Vietnamese food delights

I've been on a major Vietnamese noodle soup and spring roll kick lately. I ate tons of noodle soup in May when I was having a hard time eating solids. Vietnamese chicken noodle soup is perfect for that, I can eat a few noodles and then just drink the broth.

Hubby turned me on to Vietnamese food about 4 or 5 years ago. You really have to be adventurous to randomly try Vietnamese food I think. More than once my chicken noodle soup has contained skin & other mystery parts. I told Hubby last time that it's a good thing I'm from the country, I'm used to people using the skin & fat etc to flavor the broth. Plus when you order beef, several selections list "soft tendon" or "tripe". Hubby gets something that's good, but looks way too much like menudo for my tastes.

Anyways... I was perusing the stack of take out menus at my new office and spotted a card for Pho' Be' Vietnamese Noodle House. Cool! I'm always on the look out for a new Vietnamese place. So I headed that way on my first day, and I've been back 3 or 4 times since. I have a feeling I'm going to become a frequent customer - I recently looked up the calorie content of spring rolls and they're only about 160 calories. That's 320 for a full meal - sure beats the hell out of McDonalds! Plus, this place has the best spring rolls in this area I think. They are super super fresh and they're made with grilled chicken instead of pork. Most places I've been to make spring rolls with shrimp and thinly sliced pork - this place uses grilled chicken which gives it a lot more flavor I think.

Oh and the other plus about Vietnamese restaurants is I get to have my favorite iced coffee - cafe' sua da. They bring you a high ball glass filled about halfway with condensed milk, and on top of that is a filter cup with coffee dripping into the glass below. With that they bring you a tall glass full of ice. Once all of the coffee drips through you stir/mix the coffee & condensed milk and then pour it over the ice. Yum!

I'm somewhat of a novelty to the waiters I think. They don't know what to make of me. When they come to take my order, I normally order iced coffee "cafe sua da" said just like that, with both English and Vietnamese. The waiters in the last three restaurants have chuckled at me when I've said it. Just to make sure, I asked the waiter in the second restaurant if I was pronouncing it right. He laughed again and yes I was right. I think they just don't expect the blonde soccer mom to be ordering cafe sua da and spring rolls without looking at the menu.

Wow - all this talk about spring rolls and coffee really has me craving it now. I'm heading out to my soon to be regular table at Pho' Be'...