Yes… I do know how terrible that title is. And I love bad jokes (I owe that to my father).
When my coworker said she was ordering from L’Annam, a Vietnamese place on 3rd Ave at 28th Street, I knew I was jumping on the trendy train and ordering Pho. It also helped that it was a cold, rainy NYC day… so hearty soup sounded perfect.
I’ve had Pho once before, but it was at the restaurant and they served it fully prepared. I was disappointed by it, but informed quickly that there is something about it when you are served the raw meat that you then pour the hot soup over to cook. This order provided me with two containers… one of the fillin’s with some cooked meat and some raw meat and one container of hot soup. It wasn’t quite as hot as it probably should have been, however, it did the job to get my meat cooked well enough that it tasted like fresh roast beef.
It was definitely good, and I loved the thai basil on top, however, I’m still not sure that I get what all the fuss is about. I mean it’s damn good soup, but why are people so terrified of it? Because it says oxtail? I’ve eaten far stranger!
It’s hard to judge a restaurant purely on soup takeout, however, I will say that it I do recommend this place for Pho in the very small comparison test I’ve had.
