Soup by any name, as long as it’s hot

Last night I had my first Vietnamese food in about two months. Much thanks goes to the SVSA for organizing Phở Night at Phở Vĩ Hòa.

I ordered the usual: phở gà and sữa đậu nành (soybean milk). I wanted to try their cơm sườn (rice with pork chops and skin), actually, but after tasting Phở Quyền II’s pedestrian version of the dish, I just wanted to play it safe and order the dish I knew they cooked well.

The waitress came out and called it “chicken noodle soup” as they placed the bowl in front of me. That’s what it is – a Vietnamese rice noodle soup with chicken – but I thought it funny that, even though everyone there knew what phở is, she still translated the name into English. After I added in all the necessary condiments – lime, Hoisin sauce, and black pepper – I had to take my glasses off, because the phở was billowing steam and fogging up my glasses. That’s the sign of a good bowl of phở.

We’re apparently having Phở Night every quarter, and everyone at Stanford is invited. In the meantime, anyone up for some Lee★s Sandwiches?