Vietnamese Virgin

A couple nights ago, Kara and I met a fellow foodie friend who I’m sure many of you know as Atlanta’s Foodie Buddha at Pho Dai Loi on Buford Highway per his suggestion. We love dining with The Buddha because he knows great places that we most likely would not venture to without his all-knowing guidance.

Now, I had never eaten Vietnamese food before this week. I’ve ALWAYS wanted to try it, but like many people just had no clue what to order. So, with FB and Kara's vast knowledge of this particular food genre, they guided me and covered all the bases. We started with two types of steamed spring rolls: one filled with freshly shredded, spicy pork and another standard steamed basil roll with shrimp.

Both rolls and their respective dipping sauces were delicious. The pork spring roll (my personal favorite) came with a light, sweet and sour fish sauce that was delicious and even more delicious when poured over my Com (broken rice with chicken marinated in lemon grass) but we will get to that later….the shrimp spring roll was served with a tantalizing peanut sauce.

Then came the Pho. FB wanted me to try a version with tripe (stomach lining), but being a Pho virgin and all, I felt I needed to ease into it a bit. So, we agreed that I’d order the #12, a small bowl of Pho (anything but small) with flank steak and marble brisket. YUM! As Kara and FB chatted about how soup is actually good for you when it’s hot outside because of its ability to balance out your body temperature and what not, I was busy devouring my Pho with a vengeance. Word to the wise: Pho is not the best first date meal. Lucky I was amongst fellow foodie friends who don’t judge you when you’re stuffing your face.


Next came our Com, #43 marinated lemon grass chicken over broken Jasmine rice and my personal favorite, #27 vermicelli rice noodles with marinated grilled shrimp, grilled pork and crispy spring rolls.


The Com with the lemon grass was not my favorite despite covering it in the extraordinary sweet and sour fish sauce (which, for all you virgins, you are supposed to do FYI). I found the dish to be a bit dry and underwhelming. However, it was an off night for that dish according to our friend and Pho Dai Loi regular FB.

Now on to the Bun. The Bun was particularly delicious to me. It was the perfect blend of grilled pork (that almost tasted sweet), vermicelli noodles, fresh herbs, grilled shrimp and crispy fried spring roll filled with pork – again, all covered in tangy fish sauce. The perfect bite. The combination of textures in the dish really appealed to me. What I will add next time: egg (no runny yolk, please). What will I subtract: the shrimp. No need to take away from that pork.

Everything we ordered was under $10, and Pho Dai Loi doesn't serve alcohol, so it's BYOB. FYI: the kind restaurant staff is happy to supply a can opener from the kitchen if you forget your bottle opener.

Pho Dai Loi will definitely see more of me. In fact, you might walk in there and see me sitting solo at a banquet table in the back (what our waiter suggested for our party because we ordered so much food, and he was right!) eating my Bun with extra pork and egg :) Oh and don't forget the “small” Pho!

Pho Dai Loi II
4186 Buford Hwy NE # G
Atlanta, GA 30345-1067
Phone: 404-633-2111
NOTE: there's another location in Forest Park

Pho What? Vietnamese Filet Mignon Is Where It's At

Last week, The Affordable Foodie visited So Ba, a new Vietnamese restaurant that opened last month in East Atlanta. So Ba took over the building that was most recently home to La Casita Cantina, where owner Nhan Le has replaced cacti and sombreros with minimalist Asian decor and dim lighting. While most Atlantans seem obsessed with finding the most authentic pho in town, we were eager to sample So Ba's bun (Vietnamese rice noodles) and com (broken jasmine rice) dishes.

Let's be clear - we're not dissing pho by any means. We appreciate quality Asian noodle soup as much as the next gal. However, we're glad we stuck to our guns and ordered some of the other traditional Vietnamese fare So Ba offers. By following that path, we discovered the holy grail of AF dishes: Com Bo Luc Lac, a.k.a. Vietnamese broken fried rice with marinated cubed filet mignon.

At the extremely reasonable price of $11, this dish completely blew us away. So Ba's version of what's called "shaken beef" at other Vietnamese restaurants reminds us of an entree you'd get at a Japanese steakhouse, but it's about a third of the price. The filet was super tender and flavored with a marinade of onion, garlic, soy and rice vinegar. The plentiful portion of meat is served with an even larger portion of fried rice laced with egg.

We also ordered one of the five bun dishes on the menu, choosing chicken as our grilled meat and requesting an addition of pieces of fried egg roll to adorn our room temperature rice noodles. The interplay of silky noodles with crisp lettuce, bean sprouts, crunchy cucumbers, pickled carrots, chopped peanuts, fresh herbs and perfectly grilled chicken is just the right blend of flavors and textures. Our favorite part is letting the fried spring roll soak up the sweet and tangy fish sauce that collects at the bottom of the bowl.

Until the liquor license arrives at some point in February, So Ba is BYOB, so take advantage while you can. AF is planning to head back to this little Vietnamese jewel soon. If we can take our minds off the bun and com, we might just try the pho next time.

p.s. We brought our camera and tried to take some photos, but due to the dim lighting, they didn't turn out. Sorry, we'll try again in the future.

So Ba
East Atlanta Village
560 Gresham Ave.
Atlanta, GA 30316
404-627-9911
http://soba-eav.com/