Pho Funnies
Early this morning, I came to the conclusion that pho, a traditional Vietnamese noodle soup that is eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, has gone pop-culture mainstream in North America. According to definr.com, mainstream is defined as follows:
the prevailing current of thought; “his thinking was in the American mainstream”
Source: definr.com
How else can you explain pho noodle houses taking the following names?
Pho’licious:
Found in Ottawa, Pho’licious actually serves a very decent bowl of pho. Here are foodiePrints’ determinations.
What the Pho?:
Last night, What the Pho was Mentioned to me by a tweep who goes by the handle @machopper
MacHopper (Jul 30, 09:37 PM)
@Spoonsie @foodiePrints here we have franchise pho restaurants call “What The Pho?”
Source: Hersh Ajgaonkar’s Point Bridge Blog
According to its website, What the Pho has three locations: 1317 228th Street SE (Bothell, WA) , 10680 NE 8th Street (Bellevue, WA), and 17250 Southcenter Parkway, Suite 132 (Tukwila, WA). Ajgaonkar’s blog entry is dated March 25, 2006, so What the Pho’s philosophy of offering a “clean eating environment, modern décor, fast, friendly service, savory food and a focus on the customer” must be working for them.
As further evidence, I present the “Got Pho” t-shirt.
Source: North Shore Shirts
Jenn and I saw a number of these and similar shirts being sold at the Richmond Night Market in Vancouver, years ago. Others read “Got Rice”, “Got Pad Thai”, and “Got Samosas.”
Aside: I should note also that I had an odd bowl of Pho at the Asia River restaurant at 300 River Road yesterday. The lunch special, at a restaurant that advertises it serves “The Finest Asia Food”, seemed to employ a sweet broth, not a savory one. Further, the beef, was not thinly shaved sheets. Instead, it was thickly cut, slightly tenderized, strips, more than likely doubling as beef for a Cantonese-style stir fry. Interestingly, its street-side sign advertised that the restaurant serves Chinese (Szechuan and Cantonese), Thai, and Vietnamese food.
Menu from Asia River and Particulars after the jump…
Takeout Menu from the Asia River Restaurant
Particulars:
Pho’licious Vietnamese Noodle House
300 Booth Street
(613)680-5230
Asia River
300 River Road
(613)521-2268
Comments
What I really want to know is why both these Pho houses are located at address 300 of their respective streets. I call the conspiracy to install a Pho house on every street at address 300.
I prefer westernized names to the pho 99, pho bo, pho bo ga, pho bo ga la and others that share very similar names. It can get hard to tell them apart.
I'm guiltily waiting for the Black Eyed Peas to do a rendition of Boom Boom Pow, Boom Boom Pho! :P
hmmm. took it long enough.
Pho's been around for eons, but that's probably just me because I'm on the far side of the world.
Great that you guys are warming up to it! Share the love!