Behold:
When life gets me down and my joints are squeaking lots and lots, I always turn to comfort food, and I recommend others do the same – in moderation of course. While homemade mac and cheese and food of that sort are beyond amazing, my escape – no – sanctuary has become a local vietnamese dive in Dupont Circle. I always get #48 – a large bowl of pho with a combination of rare beef and stringy brisket. Then I pile on sriracha and hoisin sauce and, quite literally, dive in. I learned the hard way that it’s a terrible date food, but I don’t care. If he is put off by the messy slurp-inducing soup and fails to see how exciting and delicious pho can be, he’s not someone I want to date.
The moment I walk in is the one moment in my life right now where I feel I can be pompous and pretentious and get away with it. I’m a regular, dammit! The staff and I aren’t on a first name basis yet, but they recognize me and some of them know my order before I order it. I feel cool when that happens. Then occasionally they don’t recognize me at all. As my luck would have it, this normally happens when I bring some friends along who are new to the place. The entire walk over, I rave about how I’m part of the ‘in’ crowd (“It’s OK if it’s too crowded. I’m a regular, they’ll let us in!”). And then I get laughed at when I say hello and the staff doesn’t even acknowledge me.
The sheer color of the soup never fails to intrigue me. The complexity is not something I care to understand, but I do care to eat. And I swear to God, pho tastes better if you eat it with chopsticks and not a dinky spoon. In fact, if it weren’t for the added MSG, I’d eat there everyday! Then they’d know my name for sure.
Tagged: Dupont, food, pho, restaurant, soup, vietnamese
Wonderful little story, and I dig your site! I love how you naturally weave so many elements together in your posts.
I also love how your food shots are so casual and intimate. They really speak to the senses. Great style!
You are too kind! Thanks for making my day.
You should really work for some known food magazine, I just love your photos!