There’s nothing better than a night out with friends—especially when they pick the restaurant and all you do is show up and have fun.
What I love about Paige and Tricia is that they always suggest a place I’d probably never choose on my own. This time it was Pho Viet on Washington Road.
Brenda, Mimi and Angela joined us too. As soon as we gathered around the table inside Pho Viet’s spacious dining area—sleek and modern with its black and cream walls, light wood accents, silver chairs, and brightly lit rainbow chandeliers—we started talking about kids, husbands and, of course, food.
Pho Viet’s menu is a book—a fat binder of laminated black and white pages, highlighted with a few colorful photos of dishes. It features appetizers like eggrolls, wings and crab Rangoon, as well as banh mi sandwiches—fillings flavored with Asian spices on French bread. The list of pho noodle soups takes up two entire pages alone, describing bowls topped with everything from tendon and tripe (stomach) to chicken, steak or seafood.
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Other entrée dishes include meats served with rice, dipping sauces and other accompaniments such as fresh sliced tomatoes and cucumbers or an over-easy egg. Fried rice dishes are available on a plate or in a pot; fried rice in a pot includes all the ingredients steamed together instead of being stir-fried together in a wok for typical fried rice. There are five stir fry options: Mongolian stir fry, egg or flat noodle stir fries, vegetable stir fry, sauteed lemongrass chili stir fries, and curry stir fries. For vegetarians, there’s an entire page devoted to appetizers and entrees. And fancy beverages include everything from Vietnamese salted lemonade or coconut juice to milk tea or iced coffee with condensed milk.
It was a lot to take in. Amid our chatter, the waitress had to give us a few rounds to order. Tricia’s house special banh mi came first. It was prettily displayed in basket with red gingham paper, filled with three different types of sliced pork—but no pate, which she was hoping for—as well as herbs, pickled and fresh vegetables.
I’d chosen an appetizer and an entrée, and my spring rolls arrived soon after. I liked how they were displayed so you could see both sides of the roll—one green with the fresh shredded lettuce and the other with the fat curls of pink and white shrimp. It came with a dish of the classic dipping sauce, flavored with peanut butter and a little sweet and savory with the addition of hoisin, as well as a dish of another sauce, which was acidic—perhaps due to rice vinegar?—but also sweet and spicy.
I’d had a hard time deciding what to order as my entrée. Our waitress quickly offered her opinion based on my possible options: She liked the salt and pepper shrimp better than the beef stew, but the pork over the shrimp. And she preferred the charbroiled pork chops over the grilled pork.
I still remember the aroma of the pork broiled in a sweet and savory sauce as she set the platter down. It was served with a small scoop of rice, sliced fresh cucumber and tomato, pickled carrots and onions, and a dipping sauce similar to what came with the spring rolls. The first bite was almost like Chinese char siu: The pork had been deeply marinated in soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, garlic, lemongrass and more, and the thin slices were full of flavor, with a perfect match of sweetness and saltiness. With the fresh vegetables and rice, it was a great light meal that became a grand meal with the addition of my appetizer.
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The rest of our group enjoyed some of the vermicelli rice dishes, one with grilled pork and the other with sausage, shrimp and pork, both served with crisp eggrolls, and the veggie stir fry combo, which was packed with beef, chicken and shrimp.
We ate heartily even as we dished on our lives and filled each other in. As we left, Paige said, “We should do this again.” And Mimi added, “We could start a supper club!” With good food, great portions, and a quiet, relaxing atmosphere, Pho Viet made the perfect beginning.
Make Your Reservation
Pho Viet
3031 Washington Rd.
www.facebook.com/phovietaugusta
Entrée cost: $6 to $15
Danielle Wong Moores is a local freelance writer who’ll never turn down a shrimp cocktail, sushi or cheese dip. Her greatest food influences are her mom and writers MFK Fisher and Amanda Hesser. Her Dine and Dish column runs the second and fourth Fridays in The Augusta Press.
