There are so many pho places in San Diego, but today, I met up with Bert at Pho Lucky in the Lucky Seafood Market in Manila Mesa. It's near his work and both of us had never been there before. Also joining us for lunch were our good friends Superman and Lotus.
When Bert and I got there, the restaurant was pretty empty. We were seated right away and one of the waiters (an older guy) stood right by us waiting to take our order. He seemed kind of annoyed that we weren't ready. We also wanted to wait for our friends. However, since Supe and Lotus were running late, we ended up ordering an appetizer, the Goi Con or fresh Spring Rolls with peanut sauce ($2.75). These were okay - one of the rolls was ripped. We were super hungry so anything tasted good at this point. I didn't take a lot of pix here so lazy ass that I am, here are a few other links to this place that go more in depth than this bare bones entry by yours truly: 1) MMM-Yoso's review (he has pix of the restaurant), 2) Yelp's reviews here and 3) lastly, a review of the market and the restaurant here (same food blog that I linked to in a previous entry for Shakespeare's Corner Shoppe Tea).
Bert's favorite hot sauce (actually, he liked the one with the rooster better):
My husband got Bun Tom Nuong (sorry I dont' have the menu number or the price, but it was probably $6.00) which he liked very much. The shrimp was perfect - plump and juicy and not dry and rubbery at all.
Supe and Lotus both got #18 Pho Tai - beef noodle soup with rare steak ($4.95). This was the large bowl. I remember they mentioned that it had quite a bit of meat. 
Supe's garnishes - lime, basil, saw leaf herb, bean sprouts, and jalapeno peppers.
I originally wanted #55 Banh Hoi Chao Tom which is chargrilled shrimp with sugar cane with rice vermicelli pancakes, but they said they didn't have any. Instead I settled for #51 Bun Chao Tom which is kind of the same but intead of the rice pancakes, it's just bun ($6.50). The shrimp wasn't really chargrilled either - it was more of a ground shrimp cake. Also, the shrimp wasn't served speared on the sugar cane which I was expecting (I've had it like that before at some other place) because the cane was just on the side of the bowl. Well, I guess I won't get this again. It was pretty filling, but not what I had in mind. The noodles were pretty long too. Seems like maybe my noodles were cut short at other places which I like better than having to slurp the noodles. Despite my initial ravenous state, I couldn't finish this - it was a lot of food.
No shiny bits of pork fat : (
I ended up browsing around the store after lunch, getting a few snacks here and there. I also got some powdered ube mix - I'll have to make that soon. The store had a lot of great produce with very reasonable prices. They had all sorts of leaves such as chili, ampalaya (aka "bittermelon"), and yam. They even had malunggay! Wow! You don't see that too often!
When Bert and I got there, the restaurant was pretty empty. We were seated right away and one of the waiters (an older guy) stood right by us waiting to take our order. He seemed kind of annoyed that we weren't ready. We also wanted to wait for our friends. However, since Supe and Lotus were running late, we ended up ordering an appetizer, the Goi Con or fresh Spring Rolls with peanut sauce ($2.75). These were okay - one of the rolls was ripped. We were super hungry so anything tasted good at this point. I didn't take a lot of pix here so lazy ass that I am, here are a few other links to this place that go more in depth than this bare bones entry by yours truly: 1) MMM-Yoso's review (he has pix of the restaurant), 2) Yelp's reviews here and 3) lastly, a review of the market and the restaurant here (same food blog that I linked to in a previous entry for Shakespeare's Corner Shoppe Tea).
Bert's favorite hot sauce (actually, he liked the one with the rooster better):
My husband got Bun Tom Nuong (sorry I dont' have the menu number or the price, but it was probably $6.00) which he liked very much. The shrimp was perfect - plump and juicy and not dry and rubbery at all.
Supe and Lotus both got #18 Pho Tai - beef noodle soup with rare steak ($4.95). This was the large bowl. I remember they mentioned that it had quite a bit of meat. 
Supe's garnishes - lime, basil, saw leaf herb, bean sprouts, and jalapeno peppers.
I originally wanted #55 Banh Hoi Chao Tom which is chargrilled shrimp with sugar cane with rice vermicelli pancakes, but they said they didn't have any. Instead I settled for #51 Bun Chao Tom which is kind of the same but intead of the rice pancakes, it's just bun ($6.50). The shrimp wasn't really chargrilled either - it was more of a ground shrimp cake. Also, the shrimp wasn't served speared on the sugar cane which I was expecting (I've had it like that before at some other place) because the cane was just on the side of the bowl. Well, I guess I won't get this again. It was pretty filling, but not what I had in mind. The noodles were pretty long too. Seems like maybe my noodles were cut short at other places which I like better than having to slurp the noodles. Despite my initial ravenous state, I couldn't finish this - it was a lot of food.
No shiny bits of pork fat : (
I ended up browsing around the store after lunch, getting a few snacks here and there. I also got some powdered ube mix - I'll have to make that soon. The store had a lot of great produce with very reasonable prices. They had all sorts of leaves such as chili, ampalaya (aka "bittermelon"), and yam. They even had malunggay! Wow! You don't see that too often! My mom puts malunggay or chili leaves in her tinola. I also love the way my mom makes bittermelon leaves with monggo and corn. The malunggay was really fresh too - those taste pretty good with fried fish. I remember looking at a lot of the packaged leaves thinking, "I'd like to get that but I don't know how to make it", so I didn't get anything. Well, I did get one bunch of baby bok though. We still have a lot of food in our fridge and I'd rather that we finish that before I buy more groceries.
Tomorrow - either Spanish or French food with my teacher lunch buddy.
3 comments:
Mabey not a lot of photos for the "Photo Godess" you are, but plenty by our mere mortal standards. Nice Review.
Yeah, Iv'e dined here a couple times for lunch when I worked at that nearby college. Good food!
jack
thanks
hf
i'd eat there again, but i'll try something else next time.
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