Pho 84
354 17th St., Oakland
PHOto: yelp.com
The first time I went to this place, I had a lot of firsts. First time I had pho, or probably even Vietnamese food. Also one of the first times I went out to dinner with bbg and his folks. (Bonus info: bbg likes to call it “pho eighty pho” – haha, what a clever guy.) First time I ventured out to uptown Oakland after dark. Needless to say, this place has a bit of special meaning for me.
Make your way through the area’s maze of one way streets and you’ll stumble upon this little, but popular mom and pop pho place. It’s right next to the wig place, so you can’t miss it. I’m told (by the ever knowledgeable bbg) that pho places are often named pho with a number to signify the year they opened. Looks like this place opened about 24 years ago.
The place is small and usually packed. They just remodeled the joint, and I don’t really remember what it used to look like, but I hear it’s quite nicer. There are paintings of landscapes of Vietnam on the walls – a river scene, people in fields picking something, women in brightly colored outfits in fields of flowers. The pictures are nice and welcoming, colorful and warm. The interior is very Asian Ikea – with wooden tables and natural, deep green tones throughout. It’s nice.
On the menu tonight: hot and sweet soup, tofu rolls, beans and prawns, grilled chicken and grilled beef. Let’s start with the rolls! They’re served at room temperature and come wrapped in rice paper. The tofu is fried, and rolled up with bean sprouts, shredded cucumber, and cooked vermicelli noodles. The rolls are nice and fat and come with a very rich and somewhat spicy peanut sauce for dipping. The rolls are fresh and crunchy, very tasty and refreshing. The sauce is a nice flavoring and contrasts the rolls well since it’s very thick and heavy.
The soup! The soup is delicious. It’s sweet and extremely spicy with large chunks of veggies: tomatoes, celery, mushroom, and shreds of cabbage. The sweetness comes from the chunks of fresh pineapple (and perhaps coconut milk?). There’s also a little tangy-ness to the soup, probably from the citrus. The soup comes with a good serving of whole shrimp, cooked to perfection. While it’s very very good, it’s equally spicy! I loved the taste, but my lips were burning off my face after finishing one bowl. Also, a regular serving feeds just four people – get a large and have seconds.
The entrees came with special rice, a bed of vermicelli, and side salads. The salads were just iceberg lettuce with pickled shredded carrots with a light dressing. The veggies were all fresh, but it was pretty plain. Pho 84’s special rice is yellow because it’s been cooked in broth, but generally doesn’t taste too much more special than regular rice. Good, but not as amazing as others would make it. The vermicelli comes in pancake form – millions of little noodles squished together to line the bottom of the plate it comes on. Underneath the grilled chicken, the vermicelli soaks up the juices and becomes very very tasty. YUM.
The chicken and beef were about the same – run of the mill Asian bbq. Both dishes come with a sweet and little spicy sauce you can drizzle on your meat. The meat is pretty plain, but add the sauce and you’ve got something a little bit special. Add that to the special rice or the vermicelli and you’ve got choice chow. Everything by itself is just fine, but mix it all up and you’ve got an amazing dish.
Lastly, we had a dish of prawns with green beans. The beans were cooked, but still had some crisp, which was nice. The prawns were large and well cooked. The beans and prawns are drenched in a much heavier sauce, something closer to a bbq sauce thinned with soy sauce, with a rich and smoky flavor. Very good, but a little rich for me when we ran out of rice.
The service was very fast and friendly, once you get in to the door. The place is usually packed, so don’t expect to get in quickly without a little luck. A lot of people take out, another smart move, and more proof that the place is as good as everyone says it is.
Overall: Some really good food. Really. ‘Nuff said.
Rating: 10/10!
choice chow 
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