Stop into Pho Hoa on any given weekend and you’ll be greeted by an unmistakable slurping sound. It’s the sound of hungry diners-a spoon in their left hand and chopsticks in their right-drinking in the rich beef broth and slippery rice noodles of the eatery’s only dish: pho.
If you don’t know what pho is, then you probably haven’t been eating in Uptown’s Vietnamese restaurants recently. The beef noodle soup has become a featured item on most menus, influenced no doubt by the success of this clean 3-year-old storefront, which is actually the Chicago link in a worldwide Pho Hoa (pronounced Fuh-Hwa) chain.
In a city of so many eclectic, all-inclusive menus, it’s refreshing to see one that courageously offers only one main dishalbeit with 17 variations.
The fun, attractive menu breaks the selections into four categories: “For the Beginners,” “A Little Bit of Fat?,” “The Adventurer’s Choice” and “The Fortifying Combos.” The soup groups differ only in the cuts of meat added to the dish, which include eye of round steak, soft tendon, meatballs, fat brisket, flank steak, skirt steak and tripeall others are various combinations thereof.
Minutes after being seated in the no-frills, 20-table dining room, a waitperson arrives with a pot of hot tea and glasses of water. And about 10 minutes after making a selection, diners are presented with a large steaming bowl of fragrant beef consomme, accented with fresh, chopped cilantro and green and white onions. Al dente, linguini-size rice noodles anchor the bottom of the dish while thin, flavorful cuts of meat float on top.
Though this tasty light-bodied broth (featuring “seven secret spices,” including cinnamon) is fine on its own, the proper way to eat it is with condiments. Each bowl of pho comes with a platter of sliced jalapeno peppers, lime wedges, fresh branches of mint basil and crisp bean sprouts. Diners also are given a small (meat) dipping dish to mix chili, hoisin and fish sauces on the side. We found it easier to squeeze and shake these sauces directly into the soup and onto the meat.
Handfuls of bean sprouts and basil leaves add wonderful tastes and textures to the soup, but the unpredictable jalapenos should be nibbled first, as they can easily turn the broth into a caustic brew.
We’ve tried many of the meat combinations (including the unspectacular non-specialty, chicken pho), but found the rich No. 15 with all the cuts except meatballs, and the simple No. 1 with just the eye of round cuts, to be our favorites.
Prices for these meals-in-a-bowl (the small size is plenty, even for hungry adults) are very reasonable and the same regardless of meat choices: small, $3.50; large, $4.25. Children’s size costs $2.50.
For dessert, Pho Hoa features various combinations of sweet beans and coconut milk served over shaved ice ($1.50). Another combines strips of green jelly and tapioca in coconut milk ($1.50).
The drink menu features the strong and satisfying Vietnamese iced coffee for $1.75, but also thick and frosty soursop and durian shakes ($1.95), a supersweet club soda mixed with condensed milk and egg yolk ($1.95) and the thirst-quenching but mildly unpleasant salty plum and salty lemon drinks ($1.50).
Servers are fairly prompt and friendly but harried. If you have a midmeal request, you’ll have to flag someone down with a large gesture.
We’ve tried many beef-noodle soups in the area, but for consistency, quality and freshness, Pho Hoa remains the best little pho house in Uptown.
———-
Pho Hoa
(three forks)
4925 N. Broadway, 773-784-8723
Hours: 8 a.m.-9 p.m. daily
Credit: None
RATINGS KEY: 4 forks: Top of the class 3 forks: Better than most 2 forks: Very good fare 1 fork: Middle of the road
