I had to finish up my last boozings drinks, so I went to watch Lost at H/A’s place and picked up some banh mi to nosh on from Ba Le. I usually get grilled pork, but I wanted to branch out, so I also picked up a bbq pork one and a chicken one. And I picked up a side container of the pickled daikon/carrots so that I could load up my banh mi with extra crunch. So here’s the bbq pork one. This pork looks like it would be flavorful, but it was real plain. Plain roasted pork. I wasn’t feeling it. But throw enough crunch on there, and I’ll certainly eat it.

The chicken one was a lot better. Some grilled chicken has been shredded up a little bit to fit in the sandwich. So if you’re not into pork, then this is a nice option.

Here’s the standard grilled pork one that I usually get. I actually didn’t end up eating it that night and instead, ate it for lunch the next day. Surprisingly, it tasted better the next day than both of the other banh mi’s the night before. I wanted to use up all the rest of the daikon and carrots, so I loaded it up with extra heaping piles of it, and man, it just worked. But I’m an oddball, I could probably fill a baguette with just the pickled radish and carrot and think it’s the best sandwich ever!

Before catching an amazing band in fishtown, we decided to get some pho. I’m someone that can eat pho any time. And I mean any time. Morning, noon, night, cold weather, hot weather, rainy weather. Who cares, it’s always a time for pho. So if someone suggests it, chances are, I will agree!

I have a few favorite spots for pho, and one of them is definitely Pho Ha. I just love a place that is purely utilitarian. The place is harshly lit with bright flourescent lights and just lined with unattractive tables. They just try to get you in there, feed you as quickly as they can, and turn the table over. It’s not a hang out. It’s not an experience. It’s just to put delicious food into your belly.

Then when I got there, I totally had no interest in pho. I don’t know what happened to me. I didn’t want anything hot. I didn’t want soup. I didn’t want noodles. I didn’t want anything beefy. It was strange. So instead, I got the grilled chicken rice plate. Hands down, it’s the greatest non-pho dish they serve. Both C and I ended up getting the same chicken rice plate, which also comes with a spring roll. Even though they were the same dish, our garnishes were so uneven. You always get some veggies with a rice plate, and I got some cucumbers and some pickled carrots. C got tomato, less cucumbers, and some carrots and some daikon. As if we got two separate dishes. But the chicken still rocked. It’s a huge piece of perfectly grilled chicken… juicy and flavorful… enough to feed a small family. And I love broken rice. I mean I know it’s just plain old rice, but for whatever reason, at least in my head, broken rice tastes better than plain whole rice!

After the second snowpocalypse, the roads in philly, especially west philly, were fairly horrendous. Vietnam Cafe is lucky that it has a huge parking lot. Except that the road and the entrance to the parking lot was covered with 5 inches of ice with grooves in it, so that it was impossible for you to get into the parking lot without getting stuck in a groove. Somehow, I extricated myself before becoming another victim, and found a spot on the street. Boy, was this place packed. I’d been here once before, to get take-out, when it was still teeny. It has since taken over where their neighbor used to be, so now the place is positively ginormous.

I was just trying to shovel some food into my belly before heading over to javaflix, so I just scarfed down some pho bo kho at the bar. The bowls of pho here are smaller than at pho only joints. Remember, this is a fancy vietnamese restaurant. But it tastes pretty good. The meat here is pretty fat-free, which I like. This pho bo kho is not really spicy at all, so it’s very easy to eat. It’s an easy breezy small bowl of pho. You’re paying a lot for ambiance here, so pound for pound, it’s more expensive here. But that’s ok. The portion sizes at regular pho places are probably too big anyway.