Chris Shepherd, arguably one of Houston's most talented chefs, was that dining companion and he's recently worked out a deal to stage in this tiny, family-staffed kitchen in Pearland. And I believe that he'll find out one way or another, as he's going to be working in Thanh Phuong's kitchen soon. "Do you think they'd ever make boar pho?" I asked my dining companion.
We requested a sample size of the broth and were delighted to find it the equal of all the excellent game dishes we'd just devoured: a rich, dark broth with warm currents of anise and cinnamon running through the strong beef flavor. After all, Houstonians judge a Vietnamese place - pho restaurant or not - on the quality of its noodle soup. It was thrilling.įrom the ruddy, lemongrass-and-lime-soaked, slices of deer meat in the nai tai chanh to the crispy nuggets of deep-fried rabbit served with a generous handful of sesame seeds on top, every single dish that my dining companion and I ate that day was nothing short of stunning.īut back to that pho for a second.
Minor disappointment aside, I dove headlong into the menu and came up for air six dishes and nearly three hours later. I had vague hopes that the pho would also be available made with game meat - can you imagine boar pho? or venison pho? - but was slightly chagrined to see that the pho offerings were very standard stuff.
The last two pages of its long menu list options such as rabbit, quail, boar, venison, mutton, eel (not really a game meat, but.okay) and alligator. So when I heard that a place in Pearland had an entire portion of its menu devoted just to game meats, you'd better believe that I hightailed it down Highway 288 as quickly as possible, ending up in the friendly, family-run Thanh Phuong, Houston's answer to Los Angeles's popular Phong Dinh and the subject of this week's cafe review. What's new is its general availability in Houston.
There's nothing new about using game meats like venison, quail or rabbit in Vietnamese cooking.
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