So Pho, So Good

The morning pho is different from both the midday pho and the late-night pho. The broth is younger, more sharp-edged, less subtle and less strong at the same time -- a Beaujolais Nouveau of a broth, rough and unmellowed by age. I tinker, adding lime, adding Sriracha, tucking a twist of basil into the bottom of the bowl beneath the nest of noodles so that it will steep like tea, adding a green edge of flavor to my breakfast soup. As I eat, I stare at the slow drip of my coffee, waiting for it to be done. Waiting, waiting and waiting.

I've found that if your coffee and your pho arrive at exactly the same time, the drip process will be complete just as you spot the bottom of your bowl. It's a game of patience waiting for the coffee to finish, an exercise in Zen calm. So I sit and I wait and I watch, picking at my breakfast with my chopsticks, slurping noodles and drinking broth out of the curved plastic pho spoon. The air is perfumed with the scent of strong coffee and onions, underlaid with the darker, heavier odor of cooking stock and beef tripe.

James Glader

Soup's on: Mai Thuy Dang Ngo prepares pho at Pho 79.

Location Info

Map

Pho 79 III

1080 S. Havana St.
Aurora, CO 80012

Category: Restaurant > Noodle Shop

Region: Aurora

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Pho 79

781 S. Federal Blvd.
Denver, CO 80219

Category: Restaurant > Vietnamese

Region: Southwest Denver

Photos

Details

1080 South Havana Street, Aurora, 303-344-0752. Hours: 9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily

Small pho: $4.50
Medium: $5.25
Large: $5.70

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More About

• Anthony Bourdain
• Saigon
• Phnom Penh
• Eating Out
• Vietnamese Food and Cooking

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I relax into the embrace of foreign smells and foreign tongues all around me, chase the bobbing meatballs around my bowl, watching the people come and go. The coffee takes its time, but it's Sunday morning, and I've got nowhere else to be.