Take-out or sit-down, the dishes at Pho 88 stay true to the Vietnamese restaurant’s minimalist aesthetic – high- quality, fresh ingredients presented with little fuss and lots of flavor.
Run by Hai and Phi Yen Tran and their son, Andrew, the restaurateurs stick to what they know: 12 versions of the soul-warming soup called pho (rhymes with “duh”), and six other noodle- and rice-based plates.
“Pho is actually our house specialty,” says Andrew Tran. “In Vietnam, restaurants will focus on the chef’s specialty.”
In this case, Phi Yen Tran knows her soup stock. “It’s a very closely guarded family secret…. I do know that there’s well over 20 to 30 ingredients in it,” says Andrew.
The pho starts with beef broth perfumed with lemongrass, basil and green onion. Then, the diner chooses “toppings” to go into the broth: rare or well-done sliced beef, brisket, tripe, meatballs, thin-sliced chicken breast or tendon, a Vietnamese favorite with a soft, fatty texture.
The soup ($4.95 to $5.95) comes with rice noodles, bean sprouts, basil, ngo gai (also known as spiny coriander, recao or culantro, an elongated leaf that tastes like cilantro), jalapeño slices and lime.
The menu offers six other choices, all of which come with rice noodles or rice and sweet-spicy slivers of carrot and daikon radish, and range in price from $3.25 to $6.99.
Vietnamese egg roll: Fried and stuffed with pork, beef, mushroom, carrots and rice noodles.
Spring roll: Clear rice-paper rolls around delicate shrimp, pork, lettuce and noodles. Served with a sweet-tangy peanut dipping sauce.
Rice paper wrap: Two soft rice-paper rolls enclosing lettuce and char-grilled pork or beef. Of the soft rolls, we liked these best.
Combination grill: The best of everything, a bowl of grilled pork, chicken, beef and shrimp, topped with a chopped egg roll and served over noodles or slightly Jasmine-y white rice with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrots, sprouts and nuoc mam (sweet-salty fish sauce).
Egg roll noodle bowl: Salty fried egg rolls paired with neutral noodles and the same toppings as the combination grill.
Grilled pork or beef noodle bowl: Same noodle-veggie treatment, but with perfectly caramelized/carbonized grilled meat bits.
For dessert, it’s fun to try the bright green and red gelatin strips layered over yellow syrup with mung beans and topped with coconut milk.
Why “88”? It’s not a secret code, says Andrew Tran, rather a symbol for prosperity and good fortune. Those who eat here will feel fortunate indeed.
Staff writer Kristen Browning-Blas can be reached at 303-820-1440 or kbrowning@denverpost.com.
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Pho 88
Vietnamese|10250 Federal Blvd., Federal Heights (in the 104th Avenue Safeway parking lot)|$1-$6.99|9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily; MC, Visa; parking.
Front burner: Scrupulously fresh ingredients, intense flavors, friendly service.
Back burner: There’s only one location.
