ugh. because last weekend i made the kare-kare, cavin and i had been eating leftovers for several days afterwards. and, i have to admit, i'm having problems with wanting to cook traditional filipino foods and eating healthy. i mean, i did skim the fat from the broth before i added the veggies, but it does have about 1 cup of peanut butter and the meat isn't the leanest. plus, when i eat it, i want to ladle cups and cups of it over my rice, which i am also eating too much of.

so, part of me doesn't feel like cooking, so yesterday at work cavin and i were toying with the idea of going to cafe atlantico and eating at the bar like we did a few weeks back.

i was totally down for it, but then i knew i would probably get out of control with eating, so after talking it over with cavin, we decided to get pho (pronounced "fuh") instead. (and i'm pretty sure pho would have less calories and fat than the food and alcohol i would have gotten at cafe atlantico.)

i think the last time cavin and i got pho was when we first moved down here. we were pointed to the eden center, a vietnamese shopping center in va, when asked about asian shopping and stores. the place we went to wasn't bad (i can't remember which restaurant we went to), but based on all the reports i hear around, we also didn't hit THE place to go (four sisters) for authentic vietnamese food.

there have been constant reminders about pho: on dr, people have been posting quite regularly comparing all the pho places in the area; the amateur gourmet's piece on serious eats about take out vietnamese food is hilarious; and, of course, i just happened to notice last week when we were at ray's the steaks, that there was a pho 75 in the same little strip mall. woah!

it's been a long time since i've been to pho 75. when i was still living with my parents, i used to go to pho 75 in the northeast. i don't remember with who, when, or why i went, but i distinctly remember filling up on the deeply flavored broth, mixing in the mint leaves, bean sprouts, jalepenos, and lime that are included on the side. and, it was cheap, to boot! (did i use 'to boot' correctly? i see people use it all the time, and i'm trying to add it to my colloquialisms)

oh, so what was i saying? right. so it was cold out yesterday, and i had this hankering for soup, and since we haven't gone and gotten pho in over a year (shame on us!), i suggested going to pho 75. and not surprisingly, last night's visit garnered pho 75 a spot on our top 5 "go-to" places (including poste for truffled frites, kotobuki for sushi (especially toro), irish times for happy hour, and matchbox for pizza and mini-burgers).

cavin and i each got a regular bowl of pho. he got #1 (tai, nam, gau, gan, sach: slices of eye-of-round steak, well-done flank, fat brisket, soft tendon, and bible tripe) while i got the similar #4 (tai, chin, nam, gan, sach: slices of eye-of-round steak, well-done brisket, well-done flank, soft tendon, and bible tripe). and if you are iffy on the tripe and tendon and stuff, you can get pho with meatballs, or just beef as well.

it was delicious, and i'm kicking myself for having forgotten about pho all the times cavin and i were indecisive about what to eat. and our total bill was under 12 bucks! un-freaking-believable!

so if you are reading this, and you haven't gotten pho in a long time, or you have never tried it, i suggest finding a decent vietnamese restaurant and getting some RIGHT NOW. seriously. it's cheap eats, and it's so delicious you'll wish there was a pho shop next to your office.

note: pho 75 is a chain and there are some in philly, see the picture above for info

Labels: beef, philly, restaurant