It's pho-licious
For reasons still unknown to me, I ate five bowls of pho in the last 10 days. I guess you can say I had a craving.I visited Pho Ha (both the Pomona location on Indian Hill and Holt and the Rancho location on Foothill and Hellman), #1 Pho Noodle and Grill on Foothill and Rochester in Rancho, Pho Vi on Thomas and 3rd in Pomona and Saigon Chinese and Vietnamese on Foothill near Etiwanda in Rancho.
And the winner for best pho in the last 10 days goes to ... Pho Ha. Both locations are good but the Rancho site wins by a hair for wonderful people-watching opportunities and proximity to a frozen yogurt joint.
I asked the Pho Ha owner what the difference is between the two restaurants. She said customers in Rancho eat more.
Pho Ha, at the Chuck E. Cheese center, is always brimming with people. During the lunch hour, the people slurping up the Vietnamese noodles are a diverse group of working class families, hospital workers, suit types, etc. When I ate a 9 p.m. dinner last week, there were men behind me who spoke a combination of Vietnamese and English, the two ladies next to me gossiped in Spanish and the family in front of me spoke Mandarin. This isn't your grandmother's Cucamonga, that's for sure.
When I eat pho, I'm usually a rare steak kinda gal. If I'm eating with someone who's not squeamish, I'll get brisket and tripe. Recently, I've been getting the vegetarian pho, which at Pho Ha, is a big salad in soup. In addition to the rice noodles, there's tofu, napa cabbage, onion, carrot, baby corn, green onion, cilantro and shitake mushrooms. If you include all the fixings, there's also basil, bean sprouts, jalapenos and if you're lucky, green leaf lettuce.
All the Inland Valley pho places I've tried are good but Pho Ha and Pho Vi are the only two I recommend with no reservations. Remember, pronounce it "fuh" not "foe."
Other restaurants I've tried before but not in the last 10 days: Pho Century in Upland; Pho Express and Pho Hoa Pasteur in Pomona; and Pho 2007 in Chino Hills.
Restaurants I've never tried before: Pho Saigon on Base Line and Carnelian in Rancho; California Noodle and Grill in Chino; Pho Nguyen in Fontana and Pho Vietrica in Ontario.
Am I forgetting any?
Photo courtesy of Marc Campos
Pho-shizzle on Pho Ha Wendy! (Couldn't resist. I guess I should have said Fuh-shizzle but that would lose something in the translation...)
And add a Japanese-American, Sri Lankan-American, Mexican-American, Iranian-American and yes, even a couple of people born and raised in Orange County, USA who frequent the Pho Ha.
I'm just waiting for winter to come before heading back to Pho Ha. When it is cold and raining, the pho tastes even better!
Hey your starting to sound like that David Allen guy in that case keep up the good work.
There's one more Pho place in the area you missed. Pho Nguyen over in Foncho, next to Up-In-Smoke BBQ. :)
Their Pho is as good as Pho Ha's but I would still probably rate Pho Ha better simply because they have a menu with more items, and a Thai Iced Tea that isn't served in such a small glass.
Hi Wendy,
I tried #1 Pho Noodle earlier this summer. I must admit it was a first for eating Pho noodles.
I think I must have also been the entertainment.
The food was great! However they only gave me some chopsticks and a small soup spoon. (As in the picture)
I looked around and other diners had the same utensils. For us Pho newbies, what is the proper way to handle them there noodles. Lunch sure lasts along time tackling it without a fork.
With five bowls of Pho in a week, you must have it down. Can you explain Pho eating etiquette?
Well, Give me, I was raised using chopsticks so it's no feat to slurp down five bowls of pho using them. The great thing about eating pho (or ramen in Japanese restaurants) is there's no etiquette. Make all the noises you want ... you can even pick up the bowl and drink out of it. Anything goes!
I like picking up the noodles with my chopsticks and putting it in the spoon. But by all means, ask for a fork. They have them and would be happy to give you one. Don't be discouraged if you can't master the chopsticks. Pho is a slippery creature. You might want to practice your skills on something easier at first like sushi. Good luck.
If you want to use chopsticks (but have issues with them), take a rubber band and wrap it around one end.
Now you have tongs. (And more important, you can eat!) When I was young, this is how I learned. Kind of like training wheels I guess...
5 bowls in 10 days makes you a certified pho-natic!
All of these restaurants can be found in our Pho Restaurant Directory:
http://www.phofever.com/restaurants/california.php?area=909
Thanks for sharing your Web site, phofever. Who would have thought there'd be 2,000 pho restaurants and in North Dakota!