I love!

So, I grabbed a couple limes, several basil leaves, some hoisin sauce, and a gave topped it off with Sri Acha (red chili sauce with garlic). With chopsticks in my left hand and a soup spoon in my right(asian style) I was ready to eat. I lifted the first ladle of broth to my mouth and slurped the hot liquid in spraying my pallette with delightful sweet, spicy, and sour. Next, a chop stick that felt more like a large talon sunk it prongs into a shrimp strangled by about a foot of noodles. The texture was amazing and the shrimp tasted nearly perfect. The cold that I had at the beginning of the meal by the end had run off screaming in terror. My sinuses were clear and my brow was covered in a light mist of perspiration. I felt like a kung-fu champion...seriously.

So, the next dusty strip mall you pass that has the Pho going on, do yourself a favor and stop in for some love.