Pho

I’ve been eating pho since I was a baby! My earliest food memories are eating pho every Saturday with my family. I live in the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles which boast one of the highest concentration of Asians outside of Asia. I think I read that from the Lucky Peach periodical, but don’t quote me!

My places for pho? That is quite difficult because my parents are from Vietnam and my dad is quite particular on his pho. If one place dissatisfies him he never returns, except one place called Pho Hien Mai, or simply Mai now. We probably spent more than 10k on pho in our lifetime there. We go there so much the owner knows our order. I have tried some of the more popular pho places such as Noodle Guy(now New Noodle Guy) and Pho Filet. But we tend to just go to Mai most of the time, less wait, great pho.

What do I like in my pho? Raw beef and brisket is what I always order. We always get our meat on the side so we can dunk it in ourselves, my dad said that is how they do it in Vietnam so that is how he wants us to eat it. Sometimes I like the meatballs as well.

Pho is easily one of my favorite foods though because it’s delicious and brings me back to my childhood. I still eat it twice or more a month with my family.