897 Buford Hwy # 105
Chamblee, GA 30341-3667.
Who the Pho is Bac’?
Many years ago we were going to eat at Penang, a Malaysian restaurant, and it happened to be closed. We looked around a saw a new restaurant next door, Pho Bac. We entered to see the menu and were greeted with screams and cheers. Apparently we were one of the first costumers. It would have been rude not to eat there so we tried the pho and were enchanted.
Pho, pronounced fuhh, is a traditional Vietnamese noodle soup. It has a cilantro base and comes standard with long rice noodles. Then, protein additions range from fatty brisket to tripe to cow innards. Pho is always served with raw bean sprouts and assorted greens including mint and cilantro, as well as a lime to squeeze into the soup. Pho Bac is large in comparison to the other pho joints, which tend to have ten tables maximum. Not only does Pho Bac make one of the best phos in town, but it is served in enormous portions. An extra large soup puts you back less than eight dollars and can easily feed two people. Small and medium are about six dollars and seven dollars respectively.
NOTE: Pho is not for everyone. The strong cilantro taste can be overpowering to the traditional American palate. Many typical Vietnamese foods contain cilantro, so be careful if you dislike the spice.
Pho Bac has other foods including rics dishes and vermicelli, but as the name of the restaurant proposes and as a simple glance at the diners reveals, pho is the main attraction. A nice treat to finish off a hot meal or accompany it is an ice chilled or smoothie bubble tea. This is a fruit drink with tapioca pearls resting at the bottom of the cup waiting to be drunk through an oddly thick straw. What are tapioca pearls? Their taste and consistency is inexplicable, but they are little black (and now multicolored too) gummy like balls double the size of a pencil eraser.
What to get:
Pho with any of the many proteins (my favorite is the fatty brisket and rare tripe combination)
Bubble tea (taro and honeydew are well liked, but all flavors must be good)
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