Nam revisited

My wife and older daughter left me tonight.  To, uh, go visit a

couple of colleges in Massachusetts this weekend.  Hannah is a

rising senior, and now is the time to do such a thing.  Dad has to

work on Saturday, so Mom is bringing older daughter to

New England to College Town, USA.  With younger daughter

at a friend's house for pizza tonight, I took the rare opportunity

to go where I, and only I, wanted to have dinner this evening.

I've eaten there half a dozen times, and have been blown away

every time I've gone. The place, Pho 99, a super authentic

Vietnamese restaurant, is in Franklin Park, about a half hour north

of us, and a more recent neighbor of our original honeymoon

dwelling,  this lower left condo unit in Society Hill II. 

 

So many good times were had at the condo.  Life was as simple

then as it could and would ever be.  Someone shoveled the walk

when it  snowed, someone cut the grass when it growed.  I get very

nostalgic and misty when I cruise by every so often.  Surprised?

Inside Pho 99, I asked to sit facing outside, and no sooner did the

menus appear, I made it clear that I needed no more time. 

Vietnamese Spring Rolls were first, with a ton of lettuce, cilantro

sprigs, sweet and fishy dipping sauce, and a trio of table-side

condiments: Hoisin, Sriracha, and the chile-garlic stuff on the left

whose name completely escapes me at the moment.

 

I put the roll in the fish sauce to saturate, then drag it through all

three condiments.  Take a bite, then shove a leaf of lettuce and

cilantro sprig in my mouth and chew, mixing all of the flavors and

textures slowly.  The lettuce and cilantro provide a cooling

effect and the result is pure heaven.    

Next came the Shrimp and Vermicelli Spring Rolls.  Rolled in the

middle of these were scallions and mint sprigs, which again provided

such a refreshing element to every bite.  I put some chile sauce and

leftover fish sauce (never wasting anything, ever....one of my finest

traits) into the peanut dipping-sauce.  What a great array of flavors!

Literally two minutes after these arrived, and I put my phone down

from photographing this amazing food and sending the pics to my 

travelling girls, this image below appeared via text message.  Was

this their comeback to my first two courses?  I felt so sorry for

 them that they were not as fortunate as I was.  No Vietnamese

restaurants on I-95 in Connecticut?     

The item for which this pilgrimage was made, is pictured

below.  Pho,  pronounced "fuh", is my one absolute favorite

Asian dish. And Asia is a big frickin place.  With lots of food.

Sam Le is the proprietor of Pho 99 and a real good guy.  I've had

the pleasure of talking with him on several occasions, and it's

immediately clear to me that he is passionate about his heritage

and cuisine, but at the same time cautious and somewhat 

worried about the direction of the business as he looks forward.

New Jersey is a tough place to live, pay rent, and pay taxes.

He's got a small place in Sarasota and I think when his kids get 

out of college, he and his wife may make a new go of it down

there, where property taxes and the cost of living are considerably

less.  Until then, Sam, please don't change a thing.  Some day, 

I'm gonna get my girls here and they'll be hooked too!