Pho 400 - New Brighton, MN

  

Before I ramble on per usual, I'll say Pho 400 has my favorite wings in the Twin Cities . . . 

 

Hidden on Old Highway 8 in a non-descript sketchy strip club looking building (Mirage even sounds like a strip club) sat on a parking lot with asphalt broken and cratered to hell, is this stellar Vietnamese restaurant, Pho 400.  The insides are no great shakes either; little raggedy, "a little bleary, worse for wear and tear". But it’s certainly found a following seeing as that nearly every lunch during the week the dining room is packed.  I’ve eaten in or ordered take out at least a couple dozen times over the past six years, and if it was a bit closer to home, I’d be ordering here once a month

Ha, after living in AZ for thirteen years, moving back to the moon surface asphalt of MN is still a trip . . . but don't let that deter you

Yeah, so their Fried Chicken Wings with Spicy Oyster Sauce are phenominal.  Huge wings (which generally I don’t prefer), but they need to be huge because there’s a thick crisp layer of batter.  Batter to the point where there’s nubules (nubuals?) of batter sticking out all over the place.  It’d be overkill if the sauce wasn’t so thick itself.  Flavorful, salty, bit of spice, and not too sweet.  The best wings of any kind I've had in town, and at $7.99, are quite the bargain compared to typical wing places charging $12+ for half a dozen wings these days

Get yourself an ice cold sweetened Vietnamese Coffee to go with, and you've got a killer combo.  The first time I had one at lunch on a summer day, I was blown away.  Deep, dark, bitter, sweet, thick, creamy . . . so good that on the way home from work I stopped to snag one for the road.  I found myself buying a cold brew iced coffee set-up, spices, and cans of condensed milk to start making them at home 

A pot of Hot Tea won't blow you away (though you might burn your hand pouring it), but for $1.79 no complaints

On to entrees . . . Their Bun Bo Hue wasn’t to a level of depth and funk and spiciness of a killer bowl the first time I had it, but it scratches an itch.  The mountain of accouterments was fresh, though bordering on the ridiculous.  A few years later I had half the soup for lunch one day and half the next. That did the trick.  Leaving the pork hock and shank in the remaining half of the broth overnight put it to the right level of funk

From the only two items in the “Popular Dishes”, I ordered the Spicy Lemongrass Chicken, extra spicy, and it was.  Not just flavor but visually.  As for the lemongrass . . . if you were hoping to get slapped across the face with it, you’d be disappointed.  As it is, it has a hint of lemongrass on the front, but mostly comes out in the aftertaste. Was a nice dish

I don’t make it a habit of ordering Chinese food at Vietnamese places, but out of curiosity, I ordered their House Lo Mein to go (and have since ordered it out twice more).  Lo Mein is one of my go-to’s for Americanized Chinese takeout, and I’d put Pho 400 up with or above most I’ve had previously.  Pink ringed pork, chicken, and shrimp.  Plus for the fresh bright veggies, Minus for only three shrimp and, if there was beef in it, I couldn’t find it

But after ALLLLLLLLL THAT . . . how’s the Pho!?!  The pho that Jon Cheng of the Star Trib called, "The best place in the Twin Cities area to get pho. Period" in a 2022 article (It's a nice piece on the owner and restaurant). Big words to stand up to, and it IS perfectly fine, but not a standout like say Hmoob Kitchen at the Hmongtown Marketplace (or my dear departed retired Mama's Fusion).  Watery broth, not much spice or depth, the strongest flavor is onion.  On one occasion the “rare” beef was added in the kitchen, so it was no longer anywhere near rare.  On a take-out order it was still partially frozen one time and perfect raw another time

At the beginning of his article, he mentions the caddy of condiments, and Pho 400 does it up right. Once I went right at opening, and the caddy was the cleanest refreshened spinner I think I've ever seen in a joint. Impressive

Not everything is up to snuff, though.  Their Breaded Shrimp are to be avoided; the only thing I’ve tasted here that screamed “From Sysco”.  The sweet sauce was typical terrible jug goo. Why drag the rest of your menu down? I'd take them off

As for the rest of the apps, it's the typical Greatest hits with a hint of stand out. Hard to beat their huge, packed, and delicious Fried Cream Cheese Wontons.  I by far love Vietnamese egg rolls over any other type, and 400’s Cha Gio are solid

Their Spring Roll with Grilled Meatballs couldn’t have been more freshly made.  I wouldn’t necessarily call it a meatball since it was a long stick, but it was finely ground pork with some heat to it.  Came with a basic gloopy hoisin dip with bits of peanut

My friend’s Bun with marinated grilled chicken was a massive and beautiful plate of freshness at the restaurant, as it also was for my take-out order, but the marinated grilled pork didn’t measure up this time.  The bean sprouts were brown on the end, firmly on the downslope of life, and the pork, while seasoned and grilled well, was fatty to the point of spitting out an unacceptable number of unchewable bites

Overall, Pho 400 welllllllll deserves the patronage it's earned, I recommend them all the time without hesitation, and I'm sure to be back again and again and again and . . .

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www.pho400.com

Pho 400 - 400 Old Hwy 8 NW, New Brighton, MN 55112

(651) 633-9480