I have a quick report today on one of the Twin Cities’ classic pho restaurants. Pho Ca Dao is located on University Avenue (where else?) at Arundel—right across the street from Thai Garden and Cheng Heng—and is as pure a pho operation as you can get. Well, I suppose if they only served pho it would be purer but they don’t serve very much more than that. Only one other savoury dish in fact: egg rolls. Yes, if you turn the menu over there are some desserts and some drinks but you don’t go to Pho Ca Dao if pho is not what you are looking for. You can choose between two set options, the Traditional (with steak, flank and tripe) or the House Special (which adds meatballs) or you can rig a custom bowl with a choice of any three meats (tendon, fatty brisket and chicken are the three others available). Your only other choice is whether you want a small or a large bowl. Then you sit back and wait.

As you would expect from a place with such a focus on pho, the pho is very good. The broth has a clean flavour: it’s not over-the-top meaty as at some places (that probably juice their broth) or as spicy as at others, but it’s very good. They don’t load the bowl with a ton of meat (which I actually appreciate) but they do load it with a lot of cilantro (which I also appreciate). If you are part of that inexplicable group that does not like cilantro, you might ask for it to be left out when you order.

The only other item on the menu, the egg rolls, are also very good. A tasty meaty stuffing and an excellent fry job. There once used to be papaya salad on the menu as well, but no longer. Prices have risen a bit over the years but it’s still a very good deal: $9 for a small bowl of pho, $10 for the large; doing the House Special adds another $1 on to each). The egg rolls are just $3.75.

We ate there after a long while last week—the day before Thanksgiving and not after as we’d originally thought we’d do. We started with the egg rolls and got a bowl of pho each; each a custom job. The missus and the boys got smalls: steak-flank-meatballs; steak-brisket-tendon; steak-tripe-tendon. I got a large: tripe-tendon-brisket. We liked the egg rolls so much that we ordered a second plate right away. And we all liked our pho very much too.

So, if you’re not looking for anything beyond pho and eggrolls, is there a reason not to go to Pho Ca Dao? Well, there’s nothing vegetarian on the menu, if that’s an issue. And if you aren’t carrying cash, you’ll be in trouble as well. It’s also quite a utilitarian space. But if you’ve got cash on you, and you’re omnivorous, and you’re craving a bowl of excellent noodle soup, and don’t care if the restaurant you get it in has not invested very much in decor, you could do far worse than stop in at Pho Ca Dao. Especially in the Minnesota winter. Yes, I know Vietnam is a tropical country and pho is eaten there in the heat, but there’s something especially comforting about a steaming bowl of pho when it’s below freezing outside. And if it’s an excellent bowl of pho, as at Pho Ca Dao, so much the better.

For a quick look at the restaurant, the menu (not that it would ever take very long to look at it) and what we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next.

Service is of the prompt and brusque variety, which is just fine by us. Price? For one large and three small bowls of pho, two orders of egg rolls, a Coke, a lemonade, a tender coconut juice plus tax the total came to just above $62. With tip added that was $74. Pretty good value for the quality and quantity. I recommend.

Alright, coming up next on the restaurant report front this week: my last report from Italy and one or two reports from Dublin. I’m not sure yet where next week’s Twin Cities restaurant report will be from. There are a few places we’ve been wanting to go to for the first time, and more we’ve been talking about going back to for some time. Let’s see how it goes.