Soul Phood

Over the last few days, I've eaten BBQ-style pork or beef three times, waffles/pancakes three times, and had more than my fair share of sweet tea. So when it came time to figure out what to eat for dinner tonight, I was thrilled to find that my iPhone had uncovered lots of Vietnamese food near my crappy motel in Memphis.


Ryan and I have driven by a number of ethnic restaurants along the XXX-Country Tour, opting instead for cuisine a bit more local. But as the iPhone showed with a cluster of Yelp! arrows titled "Saigon Le," "Pho Vietnam," etc., Vietnamese cuisine was the local cuisine in my neighborhood. So I gave it a try.


It is, of course, totally unfair to compare one meal at Pho Vietnam Restaurant in Memphis, TN to three weeks of food that I ate traveling around Vietnam a few months ago. But it's still pretty entertaining, particularly when dining by yourself with nothing better to do. (Ryan flew back to DC this morning.) So, a few observations...

Fruit from the Mekong Delta, just outside of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) --


No fruit from Midtown Memphis, just of I-240, but made up for in quantity --


Funny enough, the Memphis pho (with chicken) tasted quite sweet, in addition to the usual saltiness. Curse you, sweet tea.

My Memphis meal lacked bubblegum, a favorite of mine from Vietnam fast food joint, Pho 24.


But my Memphis meal didn't lack for entertainment: the scruffy guy sitting opposite me drummed for a full five minutes with chopsticks while waiting for his food. No joke.

And compared to the street settings where I occasionally dined in Hanoi...



... Memphis Vietnam didn't have quite the same ambiance.


So what, then, does dining at a Vietnamese restaurant in Memphis have in common with dining in Vietnam?


Equally reliable power grids.

In the middle of my meal tonight, the power went out, air conditioners included. Here's a similar shitshow from Hanoi:


All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal at Pho Vietnam Restaurant here in Memphis. But I promise to get back on the BBQ trail real quick, y'all.