A THREE-PART ADVENTURE IN VIETNAMESE SOUP
PART 1          PART 2          PART 3

I’d wanted to lose my Vietnamese soup virginity at Phở Thu Thủy, but despite a fancy website promising they were open, they weren’t. On a second visit, they weren’t open again. On a third visit, two weeks ago today, they were still closed, so I’ve mailed them a get well card, but there are other pho restaurants in the Seattle area.

One block west there’s Pho-S, where the ‘S’ seems to stand for Seattle. Two things talked me out of eating there, though. First, my stoner nephew had told me it’s good, and knowing him that’s a bad review. And also, just glancing inside through the window, the tables, chairs, walls, and even the ceiling seemed ‘fancy’ to me. Fancy décor tends to mean higher prices, so I bid adieu to Pho-S and instead walked to the corner, and into Phở Tái.

The young woman at the counter was pleasant, noticed I was white (and I still am, by the way), and asked if I was familiar with pho. I said no, though I’d briefly researched it online. Google had told me, and the woman reiterated, that it’s a brothy, noodly soup, with lots of meat and other toppings available.

Google had also told me that the restaurant’s name, Phở Tái, means “Rare beef pho.” I’m not big on beef, and would’ve gone for something porky or chickeny or even tofu, but beef is right there in the restaurant’s name, so that’s what they’re proud of, right? Therefore, your humble reporter ordered the steak and tendon pho. Also ordered three eggrolls, because I’m big, and was skeptical that a bowl of soup could fill me up.

Then I settled into one of the plastic seats at a plastic table and looked around the place. Not much ambiance, but that’s OK. I’m not much for ambiance, and lessen the ambiance anywhere I go. There was no TV blaring, and that’s terrific. If there was music it was soft enough to be no distraction as I read the book from my backpack.

After about ten minutes, a polite young white man brought my lunch, and there was lots of it. Which is always a good thing — man, I hate places with skimpy portions.

The soup was in a very large bowl that appeared to be metallic (it was plastic, though), and the eggrolls were full-size, not the finger-size things you get at some Asian restaurants. Each was the size of a weiner with bun.

There was also a side saucer with some green stuff I didn’t recognize and didn’t care for, and a lime slice that got plopped into my glass of water, and a generous pile of sprouts, which I emptied into the soup.

The soup — the pho — was scrumptious. At first I thought it was too liquidy, but that’s because all the noodles were wadded together in the middle. When I forked the noodles free of the other noodles, there were noodles everywhere.

The noodles were thin and fine, but noodles don’t excite me. Mostly it’s the complicated, juicy meaty flavor of the broth that held my tongue’s attention. The flavor wasn’t very spicy, like Asian food sometimes is. Just delicious.

There were also chopped onions and shallots in the soup, and ample beef, not in chunks but in flakes, like what a deli would use to make a roast beef sandwich. About half the beef was brown, with some pleasantly fatty chunks. The other half, though, was pink.

Hmmm. When Google told me the name of the place meant “rare beef pho,” I’d assumed rare meant uncommon, but no, it means pink. Undercooked meat might kill me, I briefly thought, but I ate it and it tasted great and here I am writing about it, so no worries were warranted.

No idea why I’d ordered the steak with tendon, but it was a big mistake. Next time, just steak (same price). I’d never eaten tendons before, and couldn’t. They’re “a flexible but inelastic cord of strong fibrous collagen tissue attaching a muscle to a bone,” and it was like chewing tasty erasers. Tasted great, but it would’ve been like swallowing a three-knuckle glop of Wrigley’s gum.

The eggrolls were very hot, and very good. I’m enjoy eggrolls but have no expertise, and couldn’t explain any difference between these Vietnamese eggrolls and the Chinese and Thai eggrolls I’ve had, but they were big, which matters almost as much as yummy, which they also were.

They were unnecessary, though. I’d worried that the pho wouldn’t be enough to satisfy my appetite, but it would’ve. The restaurant wasn’t stingy with anything, so by the time I’d finished lunch there were twenty gumballs of chewed tendon piled on the saucer that had held the sprouts. I was sure full of food, though.

A last word, returning to the topic of the ambiance. While the decor at Phở Tái was more KFC than Hanoi, and nothing about the place really shouted ‘Vietnamese’, the employees sure did. Starting about midway through my meal, two unseen men’s voices came loudly from the kitchen, arguing in a language I’ll assume was authentic Vietnamese, so there’s your ambiance. It wasn’t angry shouting, though. The tone was more like they were arguing about football, AT AN ENTHUSIASTIC VOLUME.

As for Phở Thu Thủy, three times I tried and failed to eat there, and twice since today’s episode I’ve again been at the same bus stop and peered through their windows. There’s still no indication that they’re out of business, except the doors being locked. I hold no grudge, but if they’re ever unlocked, I’ll walk on by, because now I have a pho place. Unless something goes wrong at Phở Tái, I’ll be a loyal customer.

2/18/2025

Phở Tái
1521 SW 98th St, White Center
Food & drink: very good (but avoid the tendon)
Price: good
Service: good
Transit: #60, #128, #560, RapidRide #H
Verdict: YES

Cheap Seattle

itsdougholland.com
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