Pho\n\nIt's pronounced \"/feu/\"...does that help anybody?\n\nOkay...sounds like \"fun\" only without the \"n\", and \"Th\u00e0nh\" sounds like \"tang\", minus the \"g\".\n\nIf you run \"Pho Th\u00e0nh\" through a translator, it translates as either \"Cheese Bar\" or \"The Streets\"...or, as they say in Ho Chi Minh City (nee Saigon)...\"Cheese Bar\".\n\nI couldn't say what a cheese bar has to do with this delightful little place...I didn't see any cheese on the menu, nor is there anything cheesy about the place...just straight ahead, well made, tasty (and although Dr. Andrew Weill shudders when he hears me say it)...healthy Vietnamese food!\n\nAnd while I'm on the subject of Dr. Weill...since when did a sweaty 350 pound recluse (with the remains of the entire turkey dinner with all the \"trimmin's\" that he evidently had for breakfast floating around in his beard), become the \"healthy living\" guru for a generation?\n\nI'm puzzled...not that I don't want his lifestyle...I do!\n\nStill, it's a mystery!\n\nThere's no mystery at Pho Th\u00e0nh...just unpronounceable menu selections and great Pho!\n\nI've learned over the years to make my selections either by pointing at the menu and smiling or by saying things like \"I'll have a number 2 and number 38, with a diet Coke, please\".\n\nBack when I was very young and still had my swagger on, I would stroll into one of the great Vietnamese joints in Portland, sit down and say \"Pho Me\"!\n\nSo funny!...At least to me.\n\nThat phrase led to several misunderstandings, \"incidents\" and police reports, as well as a lengthy stint of child support payments for little Nguyen Dat S. (although he really looks nothing like me...but I do get a Christmas card from him and his family every year...nice!).\n\nBut that's the dimly remembered past!\n\nYesterday, I met a couple of my buddies in the Mekong Delta (you know, the West Side vortex of great Pho...the triangle between Maxim, Da Vang and Pho Th\u00e0nh) and we had a great time at lunch!\n\nMy buddies are both attorneys, suckling at the supple twin teats of misery and money and the stories they tell at lunch would make most people writhe in despair...but not us...we are made of sterner stuff!\n\nWe split an order of Goi Cuon and Cha Gio and dug into our respective bowls of Pho...delicious, delicious Pho ...no question!\n\nAll of the standard high quality Pho prep tools are there to perfect your soup...sawtooth herb, basil, bean sprouts, and enough hot chili in several different forms to cause you severe pain the next morning...it lets you know you're alive...important at my age!\n\nThis particular Mekong Delta doesn't require a Ghe Nang or a Swift Boat to navigate, just hop on the light rail or risk your life in Camelback traffic and drop on by.\n\nJust don't say \"Pho Me\"...
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