nerd’s eye view

Pho Bac/Pho Viet

June 3, 2006 – 8:08 am | by nerd's eye view

This week we made something of a scavenger hunt out of The Jackson Street Crawl.

I talked to my friend M. who is married to T. from Vietnam and he says this: Pho Bac makes the best deep fried spring rolls. We’re going to meet there.

Where’s Pho Bac? It’s on Jackson, of course. It’s NOT the Pho Bac in the pink house, it’s the Pho Bac with parking just west of the pink Pho Bac. The pink Pho Bac is on the funny little traffic island at, what, Boren and Jackson? That intersection where Rainier and Jackson and 14th all run together. This one is west of there, on the north side of Jackson. Honestly, it might not even be called Pho Bac. I dare you to find us. We WON’T be at the pink Pho Bac, they have NO vegetarian choices.

I also made no mention of date, but our new friends R/B found us anyway and we were delighted they could join us.

It wasn’t called Pho Bac, at least the sign over the door did not say Pho Bac, it said Pho Viet. Which doesn’t explain why the water glasses and the bowls said Pho Bac. Pho Viet/Pho Bac is weird and shiny inside with stainless steel tables and red chairs. It’s vaguely like a 50s diner where you think you’ll be ordering a shake, if it’s mid-day or late late at night, or maybe a big old burger and a mountain of fries. No such thing was on the menu, it was your standard Vietnamese fare of noodles or rice and some kind of meat. I hadn’t been there in a while and they’ve clearly changed hands since my last visit because the veggie options were narrowed down to almost nothing.

The spring rolls that were so recommended by M. were, well, odd. I’m not much of a meat eater and I made the mistake of ordering my Bun (bowl o’ noodles with stuff) with the aforementioned spring rolls, and I just didn’t care for them. They weren’t bad – and I’ve had inedible in my adventures in the International District – but I just didn’t like them so well. J’s grilled shrimp was yummy, N gave the pork a “not as good as that other place”, K soldiered through the mixed animal parts in an admirable manner but there was one piece of something or other floating around in there that even he didn’t have the strength for. “I need a glass of vodka or something to wash it down with,” he said. B was stuck with rather plain veggie pho. We tried R’s fish cakes, I found them dense and rubbery. The tofu rolls were fine, nothing to write home about.

Pho Bac/Pho Viet had customers coming and going throughout the evening. The service is just fine, but the food is fairly mediocre. It’s cheap, 11 dollars a head for a table of seven with a handful of beers and some appetizers, including tax and tip. Everything was fresh, but with standard fare and a minimal menu, I’m not sure it warrants another visit.

Pho Bac is at – well, you have the instructions. Try to find it.