1.5 viets at the viet noodle bar

if you don't pay for $10 sammiches, then i sure as heck don't pay for $10 pho....until my friend made me do it. it was not by gunpoint that i went, though her sweet voice can definitely pierce my soul like a gunshot through my heart. yes, she's so nice that i get guilted into doing things, like eating at viet noodle bar in atwater heifing down $10 pho. man, she's good.

so we go and i see why it might be $10 for a bowl of pho ga (chicken pho). brick walls cost more than $10 right?

and long communal tables with lots of chairs cost more than $10 right? the environment looks cool, hip, and ready to take advantage of your wallet, it really does.

we started with the jackfruit appetizer. i wanted to try this dish because i always think of sweet yellow jackfruit in vietnamese che (a sweet dessert...love that stuff!) and was curious what a savory version might taste like. when the plate came out, i immediately nabbed a piece of the jackfruit which tasted blanched. the flavors of this dish were actually sourced from the other items cooked with it such as the fried shallots, tofu pieces, and shitake mushrooms. the jackfruit did not have much of a taste presence at all which was a shame...what a misleading name for the appetizer.

you scoop the jackfruit concoction with a piece of the black sesame rice cracker. after a few scoops, i gave up because it was neither innovative nor mind blowing. this belly doesn't need more junk. meh.

here's the $10 bowl of pho ga which my friend loved and i felt compelled to order. i rarely eat pho ga outside of my momma's home because she's a fantabulous vietnamese cook so when i dipped my chopsticks in, i was ready to unload tons of criticism.....

but i didn't. whut?! first off, the noodles were just perfect. i found out from my friend, who is a viet noodle bar groupie, that the owner had spent 5 years in vietnam learning how to make these pho noodles from scratch. now THAT is dedication to your craft. the soup base was sweet and clear which is always a good sign and the chicken pieces were tender. it was simple and delicious and did not disappoint. yum!

although i probably wouldn't come back for another $10 bowl of this pho ga because i have a cute, older, round vietnamese woman cooking for me for free, i don't think this place is a bad place to turn to AT ALL for some pho ga....as long as you don't mind paying $10 for it of course.

Viet Noodle Bar
3133 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 906-1575

price: $$
verdict: tasty, try it!