What the PHO?!

The MAIN KEY THINGS to look for when it comes to PHO:
- It's ALL in the broth! The broth should be clear, not opaque and bits of meat should not be present initially when served to you. If you get the "tai" meat (uncooked until the boiled water hits it), obviously your broth will later have pieces of meat and become more opaque.
- ratio of meat to noodle should not be chinsy (Pho Binh in Houston is the freaking best in Texas. As a result, they can get away with little meat, because their broth takes them to a home run anyway.)

TIPS from a purest who used to eat pho 1-3 times a week and once went a month eating frozen homemade pho in college:
- If you want to REALLY test the quality of pho, you should try putting your sriracha in one of the little dishes (may have to request, otherwise should be with the big spoons on the table). If you HAVE to have it spicy, try adding jalapenos into your broth. The sriracha has many other ingredients that makes it difficult for most people to separate the flavor from the actual intended broth, whereas the flavor of jalapenos can easily be separated.
- When you become more advanced, you can add basil, the long jagged leaf (don't know english name), squeeze some lime juice, and ask for a side of thinly sliced onions (preferably red onion) in vinegar. You will take these red onions and eat a little with every bite.
- Proper Pho etiquette is to CONSTANTLY drink the broth throughout the eating experience. It makes me very sad when I see Americans with a big ass bowl of broth untouched b/c they were silly and decided to drink sriracha and then spend the majority of their meal blowing their nose instead of truly enjoying the pho broth.

Short film by Christina Tran: http://www.uarts.edu/a...

Let me know if you have any questions. Clearly Pho is something I hold very close to my heart. When people tell me they have never had it, I'm pretty sure my heart skips a beat. I almost had to break up with someone once when they told me they did not like pho.

San Francisco Recommendations

Delicious Meals

• Fifth Floor in Hotel Palomar - 1 Michelin star restaurant - best tasting menu I’ve ever had! amazing service, must go back to request drinks at the bar (they will make a drink with your liquor of choice)
• Ike's Place - amazing sandwiches - $12 for menage a trois sandwich on dutch crunch bread
• San Tung - dry fried chicken wings #1, handmade pork dumplings
• Katana-Ya - katsudon + ramen combo w/ green tea was $14 - known for best ramen in town
• Crepe o Chocolat - brandy chicken sandwich served on a toasted narrow baguette = DELICIOUS
• Burma SuperStar or B Star Cafe - tea leaf salad was featured on food network
• Roli Roti at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market - porchetta sandwich is soooo good
  

Desserts & Drinks

• Bi-Rite Creamery - tried the salted caramel, strawberry balsamic, coffee toffee, roasted banana, vanilla ice creams ($3.25 for small w/ 2 flavors)
• Ciao Bella Gelato (at Ferry Bldg Farmer's Market) - bourbon butter pecan, maple ginger snaps
• Genki crepes - crepe w/ nutella, lychee ice cream, strawberries
• Minamoto Kitchoan
• Beard Papa - chocolate cream puffs
• Golden Gate Bakery for egg tarts
• King’s Bakery - coconut buns recommended by Angell (50 cents each) - only worth it if you really like coconut buns, otherwise it's out of the way and kind of out of place (Chinese bakery in the middle of Latino area)
  
• Blue Bottle Coffee - first single drip coffee in SF
• 21st Amendment - watermelon beer

Other tips/useful information:

• $8.10 BART ticket from SFO to Downtown
• $20 for 3 day pass on Muni (bus, cable cars, some underground lines w/ red Muni logo)
• Good bathrooms near Union Square - Border's (top floor), Macy's (bottom floor food court)
• Union Square/Market St. - huge H&M on Powell (3 in Union Square area) & DSW
• Touristy (not recommended for a good meal, perse) - Boudin Cafe for clam chowder in bread bowl
  

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Other recommendations I have not yet confirmed, but will have to try next time:

Food & Desserts

• Thanh Long - roasted crab and garlic noodles
• Pizzeria Delfina
• R & G Lounge
• Benkyodo in Japantown for mochi
• Miette - old fashioned chocolate cake w/ marshmellow (have one in cupcake form)
• Sweetheart for bubble tea
• http://www.yelp.com/biz/sophies-crepes-san-francisco

Sights

• Visit Fort Point - BEAUTIFUL right under the Golden Gate bridge
• Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park
• Alcatraz – the audio tour is really cool, take ferry

Nightlife

• Fly Bar @Divisadero and like Fulton - Alyson’s friends own it, has very cool sake drinks - http://www.yelp.com/biz/fly-bar-san-francisco
• Amnesia Bar (Valencia)

Vancouver, BC, Canada

• Shanghai River (Richmond, BC) - xiao long bao (best soup dumplings I've had outside of Asia so far), shanghai noodles w/ beef (good), green onion pancake (OK) - 22 CAD for 4 people
• Guu w/ Garlic - Japanese izakaya - make reservations ahead of time! This was my second visit, but it is always packed! Everything I had is delicious, you cannot go wrong! The bill was 34 CAD for 4 people will puffy bellies at the end. For more information or the menu, go here: http://www.guu-izakaya.com/robson.html
  
• Dragon Ball Tea House - lychee black tea w/ pearls
• Kirin Restaurant - fancy dim sum - 70 CAD for 6 adults
  
• La Casa Gelato - 218 flavors served at all times w/ homemade waffle cones - http://lacasagelato.com/
• To try next time: sushi town, honey's doughnuts, dim sum at happy valley
  

Seattle

• Palace Kitchen - roast pork and chard ravioli, lamb meatballs
• Dahlia Bakery - eclair, brioche monkey bread w/ caramel sauce, cinnamon sugar beignets (served w/ mascarpone and fresh preserves to dip), fried egg sandwich w/ bacon, cheddar, and arugula, chocolate truffle cookie
• Noodle King - beef noodle soup (ask to make it spicy)
• Ambrosia - $2.25 for a massive black tea w/ tapioca
• Uwajimaya - Japanese grocery store w/ Puccha candy
  
• Mon Hei Bakery - pineapple custard cakes
• Beard Papa - creme puffs
• O'Asian - fancy dim sum
• Dilletante Mocha Cafe
• Fare Start "is a culinary job training and placement program for homeless and disadvantaged individuals." I tried the main entrée: Linguini with Roasted Tomato, house made “Thundering Hooves” beef ragu, green garlic, pecorino
• Gordon Biersch - Cajun Pasta: Andouille sausage, grilled chicken, shrimp, and Louisiana spices with fettuccine in a tomato cream sauce and a strawberry lemonade made w/ puree
  

Las Vegas

• Hash House A Go Go - sage chicken eggs benedict (was on man vs. food and it will change your life) & chicken and waffles (made with bacon inside the waffles)

• Jean Philippe Patisserie (in Aria) - try the Imperial (creme brulee and mousse enshelled in chocolate)
  

Houston Asian Food

1. Pho Binh (my fave pho place)
2. Tan Tan Restaurant (Ranchester Blvd. & Bellaire) - seafood hot pot, crispy egg noodles
   
3. Cafe 101 - best bubble tea in Houston IMO, chicken nuggets, lychee martini
4. Tay Do - jellyfish salad
5. Com Tam Kieu Giang in HK4 - broken rice w/ gal bi
6. Kim Son (fountain lake location) - dim sum or Vietnamese dinner
   
7. Thai Spice
   
8. Mai's Restaurant - ca kho to (salty catfish w/rice), bo luc lac
9. Hot Pot City - all kinds of hot pot
   

Dallas Eats

1. Victor Tangos - chicken & waffles, pork belly w/ soft boiled egg, buffalo carpaccio, butternut squash ravioli, passion fruit gimlet
   
2. Chic from Barcelona - roasted chicken, white truffle oil carpaccio, rice, ratatouille, paella
   
3. La Duni Latin Kitchen - you MUST go for desserts and coffee, not a big fan of the other foods - Cuatros Leches cake (yes, FOUR milks!), venezulan rum cake, cuban espresso
4. Pinkberry - pomegranate and original tart swirl w/ fruity pebbles, mini yogurt chips, dark chocolate crisps, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and mochi
5. Yogurtland - my favorite self-serve froyo from CA - the only one in Texas is in Carrollton but worth the drive - http://www.yelp.com/biz/yogurtland-carrollton
   
6. Fat Straws - iced blueberry cheesecake tea w/ half and half, honey, tapioca pearls OR iced passionfruit jasmine w/ lychee jelly and mango stars
7. Bistro B - Vietnamese - chicken w/ tomato rice, broken rice dish w/ korean BBQ, egg rolls
8. La Me Little Market - $2 Vietnamese sandwiches (pate thit) and spicy beef noodle soup
9. Korean BBQ in K-town (lots of good ones, look on yelp)
10. Sushiyama - fresh sushi at pretty good prices according to ZY (I haven't been in a while but I used to go for $1 sushi nights and it was very fresh)
    
11. Huong Ly - Vietnamese 7 courses of beef
12. Asian Mint - Thai - green tea ice cream cake
13. Grimaldi's pizza from NYC
14. Breadwinners - green chile mac & cheese, beef tenderloin salad
15. Grand Lux Cafe - Sunday Night pasta, strawberry lemonade