My 3 hours of meetings ran a bit late, I was starving, and wanted something to eat before heading back to the office. It was then that I recalled that Pho La Jolla was close by....and I hadn't been there in nearly half a decade. Some pho sounded good, so I decided to grab some lunch.
The place was empty when I arrived; though folks quickly came thru to pick-up take-out orders. The Hispanic guy working the front of house was really nice to the "regulars".....but quite, ahem, perfunctory to me. I was somewhat relieved to know it wasn't personal as he was the same to anyone who came in to eat that he didn't "know".
What I wanted to order was quite simple; well-done steak, flank, tendon, and tripe....except there was a problem; they don't serve tendon and tripe anymore. It's been replaced by meatballs. Ok, how about the bo kho….nope, that's off the menu now as well.
So, I finally settled for the Bun Bo Hue....that would be the "Vietnamese Spicy Beef Soup" on the menu; not the rather strange sounding (in a Vietnamese Restaurant) "Szechuan Style Beef Noodle Soup" (well, maybe not since there weren't any Vietnamese working on this day as my order was called back in Spanish to the kitchen).
The sprouts and company was pretty much what I expected; sparse, but fresh. The BBH arrived in a rather large bowl; I took a sip and holy ms-heebie-geebies Batman! Man, it was super salty; I ended up using the two slices of lime trying to temper the saltiness. I had expected doctored up pho (obviously no pork tones) broth, but this was kinda funny....basically slightly metallic tasting pho broth with chili paste and voila, Bun Bo Hue! No deep savory flavors from shrimp paste; no lemongrass tones....lots of onions though. I guess they tried to balance the scales by using a ton of cilantro and scallions.
The beef and there was plenty of brisket and well done steak in this was decent; quite beefy, no off flavors. The cha lua of the "ga" (chicken) variety was passable, except for being cold. Of course there was no pork hock. But man, that bun was over-cooked and really mushy.
I've had some mediocre bowls of Bun Bo Hue over the years; but this might have been the worse. And with a $11.75 price tag and unfriendly service. Add no tripe, tendon, bo kho, and who knows what else? I don't think I have any reason to return.
Pho La Jolla
3211 Holiday Court #102
La Jolla, CA 92037
:(
Posted by: kat | Friday, 26 October 2018 at 05:04 AM
I'm seeing why that place is empty.
Posted by: soo @ hungryones.com | Friday, 26 October 2018 at 06:33 AM
This was pretty bad Kat!
It becomes clear quite quickly Soo.
Posted by: Kirk | Friday, 26 October 2018 at 06:43 AM
And no blood cubes obviously. I don't think I've ever encountered a pho place where both front and back of the house were Hispanic.
Posted by: Junichi | Friday, 26 October 2018 at 09:34 AM
Yeah, I'm not sure that's how it always is Junichi. But in this case.....
Posted by: Kirk | Friday, 26 October 2018 at 09:40 AM
Pho La Jolla. The name says it all.
Posted by: caninecologne | Friday, 26 October 2018 at 02:52 PM
Lol CC......I had hoped for more....
Posted by: Kirk | Saturday, 27 October 2018 at 10:05 AM