That Food Guy
Sunday, June 30, 2013
  Cafe Tran Pho Bar - Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Vickie and Larry in front of
Café Trang Pho Bar - Rio Rancho


Café Tran  Pho Bar – Rio Rancho, New Mexico 11/1/2012

3301 Southern Blvd SE STE 503, Rio Rancho, NM 87124

(505) 994-9150    http://www.pho-bar.com/

Monday – Saturday 11:00AM to 9:00PM Closed Sunday
 

While my son was at work, I went grocery shopping with my daughter in law. The supermarket is but a short distance from their house in Rio Rancho. Pulling into the parking lot we passed the Café Tran Pho Bar. I took a long look; I was curious. It brought back memories from fifty years ago. I wondered what was to be had inside versus the memories I had. I have always been curious about food and when I went to Viet Nam I welcomed that opportunity to see in person real oriental food. Unfortunately, curiosity was not satisfied and for the most part memories of Vietnamese food are poor save for one example. I did eat in a small village café once and the experience was one that I will always remember fondly. See my recipe page, beef with mushrooms, http://www.twentymile.com/Cookbook/thitbovoinam.htm for a description of that episode.

Pho Bar Interior
For the most part I was very disappointed in food opportunities. There were lots of street vendors that sold all varieties of food, many of them Pho, or noodles. That I did see. However, a visitor to the country, without a lifetime of acquiring immunity, the sanitation standards of the street vendors were a clear warning to not try the food. Often push carts offered bahn mi, small little loaves of bread that looked like miniature loaves of French bread (after all, it once was a French colony and the Vietnamese are adaptive). In the case if bahn mi I made an exception of buying from street vendors and buy a bunch of the little breads to munch on while I was walking about town. It is kind of hard to remember what they really cost, about a dime equivalent each in US money. Local currency was in in a combination of piasters (French Indo-China money) and dong, Vietnamese currency. To avoid the black market in US currency, we were paid in MPC’s, Military Payment Certificates, that ostensibly had no value on the local economy but on our base we could exchange a certain amount of MPC’s for piasters/dong at a discount.  Wow! I never dreamt that just buying a loaf of miniature bread could be so complicated.

On the few occasions that I was in town, I sought out the largest local hotels. They would, of course, cater to foreigners and I hoped that their menus would include samples of the local delicacies. It was not to be. All of the menus listed traditional French dishes. As I mentioned, the Vietnamese are, if nothing else, adaptable and the menu’s still carried the mark of the French colonial masters. I guess not enough time had passes for them to list burgers, fries and Southern fried chicken.

We were among the first combat troops into Viet Nam. We had to begin the learning process and pass it along to all those who came after us. Unfortunately, all we could say was that, at best, the Vietnamese were dubious allies. There are many individuals in the Vietnamese community who deserve high praise and merit or esteem. But as a whole, as a country, as a people, self-serving duplicity was the ethic. The old Franco-Iberian colonial lessons were too deeply ingrained. No matter how hard we fought for them they would never fight for themselves if not knife you in the back.
Cha Gio $4.95

My lunch with a small Vietnamese boy was an example of how it could have been. Many nights, sitting around a campfire, chatting with Lam Bat, our battalion interpreter were almost inspiring. He told of his family’s flight from China when the Chinese Communists overthrew the Chaing Kai-shek government, of their resettlement in North French Indochina. When the Communist forces led by Ho Chi Minh drove the French from Indochina the family was again forced to flee and sought refuge in South Viet Nam. I long ago lost contact with Lam Bat and I have always hoped that he was able to escape the terrible reprisals that ensued after the fall of Saigon. I had to love the Australians. They were not the largest force but they were admirable soldiers and a welcome ally. And the Koreans... What can I say? We Americans went to Korea once and helped the South Korean government repel the invaders from North Korea and China. They remembered. They in kind returned the favor to help us help another government fight off an invasion by a Communist government. They were great troops and have my deepest admiration. As for the majority of American troops that came after me I also have not but the highest praise and admiration. On a day by day basis they fought and died all the while being acutely aware that the people they were fighting for were cozying up with the enemy just in case.  Which brings us back to Viet Nam; when I left that country I knew I would never have a desire to return, and save for the few good memories that I did have, I would not pursue any endeavors with a Vietnamese theme.
Tam Lan Bot $4.95

So, how do I reconcile my curiosity and trying out a Vietnamese-themed restaurant with my feelings about that country? I was sure that the food they offered was like Chinese food, tailored to the American palate. Also, the restaurant was in the middle of New Mexico, far away from Southeast Asia. The owners, much like Lam Bat, had fled that ugly corner of the world and that set them apart from what I remembered back there, way back when. From the outside the café looked clean, comfortable and inviting; a strong contrast to memories. And who knows, maybe now I could find out a bit about Vietnamese food, what I couldn’t find out then because the menu was all in French.

A day later my son Larry, his wife Vickie and I went to lunch at Café Tran Pho Bar. The café is located in a storefront in a large shopping center with easy to a main street. There is more than adequate parking as well as being convenient while doing other shopping. It is a new establishment and the facility looks clean and neat. The décor is more Howard Johnson than oriental with bright co9lors, red and black predominating. Mostly tile flooring is easy to keep clean but can be slippery when wet. Seating is a combination of booths and tables and chairs. The chairs are lightly padded and comfortable. The tables are set with sweet chili sauce and soy sauce as condiments.
Goi Cuan Tom $3.95

The café wasn’t crowded that day and the noise level was low, always a plus. The ceiling is finished with acoustical tiling, not exposed ducting and the like that seems so prevalent these days. I would guess noise4 would be at a comfortable level even on busy days. The two servers were always on the go and our wait was not very long but unless they add more servers the wait during busy times would be quite a bit longer.  I was surprised at the menu. It was much longer than I would have guessed and offers a wide variety of seafood, beef and chicken dishes as well as a selection of vegetarian and children’s selections; certainly something I would not have expected after my experiences in mid-1960’s Viet Nam.

We started with some appetizers. We chose Cha Gio (Fried pork egg rolls $4.95) and Tom Lan Bot (5 crispy golden fried butterfly shrimp $4.95) The eggrolls are serve on an attractive platter with dipping sauce, sprouts, carrot shreds and noodles. The four egg rolls made for a scramble for the last one between the three of us but we managed to split it up evenly. It is a different wrapper than found on the Chinese egg rolls; not bad just different. They were fried nice and crispy golden brown. The filling was good, tasty but not quite enough to be a favorite. The dipping sauce was good but I had trouble trying to distinguish it from the chili sauce already on the table. The platter with the fried shrimp was attractive with a bed of lettuce and a bowl of the dipping sauce. Whereas the menu cites a serving of five shrimp, our platter contained six shrimp and was an appropriate two for each of us. They were fried crispy but not overcooked. The shrimp had a nice texture and good flavor.
Com Chien $8.25

Vickie has had spring rolls before; she ordered ala carte. She ordered a combination of Goi Cuan Tom (Fresh shrimp spring roll $3.95 Each spring roll comes with lettuce, cucumber and vermicelli noodles wrapped inside clear rice paper and served with peanut dipping sauce. Two rolls per order) and Com Chien (Fried rice combination with chicken, beef, shrimp and pork $8.25) The spring rolls were served in a nice presentation plate with a portion of peanut sauce and some crushed peanuts. They had been rolled by an experience hand (rice paper is hard to work with) and there were four nice large shrimp in each roll. Vickie said the rolls were very tasty and the peanut sauce a nice savory plus. The fried rice mostly filled the plate with the exception of a small bowl of chicken broth soup on the side. There were some peas and carrots and some egg curds to be seen but most of the additions to the rice were the chicken, shrimp beef and pork. A large serving and more than enough to satisfy the appetite; Vickie said she enjoyed it very much.
Com 5 Thu Ga $11.95

My son Larry, on the other hand, ordered a combination plate and a rather eclectic one at that. He chose Com 5 Thu Ga (Five items with grilled chicken $11.95 Each plate comes with your choice of grilled items over a bed of hot jasmine rice, then topped with sliced cucumber. Served with a side of sweet and spicy fish sauce, pickled carrots and daikon radish and a small bowl of our fresh made-from-scratch chicken broth garnished with cilantro. All grilled items are drizzled with scallion oil. Our five item rice plates come with 3 grilled shrimp, a shrimp sausage wrapped in bean curd, 3 ounces thinly shredded pork and an over-easy egg. For an extra dollar you can substitute fried rice for the jasmine rice.) That is a lot of different foods and a lot of different flavors and tastes. It is all on a large platter and is a substantial serving. I did notice, however, that the menu listed 3 grilled shrimp were little shrimp. Otherwise all was there in adequate quantity. As he ate through his selections, Larry said that everything was very good, very flavorful. However I did notice that the pickled carrots and daikon were left to the very last.

Thit Ga Nuong $8.25
I, after a long perusal of the menu, finally chose Com Thit Ga Nuong (Grilled Chicken $8.25 Each plate comes with your choice of grilled items over a be of hot jasmine rice, then topped with sliced cucumber. Served with a side of sweet and spicy fish sauce, pickled carrots and daikon radish and a small bowl of our fresh make-from-scratch chicken broth garnished with cilantro. All grilled items are drizzled with scallion oil. For fried rice add $1.00) About the equivalent of a chicken breast of grilled chicken tossed with some sautéed vegetables served over a bed of jasmine rice. The chicken had a nice flavor, a bit of chargrilling, a bit of spice, not tiresome or too exotic. When I finished the portion I was looking for more. The chicken broth soup is very nice, very tasty, not too salty. This would be a very nice thing to order on one of those cold blustery winter days but not so much on a very warm New Mexico summer day. The jasmine rice goes well with the chicken. It has a nice flavor as far as plain rice goes but I think any future order would opt for the fried rice for a dollar more. The lettuce and carrot salad, as well as the cucumber slices, adds a bit of greenery to the plate but without a dressing is a bit insipid. The pickled carrots and daikon helped to liven up the salad mix. The rice is cooked loose and chopsticks would be a futile effort. As you note in the picture, spoons are provided. All in all a very good meal and I do not have any real complaints. There are several other items on the menu I would like to try at some future date but if my choices were limited I would be happy ordering this dish again.

We enjoyed our time at the Pho Bar and we all agreed that it would be a place to dine again on my next trip to visit in New Mexico.

Several of the dishes offered a spicy fish sauce and I would guess that would be nuoc mam. The product served here is a much more refined and civilized product than what I remember form way back when. On several occasions I have been a passenger in a helicopter also carrying supplies for mixed forces; Vietnamese troops operating near us. One of the supplies was nuoc mam. It was in those cubical metal 5-gallon can much like cans used for paint thinner. A putrid, decaying fish smell seemed to escape from under the tightly screwed on cap.  You would swear that something had crawled inside that can and died.  Thankfully, commercially made products for sale here in the United States are a much more refined and tamer product.

We always had to be careful to not use scented deodorants, toothpaste or aftershave lotion. That made us smell like occidentals and the word was that in the jungle the VC could smell us a hundred yards away. Be that as it may, we had a secret. If the VC were encamped, eating fish heads and rice and lavishing their meal with nuoc mam, from downwind we could tell where they were form more than a mile away. But that is another story for another day.

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