The Best Pho in Town

I will eat pho anytime and anywhere. From a street cart in Hanoi to 24-hour pho shops in Garden Grove, California, to the chandelier-clad dining rooms of Shangri-La hotels. It is my favorite soup I never had the privileged of eating as a child. There is a pho noodle shop here in Grand Rapids, however, my wife would never "torture" herself with the "aroma" of dried fish and asian spices which permeates from the Asian grocery store next door. So that's out.

But there is a compromise and it's a good one. A trip to Chicago always starts or ends (or both) with a bowl of pho at Big Bowl restaurant. The Vietnamese Chicken Soup, as the menu states, is a fragrant and rather light soup with hints of ginger, chiles and Asian basil. It's refreshing and spicy at the same time. Pho beads will appear on my bald head right after the first bite of red chile. Let's just say that terry cloth napkins would work a lot better.

I've never made pho from scratch. It's a challenge I still wish to complete. In the meantime, Big Bowl's pho should suffice.