Pho Sho!

Friday lunch was a wonderful surprise.  East 4th Street has come into its own at the hip restaurant row in Cleveland.  To me, the movement started when Iron Chef Michael Symon open his restaurant Lola on East 4th.  As I recall, Pickwick and Frolic opened first.  It has a restaurant, martini bar, and Hilarities comedy club.  I remember in law school when I would walk by, East 4th was a rundown alley with this new place.  There are tons of places now: Lola, Flannerys, Wonder Bar, Corner Alley, Chocolate Bar, The House of Blues, the list goes on.  If you are visiting Cleveland, you MUST go to East 4th Street.  You will not believe the amount of fantastic eateries in a small proximity.

Today, my intern Jack and I set out for lunch with no place in mind.  We had no destination set.  Our feet took us to East 4th Street, which is strange since it is not close to the office.  There were hundreds of people eating outside in the patio areas of each restaurant.  Nothing popped out at me for lunch, until I was right up on the sign, Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant & Bar.  Hmm...  The memories came flashing back.


2061 East 4th Street, Cleveland, OH - www.saigoncleveland.com
One of my very dear friends from my grueling, tortuous days at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law is Lynda.  She opened my eyes to her Vietnamese culture by taking me to the Asian district in Cleveland, East 40th and St. Clair area.  We shopped and ate strange, but oddly yummy fare.  After graduation, Lynda took me to the Vietnamese district in the Washington D.C. area.  There I had my first Pho.  It was a large bowl of beef, rice noodles, green onions, bean sprouts, and broth with tasty flavors.  She taught me you eat it with the spoon in the left hand, chopsticks in the other.  Pho is a great cheap eat.

Remembering my last bowl of Pho with Lynda, I decided to take Jack there.  Saigon is a fancy, up-scale place for Pho.  The interior is modern and in line with the surrounding restaurants.  It was packed, but we were seated immediately.  As we passed a booth to our right, Jack said hello to Mark Shapiro, the General Manager for the red-hot Cleveland Indians.  Jack is like that, he engages everyone in conversation.  It's a quality I admire.  Seeing someone of high importance at the restaurant gave me an immediate boost of confidence that our food would be good.  Jack had never had Pho or any Vietnamese food for that matter.  Boy was he in for it.  We both ordered the P3, the Beef and Beef Meatball Noodle Soup and I ordered hot tea.  The tea was piping hot and flavorful.  We were served rather quickly with a very large bowl and a side of bean sprouts, jalapeno slices, and two sauces.  I grabbed my spoon and chopsticks and dove right in.  Hours later, as I write this, I am thinking about my first slurp.  The Pho was warm, comforting, and delicious.  The broth was aromatic and infused with many herbs and spices.  After eating 3/4 of the bowl, I squeezed a little lime that came as a condiment.  That little bit of acidity changed the entire composition of the broth.  The meat was tender and seasoned well.  I did not like the meatballs.  But, that is my fault.  I did not like the meatballs when I had it in D.C., but I forgot how much I disliked the dense texture and ordered it again.  Jack liked the meatballs so to each his own.

I ate that ENTIRE bowl.  I loved it.  I wish I could go back right now for another one.  Alas, Dudo is asleep so I'm not going anywhere.  Funny thing, as we exited Saigon, the street was a ghost town.  It had rained heavily in the short time we were eating.  Ah that Cleveland weather.  If you are in the mood for Pho or would like to try it for the first time, I highly suggest Saigon.  It's fresh, delicious, and you can make it as hot or mild as you like.  I know I will be there again...very soon.