[Food Review] Nam Son/We Came Back Just For You

I'm telling you, Nam Son is love.

What type of person calls a friend to hang out just so they can have pho? Apparently Lils and I do that. Last time, Tick Tock Diner gave us a sharp reminder not to betray pho ever again. We return to the ever so successful Vietnamese joint for some good old pho. It appears that the prices on the menu have changed. Business is hard, I can't blame them if they want to survive. What was hard at the moment was what to eat again.

The same question comes up for the both of us each time at Nam Son. Do you go for the Xe Lua or do you try something else? Almost everytime Xe Lua is the answer. But I promised myself to get something different this time! Ok, let's stick with the plan. After scanning this familiar menu, I settled on Pho Ga Nuong. I was going to just go with Pho Ga, but seeing that Nuong meant "grilled", I was in.

Last time I had a Bun Cha Gio Bo Nuong and the beef was charred a little too much. I felt like I was eating smoke. This time, the Ga Nuong is grilled chicken and that changed everything. You can tell that they had marinated their meats overnight to give it a chewable texture. The meats are sweetened like Korean bulgogi, but retain some savoriness to it. The soup as always is spectacular. Pho goes so well with sriracha, but I enjoyed sambal oelek with it this time. For $7.95, pho doesn't disappoint.

Lils and I also decided to order another dish in additional to our individual pho. So we went for the Banh Xeo which I think was probably $8.95. It came on a large plate that took up most of our tiny table. You can see it in the photo that it is a large Vietnamese style crepe that you make lettuce wraps out of. Inside the crispy crepe is blanched pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts. On the side you get fresh mint and lettuce for the wrap. You finish it off with a sweetened fish sauce. I don't know about my readers, but I really like fish sauce even if it smells terrible.

That day was one of those few moments where I felt like I ordered too much food. I was sure that I was hungry before walking into Nam Son, but I guess I wasn't hungry enough. We left a small portion of bean sprouts unfinished on the plate though I'm glad to say we did manage to finish most of our food.