Pho so much more than soup

LITTLE ROCK — Pho Thanh My subtitles itself “Vietnamese Noodle Soup.” But while that’s the primary focus, this is really a full-menu, full-service Vietnamese restaurant. Recently opened on North Shackleford Road, across the street from the Kroger, this space formerly housed a Middle Eastern restaurant, Albasha Grill, and the New York Fresh Deli.

One difference you’ll notice, just driving by, is that whereas both those establishments always had a few customers, Pho Thanh My has customers.

The parking lot and the restaurant have been usually pretty crowded. Many of the customers are Asian, which is a good indication at an Asian restaurant that it’s worth checking out.

The menu is a little less crowded that those of the area’s other Vietnamese restaurants. Unlike Sai Gon, there are no Chinese or Thai sections; unlike Van-Lang, you won’t find a page of Korean dishes.

But fewer options can be a good thing, and we very much enjoyed what we had. Everything is fresh and tastes fresh. And nobody is going to walk away from Pho Thanh My feeling like they didn’t get enough to eat.

The management has added tables to what had been previously unoccupied space in the front of the dining room. The “original” tables are sturdy, hard wood with wooden chairs, some of them slightly padded; the new tables are Formica-topped with padded metal cafeteria-style chairs. They’re arranged so that the staff can group tables to seat large parties, which accommodates big family groupings, which you will very often find there.

The chief drawback, comfort-wise, is that the vent-a-hood, which was adequate to handle the comparatively small volume of grilling that only a couple of kitchen staff did at Albasha, can’t always handle the larger volume of food that the larger staff is trying to cook here.

Some fry-grill-smoke leaks into the dining room, so customers have been known to head home smelling a little like char-grilled pork. The staff occasionally props open front and back doors to clear the air - which, on colder and especially windier days, has caused some customers to complain about the dining room temperature.

Though we stuck primarily to familiar menu items, we were universally pleased with the results.

Pho Thanh My’s Cha Gio fried egg rolls (A1, $2.50 for two), filled with minced pork and fresh vegetables, are crisp and almost grease-free. They come with a small bowl of sweet-and-sour-and-spicy sauce for dipping.

Goi Cuon (A2, $3.50 for two), fresh pork and shrimp spring rolls, are excellent, with a small bowl of hoisin based peanut sauce that was delicious but wasn’t quite thick enough to cling well. The tasty Crab Wontons (A4, $2.50) have a minimal amount of surimi (quasi-crab) mixed in with the slightly sweet, very hot cream cheese filling inside crisp-fried shells.

It’s part of the restaurant name, so we were obligated, but because we were feeling contrary, we waited until our last visit to try the Pho ($7.95), a huge bowl of rich, beefy broth in 11 different preparations, depending on whether you want it with thin-sliced steak, brisket, meatballs, tripe, “soft tendon,” combinations of those, seafood or, for an extra buck, a combination of all of the above.

We went with a repeat of our first pho experience, Pho Tai Bo Vien (P5), with thin slices of steak (that cook in the broth for an added layer of flavor) and somewhat springy Vietnamese meatballs, plus about a ton of thin rice noodles. On the side is a plate of add-to-taste-or-texture items, including a pile of bean sprouts, Thai basil, lime wedges and a couple of fresh peppers (not Thai hot or maybe even fresh jalapeno hot, but they can give the broth a bit of a zing).

We gleefully extracted the beef, the meatballs and as many of the noodles as we could, and still had what seemed like several gallons of broth left over, some of which we inelegantly consumed by hoisting the bowl and tipping its contents into our throats, but most of which we were forced, by fullness and logistics, to leave behind.

Hungry for soup but not in the mood for beefiness? Try one of the milder “regional-style soups” (Mi/Hu Tieu), made with egg (Mi) or rice (Hu) noodles.

Our absolutely outstanding Hu Tieu Thap Cam (M4, $7.95) came stocked with sliced pork, shrimp, squid, crab meat (actually surimi, and plenty of it) and firm boiled-in-the-broth quail eggs, plus a side plate with lemongrass, bean sprouts and peppers to throw in at our flavor judgment.

We’re saving for a subsequent visit the Hoanh Tranh (M3, $7.50), a wonton-dumpling soup with pork and shrimp.

If you’re more into noodles than noodle soup, look toward the Vermicelli Bowl, or “Bun,” section of the menu. We can recommend Pho Thanh My’s version of our old favorite, Bun Thit Nong Cha Gio (B7,$7.95), chilled, firm rice noodles topped with “char-glazed” sliced pork and chopped-up egg rolls. You’ll get a fuller flavor experience by adding a dash (or the entire bowl) of red-peppery-vinegary fish sauce.

For fans of Chinese lo mein, or if you just prefer your noodles hot, go for them stir-fried (Mi Xao). The Mi Xao Dac Biet (X4, $8.95), combination stir-fried noodles, featured thin, long, ramen-like noodles turned slightly yellow while being stir-fried with plenty of chicken, beef, shrimp and other seafood. Ours was more richly flavored than some versions we’ve tried, and we liked it more therefore.

Pho Thanh My does not serve alcoholic beverages, at least not yet (and there’s no sign they plan to apply for a permit); that’s a shame, since some of these dishes would go particularly well with some of our favorite Asian beers. Vietnamese coffee is available; so is Thai iced tea, though pre-mixed from a small $3 bottle.

Pho Thanh My is a family operation, with the paterfamilias manning the front desk (pay up front instead of at the table) and supervising to make sure all goes well.

The very young wait staff, well-meaning but obviously anxious that everything should start well, be well and continue to go well, tended to hover a bit.

They were, however, generally helpful in explaining menu options - and one snatched the plate of in-your-soup side items that had just arrived and quickly replaced it with the “proper” stuff, not that we’d have known the difference - and also in helping us attempt to pronounce dishes’ names.

Pho Thanh My Address: 302 N. Shackleford Road, Little Rock Hours: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday Cuisine: Vietnamese Credit cards: V, MC, AE, D Alcoholic beverages: No Reservations: Accepted for large parties Wheelchair accessible: Yes Carryout: Yes (501) 312-7498

Weekend, Pages 31 on 12/30/2010

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