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| 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
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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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