All Things Chill

Liana and I drove around the University District last week to find a quick (and cheap) bite to eat. She initially wanted Indian food (which we eventually got yesterday @ Qazi’s), but the ones that we walked past weren’t 1) filled with college kids and 2) had sort of a snotty menu. Oh well. Some further wandering lead us to Pho Tran, which was packed with college students, Asian people AND SOME EVEN ASIAN STUDENTS. lol. SUCCESS.

For those of you who don’t have a pho joint at every corner (you know who you are), wiki has the deets:

Phở is served as a bowl of white rice noodles in clear beef broth, with thin cuts of beef (steak, fatty flank, lean flank, brisket). Variations featuring tendon, tripe, meatballs, chicken leg, chicken breast, or other chicken organs (heart, liver, etc.) are also available.

Liana got the “A”, which was the large chicken (breast) pho and I chose the #14 – a beef pho that had flank, soft tendon, brisket and tripe. What always disturbs me about some pho joints is that… regardless of what you order, it’s ALL THE SAME PRICE. You want chicken? Yes, $5. Just flank? Yes, $5. Oh, you want everything that we classify as MEAT in your bowl of pho? Well, that’s different. $5. lol.

What I’ve found most intriguing is that whenever you dine in ANY Vietnamese restaurant in Seattle is that you receive two complimentary cream puffs. EVERYWHERE. The ones at Pho Tran were handily swept up by Liana in her little hands… carefully pulling a bite-sized sample to analyze and process in her mouth. I didn’t think that they were special, but her consensus was positive, so if you’re ever looking for Vietnamese cream puffs… I guess here’s a good a place as any. Hee hee.

We also tried “Vietname Restaurant” (wow. generic) recently on 15th avenue NW after learning that Lunchbox Laboratories was closed for the day (more on that place later). The broth was considerably sweeter and the soft-tendon… remarkably soft. Liana preferred this bowl compared to the one last week, but I liked the sodium-enhanced soup from Pho Tran. Such as life. lol.

If you’re a fan of hot, sour, savory and sweet… grab $5 outta your wallet / purse / whatever and treat yourself to a bowl of pho… especially if it’s still cold where you live!

BRRRRRRR

~Spec

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 9:26 am and is filed under Cheap [and GOOD] Eats, Cuisine, Seattle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.