[PDX] VIetnamese...

[ExtraMSG]

There are a million pho places in Portland -- possibly the only thing that pops up more than Thai food places, though their growth seems to be slowing.

I'm interested in knowing the favorite Vietnamese haunts of any sort in Portland, but honestly, Pho isn't my thing. I like it okay, but I prefer claypot dishes, salads, and even non-soup noodle dishes.

So where's the best places in Portland for this. Obviously, Pho Van in the Pearl emphasizes this and is very good, imo. I don't know about it's level of authenticity, but I know it's very good. Saucebox has some dishes on its pan-asian menu. But there must be some less trendy places out there.

Willamette Week suggests My Canh and Than Thao, but I haven't been to either. Chowhounders often suggest Pho Oregon and Pho Hung, but I don't know whether either has anything much beyond pho.

I went to Saigon Kitchen on Broadway which as a Vietnamese, Thai, and Chinese menu. Frankly, it blows. One of the worst meals I've had out in a while.

So, any suggestions? Any insight into Pho Hung and Pho Oregon's menus? My Canh, Than Thao?

[trillium]

I like Oregon Pho a lot. The partner always gets the pho with all the tendons and stuff, I flit around the menu. It's not as consistanty good as say, the places I used to go to in the Tenderloin in SF, but some of their dishes are great. A favorite with both Vietnamese and those not so familiar or comfortable with asian food is what is billed as a "pork chop" in the rice section. It's not a loin chop, but maybe a shoulder chop, and it barely qualifies as "chop" as it is usually rather large. It's marinated in a wonderful garlicky sweetish sauce and then grilled until crispy with a few charred bits, but still moist on the inside because of the fatty cut. Served with fried green onions on top, rice, the mandatory sipping soup on the side, nouc mam and some fresh veggies. I think it checks in at around $6. Check it out. Another non-seafood one (you're not a seafood lover if I recall) is what I call the piggie plate special. It's one of the most expensive things on the menu (I think it's $7) and it comes with tripe, a "meatloaf" of ground pork and mung bean vermacelli with a thick egg wash on top, and a skewer of pork treated the same way as above, and the requisite "broken" rice. It's not the best version I've had, but it's not the worst either.

regards,

trillium

[ExtraMSG]

Thanks. I really want to explore Vietnamese food more, but never get that excited about trying many of the places because I have to be a special mood for pho. And that doesn't happen that often. I love soup, but I'm much more of a pureed, French-style cream soup person.

Have you been to Pho Hung?

Edited December 18, 2003 by ExtraMSG (log)

[ExtraMSG]

Me and the Mrs. went to Pho Oregon tonight for dinner. (I wanted to go to Pho Hung for lunch, too, but she vetoed Vietnamese twice in a day.)

The place is a dive. That's fine with me, but be warned people who are wary of dives, because it is one. The walls have big tears in some areas. The floors, chairs, and tables look like they're from a 30 year old cheapo greasy spoon.

All that's fine with me. The food prices are in line with the quality of the furnishings. I go to plenty of taquerias that are dives. I'm not sure I trust a taqueria that isn't to some degree.

As I've said, pho is fine, but I have to be in the mood for it. My wife is the same. Instead we tried an order of salad rolls, she got the bun dau nu (#51), and I got the com tam bi cha thit nuong (#36).

The salad rolls were decent. Honestly, it's rare that I've been impressed by salad rolls. They're either good or bad and much of that is in the quality of the ingredients. These were good. The sauce that came with them was slightly sweet, slightly spicy, a little salty, and a little peanutty. It looked like a mixture of plum sauce, garlic chili paste, and peanuts, but I don't know. I'm not experienced enough to say. $3.50 for two.

The #51 was basiclly vermicelli rice noodles topped by typical raw Vietnamese vegetables, along with fried tofu julienned. It was served with a soy-based sauce. It was decent. I don't know that it was anything special, but it was fine. $6.

My #36 was better, imo. It's the dish trillium describes above. It has a bed of broken rice, a couple big slices ot tomato and cucumber along with the three meats. According to the menu the meats are bbq pork, pork skin, and egg-pork patty. I liked all three. The egg-pork patty has vermicelli noodles and reminds of something somewhere between quiche and meatballs. It's rather peppery, but pretty good. The bbq pork was tasty. It's served on a skewer, cut into thin strips which have been roasted on the skewer, I think. They were tender and flavorful from the marinade. The "skin", if that's what it is, was a bit dry and comes crumbled with something salty. It's Asian food so it could be anything -- dried shrimp, nuts, fried pork skin, whatever. I don't know. But it had an okay flavor. The dish also comes with a side of the broth and a slightly spicy sweet and sour sauce. $6.50.

The menu descriptions aren't very detailed and I'd be very interested to try some more of the non-pho dishes, things like the several kho dishes (beef stewed) served with essentially your choice of starch. I'd also like to try the spicy lemongrass chicken and the bbq beef spareribs.

Although the dishes don't have the Western and haute appeal of those at, eg, Pho Van Pearl, they're cheap enough that I'm interested in exploring more. Hopefully I can get to Hung sometime soon and explore their non-pho menu a little, too.

PS I should note that I went to the Sandy location and supposedly they have opened a second location on 82nd somewhere. The Sandy location is just east of 60th and Sandy.

Edited December 20, 2003 by ExtraMSG (log)

[Jim Dixon]

My Cahn

salt and pepper green beans

NE 39th north of Sandy

Jim

(sorry, but I'm stuck in this format...it does make for a quick post)

[ExtraMSG]

My Canh is on my list of places to try -- it, and I think, Yen Ha. Both seem to be less pho oriented, though maybe a bit Chinese-influenced or a mix of Chinese and Vietnamese. But my understanding is that's typical.

I actually got in to try Pho Hung, a friend's favorite and many Chowhounders' favorite, it seems. They were closing in 15 minutes and didn't want to make anything but soup for us, so we ended up splitting a large bowl of the #1 with everything (tendon, brisket, flank steak, tripe). It was pretty good. Not quite as much of a dive as Pho Oregon, but not far away. The lady with the bussing cart hovered over us as we finished. And we cruised. Honestly, I'd rather them tell me that they're closed or that the kitchen is closed than hover over me like that. The broth had a very good flavor, though. But pho really isn't my thing. I like it, but I have to be in the mood. I'll try to get back sometime in the near future and try something else.

[trillium]

Jeez...Oregon Pho is one of the cleaner more family oriented places we go to for Vietnamese. They don't spend a whole lot on ambiance (ok next to nothing, except for the Buddha alter), but at least you don't have to wash the chopsticks before you eat like at some places! There is a noodle dish I really love eating in warm temperatures but I don't remember the name of it, I'll write it down next time I'm there, I think your wife would enjoy it.

I'll try to stop by Pho Hung while I have wheels, it would be cool to go to both in the same day and the partner would be even more into it than me!

One of the problems I have with Thai/Chinese/Vietnamese food here in Pdx is that a lot of the restaurants are run by people serving Vietnamese interpertations of what they imagine Americans think of when they think "Thai" , "Chinese" or "Vietnamese". It's not always bad food, but it can be frustrating to sift through some of the really boring stuff on the menu.

regards,

trillium

[ExtraMSG]

That I can understand. It happens in all ethnic cuisines. I imagine the key is getting to know the proprieters well enough that you can ask for the real deal.

[markovitch]

i work with a bunch of vietnamese guys-- none of them eat out.

[trillium]

i work with a bunch of vietnamese guys-- none of them eat out.

? And ?

[markovitch]

i work with a bunch of vietnamese guys-- none of them eat out.

? And ?

sorry, they don't eat out because they say all the restaurants have watered the food down for american tastes. They, however, have the benefit of talented wives. Honestly, the food i've had at their houses barely resembled the food i've had at the viet restaurants.

[ExtraMSG]

Went to My Canh tonight. Ordered the small green papaya salad ($4), the clay pot pork ($7) -- both specials --, the pork rolls ($3), and my wife got the stewed tofu with peas and carrots for her entree ($6).

The clay pot pork was quite tasty. Heavy pork taste. Is there such a thing as aged pork? If I get trichinosis..... Really, though, it was quite good. Very tender braised pork in a nice sweet, spicy, tangy sauce.

The green papaya salad was adequate, but the pork rolls were only okay. The pork had little flavor and I don't know that there was much point in getting those as opposed to normal salad rolls.

My wife liked her tofu with peas okay, but wasn't too thrilled. It was a slightly spicy, kind of mushy sauce of soft tofu with a small amount of peas and carrots.

The clay pot was encouraging, but I'd need to try a few more dishes before I could decide whether it's a one hit wonder or not.

[trillium]

I did my gulleteer duty and went to both Oregon Pho and Pho Hung in the same week. We ended up at Pho Hung about 20 minutes before closing, which as noted, doesn't make them very happy. I don't know why they just don't close earlier if they don't want to cook near closing. They didn't try telling us they wouldn't cook anything though, but yelled at my mum when she took more than 60 seconds to decide what to order. That irritated me enough that I probably won't go back, since I didn't think the food was fantastic anyhow. The portions are much bigger than at Oregon Pho, but the food is greasier and less seasoned, the soup more sweet and msg heavy and the nuoc mam isn't the greatest. Combined with the surly service I'll stick to Oregon Pho.

Speaking of which, I can't remember the name of it, but another favorite dish at Oregon Pho is the vermicelli with veggies, shrimp and pork on skewers. I think it's better as a warm weather dish though.

regards,

trillium

edit to add: The lemongrass chicken at Oregon Pho is more like what you might call a curry. It really reminds me of nonya chicken curry, but with less tumeric and more lemongrass.

Edited January 5, 2004 by trillium (log)

[trillium]

i work with a bunch of vietnamese guys-- none of them eat out.

? And ?

sorry, they don't eat out because they say all the restaurants have watered the food down for american tastes. They, however, have the benefit of talented wives. Honestly, the food i've had at their houses barely resembled the food i've had at the viet restaurants.

If I had a talented Vietnamese wife cooking for me at home, I probably wouldn't eat out either! For what it's worth, Oregon Pho is always running at about 95% Vietnamese customers. That being said, they don't do a lot of things that I learned to love from a Vietnamese friend, so I make them at home.

regards,

trillium