On every table in good Vietnamese restaurants sits a caddy of bottled reinforcements. Sriracha, with its seething yet familiar embrace. Hoisin, with its barbecue-y allure. Nuoc mam, or fish sauce, with its taunting funk. Use them all, with caution, and you may be rewarded.
Throughout the 30 or so (and counting) pho restaurants scattered throughout the Twin Cities, the uses — and payoffs — of condiments will vary. Broth too thin? Add some Sriracha, maybe a dab of nuoc mam. Too salty? A few lashings of sweet hoisin are just the trick.
At Pho 400, a New Brighton Vietnamese eatery just off Old Highway 8, these bottles will tempt you, especially with soothing '80s love ballads lulling in the background. Don't give in.
You'll discredit the care they've taken to produce these enormous, steaming bowls of pho, which are unceremoniously wheeled out in utility carts, leaving a trailing scent of star anise, cinnamon and cloves.
And you'll muddy the astounding clarity of their broths.
Going clean isn't necessarily a benchmark for excellence. But it is reminiscent of a style of pho more common in certain regions of Vietnam. In the Twin Cities, this style is rare. More likely you'll find variations of southern pho, which is headier, sweeter. The north, by contrast, prefers subtlety — enough to forgo traditional accoutrements, like bean sprouts, basil and lime.
Pho 400's owner, Hong Phan, isn't from northern Vietnam — until emigrating to the area 15 years ago, she lived in Ho Chi Minh City in the south — but her love of pho spanned borders.
"I ate pho every single day," Phan recalls of her time in Vietnam. Despite not having any formal culinary background, Phan knew she could still add to the rich Vietnamese food scene in the Twin Cities.
