Pho (Eden Center style)
Photo: Guilhem Vellut from Paris, France · CC BY 2.0

History

The Washington metro area has the third-largest Vietnamese-American population in the United States, concentrated at Eden Center in Falls Church and along Wilson Boulevard in Arlington. The community settled there from the 1975 fall of Saigon onward; Eden Center, opened 1984, became the cultural anchor. Pho, the long-simmered beef noodle soup, is the staple dish: oxtail, shin and beef bones simmered overnight with charred ginger, onion, star anise, cassia and clove, then strained over rice noodles and finished with rare beef slices, herbs, bean sprouts and lime. Within the city limits, Pho 14, Pho Viet on 14th Street and Pho 75 in Rosslyn run the canonical bowls.

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Common allergens: Gluten

Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 45 minTotal 6 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 1.5kg beef marrow bones
  • 500g beef brisket
  • 1 large onion, halved, charred
  • 1 thumb of ginger, halved, charred
  • 4 star anise pods
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 4 whole cloves
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce, plus more to taste
  • 1 tablespoon rock sugar (or caster sugar)
  • 1 teaspoon fine salt
  • 400g dried banh pho rice noodles
  • 200g eye of round, very thinly sliced (freeze 45 min before slicing)
  • Thai basil, mint, cilantro, sliced jalapeno, bean sprouts, lime, to serve

Method

  1. Cover bones and brisket with cold water, bring to a boil for 10 minutes, then drain and rinse the bones and brisket (this gives clear broth).
  2. Char the halved onion and ginger directly on a flame or under the broiler until blackened in patches.
  3. Return bones and brisket to a clean pot with 4 litres fresh water, the charred onion and ginger, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, fish sauce, rock sugar and salt. Bring to a slow simmer; cook uncovered 4 to 5 hours, skimming as needed.
  4. After 90 minutes, remove the brisket. Cool, slice thin, set aside.
  5. Strain the broth through a fine sieve. Taste, season with more fish sauce.
  6. Soften the rice noodles per package. Divide between four bowls. Top with sliced brisket and raw thinly-sliced eye of round. Ladle hot broth over (the heat cooks the raw slices). Serve with herb plate and lime.

Tip from the editors. The pre-boil-and-drain step on the bones is what makes the broth clear, not cloudy; do not skip it.

Where to eat pho (eden center style)

Pho (Eden Center style) in Washington DC

Pho 14 Columbia Heights ★ 4.3

$ Vietnamese

Pho 14 Columbia Heights in Washington DC is the Park Road Vietnamese counter with pho served from a 14-hour broth, a six-item menu and bowls under $16.

TryPho bowl ($12-16)

TipThe pho dac biet (special) at $14 feeds two if you order extra noodles; the spring rolls are the value side.

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