Let us consider the possibility that phở is just the “gateway drug” to Vietnamese cuisine. While that gateway theory (“go to bed with marijuana or beer and risk waking up with cocaine or heroin”) was discredited long ago, it appears to be on something of a reunion tour these … [Read more...]
WORLD FARE: Hipster Vietnamese at Shank & Bone
There’ll never be a need to outlaw North Park. Long before then, the place will have sacrificed itself in a supernova of ironic circularity. Or, perhaps, it’ll be consumed in a black hole of its own devising. Until then, though, there could be no better location in town for Shank … [Read more...]
WORLD FARE: A different bowl of noodles at Mi Quang Mien Trung
It’s easy to fall into the trap of ordering the same thing every time we’re at a particular kind of restaurant. A friend of mine calls it “ordering right.” I call it boring. For example, some might simply order phở if they’re at a Vietnamese restaurant. Well, there’s no phở on … [Read more...]
RECIPE: Vietnamese Jewish Penicillin – Phở Ga
It is not for nothing Chicken Noodle Soup is called “Jewish Penicillin.” It is, perhaps, the prototypical “Jewish” food. Whether there is actually something medicinal about the stuff, it’s purely psychosomatic or it is just the comfort food factor is quite beside the point. It … [Read more...]