Revisits: Pho Sao Bien and Pho Hiep and Grill Linda Vista

I'm not quite sure what's going on this year. It used to be that we'd have a couple of stray days a year where we wished we had A/C. But this year, it seems like we're having a couple of decades worth of stray days run up together. Not necessarily hot, but kinda sticky too. When I think about it, Hawaii's much worse, but I guess my years on the mainland has made me a wuss.......whatever, I'm just hanging on, stewing in my juices, waiting for the weather to break. Here's a couple of revisits for hump day:

Pho Sao Bien:

I've always enjoyed Pho Sao Bien, for a quick bite. But on my last couple of visits, the food seemed to have slipped a bit. So on a recent visit, I decided to remove that camera from my pocket and document. On my last visit, a couple months back, when the weather was still nice a cool, I ordered some Pho, which was way too salty, with over-cooked noodles. No Pho for us on this visit thanks to the humidity. (I believe that this is where Ed from Yuma comes in telling me how hot it is there....something like "110 degrees in the shade"......) 

We started with an old favorite, the Cha Gio($6.25). 

  

The egg rolls at Pho Sao Bin has always been on the pricey side, but were usually very tasty, huge, and made with the right type of wrapper. I dunno what happened, but instead of crisp, these were hard, really hard, and not very pleasant to eat. The filling tasted a bit bland, and the Nuoc Mam Cham tasted watered down.

The Missus wanted something cool and light and ordered the Bun Tom Nuong (Rice Vermicelli with Grilled Shrimp - $6.95):

 

The Bun was mushy, and like the Cha Gio the Nuoc Mam Cham tasted watered down and weak. There were no herbs, just a chopped lettuce. The shrimp were on the greasy side, gummy, and low on the flavor scale.

I ordered the Com Bi Cha Thit Nuong ($6.95):

 

This is the combination rice plate with the steamed egg (Cha), shredded pork (Bi), and charbroiled pork (Thit Nuong). And since Pho Sao Bien is of the Pho Hoa Huong family tree, the pork is colored bright red,sort of like tocino. Unfortunately, it was as tough, and hard as tocino. The flavor was very mild as well. The steamed egg was somewhat mushy and tasteless. The Bi was dry, but had a decent flavor, and was the best thing on the plate....other than the rice, which was satisfactorily fragrant.

Overall, a fairly disappointing meal. I hope it was just an off day, but the quality of the ingredients seem to have taken a turn.....

Pho Sao Bien Vietnamese Restaurant
1958 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

Pho Hiep & Grill - Linda Vista:

For some reason, I keep calling this place Pho Hoa Hiep. Old habits die hard I guess. Even though Cathy has done an updated post, I still think when someone mentions Pho Hiep and Grill, they are referring to the Chula Vista location. My bad.........   

Every so often, I enjoy eating at Pho Hiep just to check out the demographics. Because of the location, tucked away from Linda Vista Road, you would probably have to know it's there..... So over the years it's been interesting to see an almost all Vietnamese clientle, slowly evolve into a nice melting pot. Two years ago I noted a shift in demographics, and on this visit it looks to still be going strong. "Butt crack guys" (you know, plumbers, contruction workers, etc) sitting on one table, a group of  Hispanic dudes on another, a Caucasian Family here, a Filipino Family there. It's really nice to see....

Oh, and my combination Com Tam wasn't bad either!

  

The only weak point was the steamed egg (Cha) which was nice and moist, but very bland. Also, even though the menu said "Com Tam" this was jasmine rice. But like I always said, whenever you get Com Tam Dac Biet, with the variety of items, it's almost impossible to have everything done to perfection. Strangely, I enjoyed the charbroiled chicken the best, though the Missus poached all the shrimp, so I'm guessing it was pretty good as well. This dish is called the Com Tam Hiep, and is fairly pricey at $9.95, but it sure did fill me up.

Pho Hiep & Grill
6947 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

The other evening, the Missus & I had the pleasure of having a wonderful, gut-busting meal with some of my favorite folks. There were lots of laughs and enough food to feed the entire neighborhood....several times over! As if to crown off the evening, here's the sunset from YY & MrQ's backyard:

 

I'm sure the fires up North have something to do with this, but it sure was beautiful.........

Comments

[nhbilly]

I think I'm going to need a plate of com tam soon.

[Judy @ TinkerWithFood]

I second that comment. There's this place in Westminster that I love called Com Tam Thuan Kieu on Brookhurst... Have you been??? The biggest plate of goodies ever!

[Kirk]

Hi Billy - I hope you get your fix!

Hi Judy - No, haven't been there. I'll need to add that to my list!

[Janfrederick]

20 years ago, I used to get funny looks from the staff when this crazy white guy would come in for Pho. Now I just get a menu and a hovering waiter. ;)

[Kirk]

Hey Jan - Take comfort in the fact that you were way ahead of your time!!! ;o)

[Lynnea]

Nice post! And thanks for that beautiful photo!

[nhbilly]

I would have to agree with Judy, its alot of food but I don't think the quality is up to par.

[Kirk]

Hi Lynnea - Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the photo!

Hi Billy - THanks for the heads up.