Turkob and I setup an event to track down the best pho in chicago. I thought it would make a lot of sense to post the findings on this forum. Here is the link to the event post, in case that is of any value as well.
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=33422&p=397241#p397241Round one (of 3) complete. Had a group of 6 on this round, and a great time! As mentioned, we ended up hitting 3 spots tonight.
Setting off on this adventure, I personally had no solid plan in mind. No rating system, no cheat sheets. Each participant is more than welcome to rate, rank or declare a winner, but as of now I'm just going to follow the title of the thread and call it an adventure. Having had conversations with many people about great pho in other cities, and in vietnam, but simple "ok" or "pretty good" in chicago, my only real objective was to gather a healthy sample of what Chicago has to offer in the way of pho, and come to a conclusion one way or another on one question:
is there GREAT pho in chicago?First stop was pho 777. There we got a couple appetizers. Hen Xuc Banh Da (baby clams with sesame crispy crackers), and Bo La Lot (betel leaf wrapped beef rolls). Then for pho we tried the Pho Dac Biet - Special 777, and a Pho Kim Chi. Sadly the dishes at 777 ranged from OK to pretty bland. The clams with sesame cracker was quite plain. Tasted like some canned clams with a light fish sauce and a lot of black pepper. The Bo La Lot was flavorful and I liked the betel leaves, but the meat had a strange texture and seemed to ooze water when bitten. The best guess at the table was that it must have been prepared ahead of time then frozen. The Pho Dac Biet was somewhere on the OK spectrum. I'd have settled for it if it was the only meal of the night, but knowing that there were a few more stops ahead of us, I didn't bother finishing it. The noodles were well cooked, and the broth clear and bland. It definitely needed fish sauce and some spicing up, but still felt quite thin and lacked the beefy savory flavor i'd have liked.
I'm sure that a pho can be light and healthy tasting, but this one was just thin and plain with very little flavoring at all. The kim chi pho was even more bland. Before we dumped the kim chi in the pho, it was quite literally water with the noodles thrown in. Is there something i'm missing here? I'm still not sure that i fully understand these types seemingly boring bland of pho and why so many restaurants with pho in the name bother to serve them? Anyhow... Here are the pics.
Hen Xuc Banh Da
Bo La Lot
Pho Dac Biet
Fresh Veggies that came with the Pho, were fresh and crisp.
Kim chi Pho
Next up was Le's Pho. We picked it wanting to throw a lesser talked about one into the mix. I had from time to time walked passed this on the way to tai nam grocery and I have for a time had my eye on it. It's always full with a mostly, if not entirely Vietnamese clientele. Upon walking in, we were greeted with a strong, pleasant smell and the bowls of soup on the tables looked very promising. Thick dark steamy broths. The extremely friendly staff recommended a couple of soups for us and we were really glad they did. We ended up getting a Bun Bo Hue, another Dac Biet Pho for a basis of comparison, and the highlight of the visit, a Bun Mam, in english simply called "Rice Noodle Soup southern style of processed fish", it had fish, pork belly, and eggplant. I thought both the Pho and the Bun Mam really shined. Nice thick and savory broths, lots of perfectly cooked meats. One item I've never had served with a Vietnamese soup which was given along with the sprouts and herbs were the banana blossom leaves. It added a really nice texture to the rest of the offerings. The bun bo hue was good, but i'm not an expert and the consensus among the table was that it was good, not great, and they've had better. I, of course like just about everything spicy a bit spicier.
Bun Bo Hue
Bun Mam
Pho Dac Biet
Side veggies with banana blossom leaves. Also included were 2 other dishes, this one with mint, one with the culantro, and the other with basil, each complimenting a different dish.
Final Stop of the night was Pho Lily. Sadly this was a complete miss. We got a few appetizers and a bowl of the Pho Dac Biet. The broth did not even resemble pho, it was not savory in the least, and had way too much cinnamon and nothing much else. It was starchy as if the noodles were stewing for a while. The noodles also mushy, so i'm assuming this was the case. Nothing much else was worth the trip, the spring rolls being very oily, and the fried tofu skin wrapped shrimp cakes also greasy, over-fried, too crispy and under-stuffed. The picture on the menu showed a thick juicy shrimp cake, however I was not sure there was even a shrimp cake in there, except for a faint fishy flavor.
Spring Rolls
Tofu skin wrapped shrimp cakes.
Dac Pho Biet
A bad end to the night, but all the more encouragement for us to find some better ones tomorrow!
I'm really glad to have found Le's Pho, probably the best Vietnamese food I've had in Chicago and I really look forward to trying more of the menu! All in all it was a really fun time and i'm glad we're doing this. Hope more can join in on the pho hunt tomorrow or wednesday. Wednesday is shaping up nicely!
Pho 777
1065 W Argyle St
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 561-9909
Le’s pho
4925 N Broadway
Ste G
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 784-8723
Pho Lily
5100 N Broadway Ave
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 754-8057
Last edited by
laikom on December 6th, 2011, 5:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.
-Mark Twain