On Saturday, I did alot of walking. The 16th Philadelphia Film Festival was going on (and still is), and so I wanted to catch at least one flick, but had to go to the Kimmel Center by 8PM. A colleague had laid some free tix to Art Garfunkel on me earlier in the week. He’s not my scene, but I knew my mom would be into him, so I took her. It’d been her first time to the Kimmel and let me tell you, for those of you that haven’t been there, go! It’s a beautiful building, on the outside and the inside. And the large hall is even more gorgeous and has the most amazing acoustics you’ve ever heard. It’s a totally beauteous place.

While hauling my butt 13 blocks to get from 2nd to Broad, I had to stop in for a quick bite. And on my way, of course, was Chinatown. This is a girl that never gives up a chance to stop in Chinatown. If you remember, Saturday was freakin cold. And after walking all those blocks, I decided that pho would be my meal of choice. So I stopped at Pho Cali, again.

Do you remember the first time you had pho? I do. It was the summer after my freshman year of college in Cleveland. I was staying that summer at a fraternity house (yeah, hilarious, I know). That’s ok, it wasn’t a real fraternity, it was the nerd fraternity. One of the people staying there that summer had a car, and he was going to go drive and eat Vietnamese food. Vietnamese food? What’s that, I thought! I had no idea. I’d never had it before. So we trekked to the west side of town to a tiny Vietnamese place. I didn’t remember what it was called, but I just googled it and it is called Minh-Anh. Gosh. So it’s good to know it’s still there.

So this guy also gushed about this thing called “cinnamon soup”. Yes, cinnamon soup. That absolutely sounds gross now that I think about it, but at the time, it sounded fascinating. And I had to have it. It was actually pho he was talking about, and I loved it! And from then on, I’ve been hooked. At Minh-Anh, you didn’t get the giant bowls that the chain pho places typically serve. You got a tiny mini bowl and you treasured every flavorful spoonful of broth and every crunchy sprout. Mmmm…. I also had my first goi cuan (fresh summer rolls) there, and also my first bun (rice vermicelli bowl). Now that I think about it, I realize how much Minh-Anh has affected my eating life. Thank you!

When you order pho, you basically need to know what type of meat you want in it. I typically just go for brisket. You also can choose flank, steak, tripe, tendon, meatballs, or any combination of the above. It comes out in a bowl with rice noodles, the soup, your meat(s) of choice, onions, green onions, and cilantro. Immediately after you order pho, before you even get your pho, they bring you a plate full of mung bean sprouts, some sliced jalapenos, some lime wedges, and some basil. And at every table, you always have sriracha sauce (the spicy sauce), hoisin, and garlic chili sauce. And you put any of these ingredients into your pho. Then you shovel and enjoy! For me, I stick in all the sprouts and some sriracha. That’s it for me, I’m a simple pho kinda girl. I also ordered a limeade. So so good!

Oh yeah, by the way, after the Kimmel, I made my mom take me to capogiro. And I also forgot to say that after that night at Penang, I also stopped at capogiro. Hilarious. Ladies and gents, my addiction is fully raging.

Pho Cali Vietnamese Restaurant
1000 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 629-1888

There’s nothing I love more than a nice big bowl of steaming pho. The beefy broth, the crunch of the sprouts, the whole thing. I love every bit of it. I also love a very particular chicken pho. Now most pho joints serve a very bland chicken pho. It’s made with chicken based stock and sliced up chicken breast. Very boring. This is not my chicken pho. My chicken pho is made with beef stock. My chicken pho has grilled/fried chicken with incredible flavor. My chicken pho sometimes even trumps regular beef pho. Where can you get said delicious chicken pho? At Pho Ba Le, on Washington Ave (sometimes called Restaurant Cyclo). Only thing is, the last two times I’ve been there, it’s been closed having a sign saying “Closed for the Winter”. How can you be closed for the winter when you serve the best winter food there is?

There’s another pho place across the parking lot called Pho Ha. It’s one of those mostly pho only shops that brings out your food in 2 seconds. We were in the city last night going to a concert, so we stopped round Washington Ave to grab a bite first. I decided not to get pho last night because it was fairly warm out, and I got the chicken and spring roll over broken rice instead. As you can see, it was alot of food, and it was delicious and moist. I think the key is that it’s not white meat, but dark meat. One of my favorite things about getting this Com Tam dish is the pickled daikon and carrots that you always get on the side. I love the slightly sweet sourness of it, and the crunch.

M got a small pho. Small in pho places usually means pretty big. And the large means huge. I’ve had the pho there before and it’s very good. M seemed to enjoy it alot, and she pretty much ate the whole thing, broth included. I was so impressed!!!

Monday night I had to stop at the mall to return some stuff. While there, feeling particularly lazy, I picked up some chicken teriyaki to go from one of those “japanese” chain joints that serves teriyaki dishes. I really like it cause it’s so simple, just chicken with teriyaki sauce, and some grilled veggies and rice. I got a giant carton full for about $4. And on a lazy night, it doesn’t get any better. It’s fresh, steaming hot, and tasty, and requires absolutely no work whatsoever.

Pho Ba Le
600 Washington Ave
215-389-7844

Friday night I got to go to the Philadelphia Flower Show for free. It was part of the Young Friends of the Horticultural Society’s efforts to get feedback from the under-40 crowd. My friend invited me, and when she couldn’t go, I took another friend. It was a pretty good deal. Free food, free entry to the show, and then we got to give our opinion about the show. I never turn down free food, ha!

They had cheese and fruit and wine. They even had some servers walking around with some appetizers. But the highlight was the mashed potato bar. They had three different kinds – roasted red pepper, cheddar, and garlic. Then they had mashed potato condiments – bacon, chives, cheese, and sour cream that we could add on our own. And they served it in a plastic martini glass. Hehe. I only had the roasted red pepper one, but it was damn good! The guy serving it said you’ve never had anything like it. And he was right! I loaded mine up with lots of bacon and sour cream and it was very good. It was slightly spicy, but not too much so, and had a bit of potato chunks still. I could have eaten it all night.

Alas, I did not eat the mashed potatoes all night. I never give up a chance to go to Chinatown when I’m right there. The convention center is pretty much in Chinatown, so we had to go there to eat afterwards. It was quite cold, so we just picked what was closest, and ended up at Pho Cali. Pho Cali is one of my favorite pho places around. You always get sat quickly, the food comes out lightning fast, and it’s good and cheap.

I decided not to have pho (not sure why) and had the beef with noodle soup instead. I wanted some spice, and I surely got it. It had round egg noodles. And what I think was probably flank steak. It was very spicy. Not too spicy, but it definitely was not a mild spicy. M had a grilled beef with noodle soup dish. It was a chicken broth soup with rice noodles, and came with grilled beef on the side. It was just what we needed to fill our bellies and get all warmed up.

Pho Cali
1000 Arch St
215-629-1888