Discovering new food is an amazing experience. Can you remember the first time you went out of the box to try something new. The first time you braved raw fish, and ate at the newest hippest sushi spot. Maybe you can remember the first time someone told you about that awesome burrito place, that no one else knows about. When you find that special place that has amazing food and no one seems to know about it, you keep it a secret; you don’t tell anyone, it’s your place.

We all have our favorite bars and clubs, and we all have our favorite places to go after these bars and clubs kick us out. These late night hours send us to twenty-four hour diners, Mexican food drive-thrus, fast food, and the most desperate of places, the corner convenient store.

Do not worry, you have had your last frozen burrito from circle K, because you can make your way to the closest Pho place. There you can get a number of traditional Vietnamese dishes, but more importantly, the wonderful dish known as Pho.

Pho is basically a Vietnamese noodle soup. There are many variations to the dish, but traditionally, it is rice noodles served in a beef broth with various cuts of beef in the broth. The bowl of Pho is usually served with a side of garnishes that can be added at one’s discretion; bean sprouts, jalapenos, cilantro and limes are common sides. Along with the sides served with the bowl, there are a number of other things one can add to the Pho to appropriately flavor the dish to your liking. Sirracha, hoison, chilli oil, shrimp paste, fish sauce, and sugar are regularly available.

The eatery in closest proximity to Tower District is Pho 75 #2. Here, the Pho is not only wonderful it is open until 3:00 a.m. on the weekends. Here the Pho is lovely; it is extremely rich; made from beef stock that seems richer and more delicate than any soup made by a classically trained French chef. The soup is always served piping hot and garnished with just enough cilantro and onions to bring out the subtleties of the star anise. Not only is the broth reason enough to go, but the noodles are always cooked perfectly not underdone and yet far from being the mushy mess most of us are used to from making our own spaghetti at home.

Local chef Katy Engeberg, said “Pho is great. I am a classically trained chef, and I adore French cuisine. The way these restaurants can make such a rich and elegant broth, and yet keep the clean flavors of Asian cuisine is amazing, not to mention the Thai chiles– the more heat the better.”

Chef Engeberg has only been eating Pho for the past year, but since she discovered the soup, it has become her new favorite dish. Like many others, she makes it to Pho at least four times a week.

Pho surfaced in Hanoi, Vietnam after the French occupation around 1880. The Vietnamese valued cows and buffaloes, so it wasn’t until the French came that they needed to find a way to incorporate the French diet into a dish that was suitable to the Vietnamese palate.

Many Pho restarants are found throughout Fresno close to Fresno City College.