This week’s pandemic takeout reports sees us remaining in Dakota County. After last week’s excellent takeout from House of Curry in Rosemount, we move a bit further west in physical terms to Apple Valley and a bit further east in culinary geography to Vietnamese food. On the way back from a Costco run I stopped at Pho Valley in that massive complex between Cedar Avenue and Co. Rd. 42 and picked up some spring/egg rolls, some soups, a banh mi and some grilled meat. It was our first time getting takeout from them, whether during or before the pandemic. I am pleased to report that while nothing was amazing everything hit the spot.

They are open for dining in, by the way. You do have to make a reservation (which is good) and masks are strictly required. I will say that when I went in to pay for and pick up our order I didn’t think tables were as widely spaced as they might have been. That said, we are not yet ready to dine in anywhere and those who are less risk-averse will likely see all this differently.

What did we get? One order of the spring rolls (with pork and shrimp) and one order of the Vietnamese eggrolls. Both were rather good even after a 20 minute drive. For the boys, 2 grilled chicken skewers and a broken rice plate with grilled pork. They shared these and enjoyed them greatly. The missus got the special pho (with a mix of meats) and I got the bun bo hue. I’ve said before that their pho is much better than their bun bo hue and so it proved on this occasion as well (though the bun bo hue was tasty enough too). And because I am greedy I also got a banh mi (they have just the one type with grilled pork). I ate a bit of it at dinner and saved the rest for breakfast the next day (it heated up quite well in the toaster oven).

For a look at what we ate (plus the menu) launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see what might be coming next.

I’m not sure where next weekend will take us. There’s a good chance we might stay in the South Metro for more Vietnamese—at either Cam Ranh Bay or Saigon Palace in Burnsville. I’ve also recently been recommended a new (to me) South Indian place in Eden Prairie that I am motivated to check out. There’s also a chance that we might head up to St. Paul—in which case either Cambodian or Ethiopian will be the order of the day. Let’s see how it goes.

If you’re in the Twin Cities metro too and have places you’ve been getting takeout from that you’d recommend, please write in below. I’m particularly interested to know if there are other Vietnamese places in Burnsville, Bloomington or Eagan that are worth a look.