Spring Break
All Hail the King of Pho
A Restaurant Review
Frank Loret de Mola
Issue date: 1/27/07 Section: Dining & Nightlife Guide
After you've ordered your bowl of pho, the waiter/waitress will come back with your waters and that vegetable plate I mentioned. Now, if you are hung over, make sure to nibble on the bean sprouts before your meal comes.
It never takes long in most pho restaurants to get your meal. In under six minutes, you'll be confronted with a porcelain bowl containing the following: basil leaves, diced green onions, 20 cuts of meat, three handfuls of soaked, clumped white rice noodles, an all encompassing brown beef broth. Add the vegetables as you wish, and please, if you're a person who uses sauces, especially the Sriracha sauce, don't overdo it. Especially with a Pho King bowl. Why?
The broth is superior, the difference between Sea Ridge and Two Buck Chuck is the difference between Pho King broth and a variety of other pho places in the area. The pho blends a delicate saltiness with a beef, rather than watery taste, both tastes heightened and made whole by the basil and the green onions, which thickens the broth (but not so much that it is a stew.)
No other pho restaurant I've eaten at has as consistent, and as excellent a broth as Pho King 2. Without fail, its broth has lived in the margins of bountiful broth balance. Other pho restaurants are not as consistent. In fact, some restaurants have a broth so salty you'd swear you cupped and swallowed a handful of the Pacific Ocean.
As for the cuts of meat: there is many of them, and they're rather good, but don't expect a cut of tenderloin basted ala the Food Network's "Good Eats." The cuts are thinly sliced for quick cooking, and even then you'll probably want to jam the meat under the rice noodle clump for a while so they can heat in the soup.
After you've finished, (and hopefully, by now, you have mastered the art of chopstick eating) you'll notice that there's no bill. It is considered rude, and it is considered rushing the costumer when the waiter brings a bill to the table. So make sure to go to the register and pay for the food. In order to do that, you'll want to have cash, because Pho King 2 does not accept credit cards, Traveler's Checks, your Sac State One Card, (which each of you should have by now) or anything else that isn't cold hard change, or dollar bills. A small bowl will run you $4.75; a large will run you $5.25. And don't forget to tip at least 75 cents for a large. They're nice people, even if the last time I went there they kept asking me if I wanted Diet Coke (that's Vietnamese for, "Hey look! It's a fat guy!")
So make sure you have the cash, make sure you pay, and make sure you don't show up on Wednesday, and it should be a good meal when you eat at Pho King 2. Just make sure you look at the name of the dentist next door, and try not to laugh too loud at the absolute accidental absurdity of language.
It never takes long in most pho restaurants to get your meal. In under six minutes, you'll be confronted with a porcelain bowl containing the following: basil leaves, diced green onions, 20 cuts of meat, three handfuls of soaked, clumped white rice noodles, an all encompassing brown beef broth. Add the vegetables as you wish, and please, if you're a person who uses sauces, especially the Sriracha sauce, don't overdo it. Especially with a Pho King bowl. Why?
The broth is superior, the difference between Sea Ridge and Two Buck Chuck is the difference between Pho King broth and a variety of other pho places in the area. The pho blends a delicate saltiness with a beef, rather than watery taste, both tastes heightened and made whole by the basil and the green onions, which thickens the broth (but not so much that it is a stew.)
No other pho restaurant I've eaten at has as consistent, and as excellent a broth as Pho King 2. Without fail, its broth has lived in the margins of bountiful broth balance. Other pho restaurants are not as consistent. In fact, some restaurants have a broth so salty you'd swear you cupped and swallowed a handful of the Pacific Ocean.
As for the cuts of meat: there is many of them, and they're rather good, but don't expect a cut of tenderloin basted ala the Food Network's "Good Eats." The cuts are thinly sliced for quick cooking, and even then you'll probably want to jam the meat under the rice noodle clump for a while so they can heat in the soup.
After you've finished, (and hopefully, by now, you have mastered the art of chopstick eating) you'll notice that there's no bill. It is considered rude, and it is considered rushing the costumer when the waiter brings a bill to the table. So make sure to go to the register and pay for the food. In order to do that, you'll want to have cash, because Pho King 2 does not accept credit cards, Traveler's Checks, your Sac State One Card, (which each of you should have by now) or anything else that isn't cold hard change, or dollar bills. A small bowl will run you $4.75; a large will run you $5.25. And don't forget to tip at least 75 cents for a large. They're nice people, even if the last time I went there they kept asking me if I wanted Diet Coke (that's Vietnamese for, "Hey look! It's a fat guy!")
So make sure you have the cash, make sure you pay, and make sure you don't show up on Wednesday, and it should be a good meal when you eat at Pho King 2. Just make sure you look at the name of the dentist next door, and try not to laugh too loud at the absolute accidental absurdity of language.
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