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Cheap Eats

Pho Real

Northeast’s Pho Gia is a broth of fresh air.

Posted by: Anna Sachse on Apr 18, 2011 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

I’ve driven by Pho Gia, located at 1944 NE Sandy, countless times in the last three years and never once considered stopping—it looked like a converted bank or the kind of Americanized eatery that would serve the pho version of a Big Mac.

But one day my husband (a man who would opt for pho over me if he was stuck on a desert island and could only bring one thing with him) told me their steamy Vietnamese soup was the best he’d had in town. The reason? The holy grail of real pho: an authentic broth.

So, off we went one recent rainy evening and—no joke—we have eaten there at least twice a week ever since. In fact, the austere but efficient waitress who is always working (I think three or four women run the whole show, front and back) has started making fun of us.

We always get the same thing:

1) Tofu salad rolls ($3.95). These are not the best salad rolls in Portland (that award goes to Khun Pic’s Bahn Thai on Belmont, despite the hour-long wait), but at least they contain giant hunks of fried tofu, and we’re not there for the appetizers anyway.

2) The #31: Steak & Brisket Pho ($6.50). They offer numerous variations, but this is the bowl that had my husband at hello. While many local pho finds ladle up a slapdash sweet-and-sour, this broth is deeper, richer, and more complex—a sign that they actually took the extensive time to simmer marrow-rich beef bones and add the proper spices like star anise, cloves, and ginger. It isn’t too sweet, nor is it too fatty. Of course, you also get the requisite rice noodles, slivers of white onion, and sprinkle of scallions, plus a plentiful plate of texture-and-flavor-enhancing bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, and lime. The tender steak and lean brisket is properly prepared (it continues to cook in your piping hot soup), and what it may lack in quantity, it makes up in quality.

3) The vegetarian pho ($6.50). Again, it’s the “five-spice broth” that makes this flesh-free version shine. It’s a touch sweeter and a little lighter than the carnivore options; but, nevertheless, the flavor is full and nuanced, as if they actually put care into it rather than just plopping a salt-sugar-water combo on the menu to appease picky Portlanders. The bowl is also stuffed with crisp red and green peppers, broccoli, carrots, and cabbage, and slices of meaty king mushrooms. And, again, there could be more of the tofu chunks, but at least they are fried and retain their firm texture. (Side note: All local pho joints should start exploring meat substitutes other than tofu—wonders can be done with wheat gluten, folks.)

As for atmosphere, Pho Gia provides a simple, clean, and somewhat comical mish-mash of real plants, old pizza parlor light fixtures, and Christian paraphernalia, as well as synthesizer versions of Fernando and Unchained Melody that harmonize with the happy slurping of damn good soup.

From kitschy dining rooms nearby to the outlying hole-in-the-wall, who’s pho do you think is for real?

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Tags: Cheap Date, Northeast Dining, Cheap Eats, Vietnamese Food, The Best

Best of PDX

Five Places I Love

Eat Beat’s newest gastrophile, Allison Jones, waxes poetic about her all-time favorite spots in Portland.

Posted by: Allison Jones on Apr 13, 2011 at 12:30PM 12 Comments

I dine out too much. Though once upon a time I was an avid home cook, these days I spend my time in tireless pursuit of the best things coming out of every Portland kitchen but my own. Sure, you’ll find me at whichever new French bistro or offal-in-a-waffle food cart pops onto the scene, but there are also places around town serving crave-worthy dishes that call me back time and time again whenever I think about making my own dinner for once. Here’s my list of the five reliable places that keep my home fridge empty.

1) The Burger: Screen Door 2337 E Burnside St
There are plenty of explanations for that infamous line out the door, but in my book there’s only one that really matters: Screen Door serves the best burger in Portland. Nothing cures food disenchantment caused by too many gourmet tasting menus than 10 bloody ounces of Painted Hills ground sirloin with thick-cut onions and extra pickles. Insider tip: Ask for the burger on the pulled pork bun for the full experience, and if you’re feeling daring, try it with pimento cheese and stuff your face like nobody’s watching.
Eat me: Step one: Backyard Burger with french fries. Step two: Banoffee Pie. Just do it.
Drink me: Porch Swing Lemonade with vodka, fresh lemonade, and muddled sage. Like sipping a liquid version of your summer herb garden right after it’s been watered. With booze.

2) The Coffee Shop: Ford Food and Drink SE 11th & SE Division St
This offshoot of SE Division’s Detour Café serves from-scratch pastries, sandwiches, soups, and focaccia pizza in a huge concrete-chic space that was once a Model T factory. Ford’s walls of windows keep the space bright – even when it’s pouring – and with plentiful power outlets and tables, you get the feeling you’re welcome to stay for hours. And I do.
Eat me: Good Morning Panino – Cream cheese, pepper bacon, oven-dried Roma tomatoes, and fresh basil pesto on house-made foccacia.
Drink me: With rotating beers on tap and a well-curated and affordable wine selection, the good people at Ford do their part to fill your cup with more than just Stumptown brew. The’ve got Happy Hour 5-7 weekdays, with $3 pints and glasses of wine.

3) The Food Cart: Los Gorditos Taqueria SE 50th Ave & SE Division St
I’m not going to involve myself in the eternal no-real-Mexican-food-in-PDX debate, but Los Gorditos is easily my favorite food cart in town. With a full covered porch and plenty of seating, this spot is the kind of place where you could throw a dart at their menu board and be completely satisfied ordering anything you hit. Be warned: the cart is closed on Sundays, making it the saddest day of the week, but their brick-and-mortar location on 12th and Division is open every day.
Eat me: The Soyrizo burrito, a lingering favorite from my vegetarian days – a grilled flour tortilla stuffed with Soyrizo, beans, rice, cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado, sour cream, onion and cilantro, topped with a lot of their house salsa verde.
Drink me: Mexican Coke cold out of the fridge under the salsa bar. Because it’s the real thing.

4) The Date Spot: Bar Avignon 2138 SE Division St
I supposed you could call Bar Avignon a mom-and-pop joint, but only if your pop is one of the most well-respected wine directors in town and your mom makes a truly wicked sazerac. Randy Goodman and Nancy Hunt have created the quintessential neighborhood bistro, with a knockout wine and cocktail list, a full menu of classic, flavorful dishes, and a vibe that manages to be romantic, Euro-chic, and homey at the same time. They’ve been teasing me with the promise of weekend brunch in the coming months, and when that wish is granted I may never leave.
Eat me: Head in on Fried Chicken Night (check their website for dates) and feast on golden-crisp Draper Valley chickens drizzled with spiced honey, cornbread with maple butter, and spicy braised greens.
Drink me: Nancy’s take on the Vieux Carré – rye whiskey, Dolin sweet vermouth, Benedictine, Angostura and Peychaud bitters, and lemon.

5) The Hole in the Wall: Pho Huy 11342 SE 82nd, (503) 353-6646
Everyone’s got their favorite pho joint, and mine’s in the parking lot of a WinCo in Happy Valley. While Pho Huy’s take on the sinus-clearing Vietnamese noodle soups are standard, the real reason I’m impelled to drive a half hour for lunch is a salad. The Goi Bo (seared beef salad) is an addictive plate of flavorful steak bits, shredded cabbage, carrots, cilantro, and peanuts in a citrusy fish sauce dressing that manages to become far more than the sum of its humble parts.
Eat me: Said Goi Bo.
Drink me: Pho Huy manages to do something magical with their water (yes, as in tap water) involving fresh lime. If it was on the menu I’d order it, but it’s free, which is way better.

There you have it, my everyday cravings in a nutshell. What are your top five?

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Tags: Happy Hour, Food Carts, Coffee and Tea, Southeast Dining, Wine, Best Burgers, Vietnamese Food, The Best, Comfort Food

Cheap Eats

On the Pho in Downtown

Hefty portions of crush-worthy Vietnamese-Thai fusion fare at Pho PDX.

Posted by: Anna Sachse on Dec 22, 2010 at 08:00AM 0 Comments

If, like me, you always spend the week before Christmas racing around trying to purchase last minute gifts, you’re going to want something warm and delightful for lunch, especially when the weather outside is continuously so freaking frightful.

Yesterday I found my refueling fix at Pho PDX (“traditional Vietnamese and Thai dishes with a modern twist”), located at 827 SW 2nd Ave in the Global Food Court across from Bally’s Fitness. That food court is a weird little space… poorly lit and shabby, although the people who tend the counters (there’s also Indian, Korean, and a sandwich shop that sells Hawaiian favorites and Puerto Rican yellow rice and beans) are all beaming rays of TRON-shine and the place appears to bustle with business.

Especially the pho folks. The counter is only open 11am-2:30pm, Mon-Fri, and I watched more than a few hungry holiday shoppers get turned away at 2:34pm, as I sat there happily slurping my steaming soup.

The pho itself is good—not great, but a solid good. For $6.50, the beef pho gets you a giant (and I mean giant) bowl of broth, rice noodles, cilantro, onions, and an impressive portion of tender round steak and lean brisket, plus all the texture and flavor enhancing boosters (e.g. bean sprouts, basil, and lime) you could want. I also love that every single table on both floors of the court has a tray of hoisin, Sriracha, and sambal—I wish I had one at my house.

The one player that prevents a “great” title is the broth. There are definitely more flavorful versions, in which you can really taste the star anise, cinnamon, and cloves. This one is pleasant enough and feels cleans, but it presents more like a sweet and sour soup (Warning: If you are accepting of change, you will be fine with the broth; if you are a traditionalist, then you are likely to join the other angry people who live to complain on Yelp). Regardless, this pho does do all the right things: shows up quickly, fills you up, clears your head but not your wallet, and doesn’t make you feel dirty (see McDonald’s or Taco Bell).

Other pho options: steak and meatball, chicken, seafood, and “pho tom yum,” seasoned with lemongrass, tamarind spices, shrimp, and avocados. A vegan version is always nice to see, and this uber-fresh one overflows with string beans, bell peppers, and mushrooms. My only kvetch there is that the plentiful tofu chunks are soft and bland—I prefer my curdled soymilk fried and chewy.

All in all, though, it’s a great meal deal, which we could certainly all use this time of year.

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Tags: Cheap Eats, Vietnamese Food, Downtown Dining

Cheap Eats

Stuff Yourself on Southeast Foster

An Xuyen Bakery has what it takes to sate your hunger without having to starve your bank account.

Posted by: Anna Sachse on Oct 18, 2010 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

Take a look to your left. See all that food? It’s from An Xuyen Bakery, the cute, little hole-in-the-wall located at 5345 Southeast Foster Rd next to Foster Burger, and it cost exactly $12.10. What’s especially mind-blowing is that the enormous bánh mì—Vietnamese sandwiches that come in a number of incarnations, including BBQ pork, Vietnamese meatball, pâté, chipotle chicken, and both tofu and “fake meat” for the vegetarians—are only $2.25.

But getting large portions of food for very little money isn’t exactly an indicator of good quality or taste, right? Consider the $1 Chinese food (a.k.a. colon-blow) you can get from those establishments in strip malls, for example.

Well, An Xuyen is a satisfying and affordable exception. While they may not be the best bakery in town, and they may not even make the best bánh mì (according to Portland Monthly’s food editor Karen Brooks, that title belongs to Binh Minh Sandwiches at 7821 Southeast Powell Blvd), the sandwiches are exactly good enough. The fillings are well-seasoned and not too fatty, and there is plenty of sliced cucumber, daikon, jalapeños, pickled carrot, and cilantro to add a fresh counterpoint and crunch. The key, however, is that their bread actually kicks ass—flaky/crispy/chewy on the outside and soft on the inside, it absolutely makes the sandwich. Ask for a side of sriracha if you like a little extra kick.

As for the rest of it, the steam buns are hearty orbs of curious fillings (the meatball version also contained a creamy yellow liquid) wrapped in a soft, slightly sweet pastry. They are filling if perhaps not the most flavorful. The salad rolls were nothing to write home about, except for proving the point that everything is better with peanut sauce. The green tea cupcake was a super-sweet step above something you might find at Safeway.

But, let me remind you, all that food cost $12.10 and didn’t result in severe pain and regret. That’s what I call success.

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Tags: Southeast Dining, Cheap Eats, Vietnamese Food, Bakery

Cheap Eats

Fantastic Pho on NE Killingsworth

Get your pho fix for $5 at 33 Ave Pho.

Posted by: Anna Sachse on Aug 27, 2010 at 09:30AM 0 Comments

33 Ave Pho is the kind of hole-in-the-wall find that you’re not sure you should tell your friends about because they might tell their friends and then the place will get overrun and never be the same quirky, quiet, delicious, ridiculously cheap place it was when you first found it. And, chances are, they won’t find it on their own.

Located in the back of the recently expanded mini-mart connected to the 76 gas station on the northeast corner of 33rd and Killingsworth (3323 Northeast Killingsworth Street), 33 Ave Pho offers a simple menu of Vietnamese teriyaki (beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, or tofu), salad rolls, spring rolls, shrimp wonton soup, and pho — an infatuation-inspiring beef or chicken noodle soup which, at $5, is the most expensive dish they serve.

I went there for lunch yesterday thinking I wasn’t very hungry, and ended up wolfing down a gigantic plate of the tofu teriyaki — a mountain of perfectly-cooked rice, steamed vegetables, and chunks of chewy-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside fried tofu coated in a salty, sweet sauce with lots of cracked pepper and shallots. It was straight-forward and not exactly pretty, but also the tastiest, most satisfying vegetarian dish I’ve had in months.

That aside, most folks were there for the pho — huge bowls of rice noodles, paper-thin strips of round steak, and tender meatballs in a clean, bright broth made from oxtail, knucklebones, onions, ginger, and spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and star anise, which simmers for hours before it’s served. You get to add your own mung beans (bean sprouts), basil, and wedges of lime, as well as Sriricha and/or Saambal for heat, soy sauce for salt, and Hoisin for sweetness.

Yesterday, surrounded by shelves filled with cat food and charcoal, everyone was slurping the soup, including a burly construction worker, an uber-fit postal worker, a Japanese teen wearing skinny jeans and headphones, and my meat-eating husband, who once informed me that pho was the one food he’d want if he was ever stranded on a desert island. The husband’s opinion of 33 Ave Pho: “What makes it so good is its simplicity. The broth is clean, bright, and authentic — not the gamey-tasting sweet-and-sour soup that some places substitute for the real thing.”

There are two ways to order: sit at one of the three tables in the brightly-lit “dining area” and wait until one of the incredibly friendly Vietnamese women working the gas station register can come over and help you, or wait at the counter that contains nothing more than a rice cooker and pictures of the menu items so that you can point if your waitress doesn’t understand you.

Getting your food won’t take long at all — and at least you can shop for gum and lottery tickets while you wait.

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Tags: Northeast Dining, Cheap Eats, Vegetarian Friendly, Vietnamese Food, Secret Find