Sunday, January 21, 2007

Meat, Meat, More Meat, and a Little Gelatinous Cartilage!

We didn't hike, or check out a new area of Oregon, or ride our bikes downtown, but we did something adventurous, nonetheless. We decided to eat at a little Vietnamese noodle house on Saturday afternoon. When we visited Vancouver BC a couple of years ago, we really missed some of the food oppurtunities, like noodle places, and have wanted to right that wrong ever since.
This particular place is non-descript enough, just a tiny spot in the middle of a strip mall, though when we walked in, it was practically a foreign country. It isn't often that we are the minorities, but we were two of only four non-Vietnamese customers. Daunting.
When we got the menu there were nineteen options for Beef Noodle Soup. Here is an example...
P1. Fatty Brisket, Top Round Steak, Beef Tripe, and Soft Tendon.
Of the nineteen options they all had either tripe or soft tendon. Sergio ordered the item above, and I ordered P20. That would be Chicken Noodle Soup, if you were wondering.
The soup is made by putting dried rice noodles in the bottom of an enourmous bowl, adding slow roasted brisket, uncooked thinly sliced steak, uncooked soft tendon, and tripe, and then scalding beef broth is poured over it. By the time it arrives at the table, it is mostly cooked. At the table you add any of the following condiments they provide. Thai basil, jalapenos, lime, bean sprouts, three types of chili sauce, soy sauce, and a couple of things I didn't recognize.
Overall the experience was pleasing, and I would certainly go back. I will still be getting the chicken, though.
In case any of you haven't tried soft tendon, here is a useful way to know what it feels like, as it has no taste of its own. Suck all of the candy coating off of a Mike and Ike candy, then roll the gooey center around in your mouth for awhile. Now imagine it tastes sort of beefy. Yum.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi guys. So here's my story. My job has gone down hill a little bit lately so I'm very, very bored. I've basically been surfing the internet for some period everyday. This means I've been looking at your blog a lot. I just saw the picture of Sergio cutting onions, I'm guessing, with ski goggles on. I love it, and I think I need to try the same thing. I hope everything is going well for you guys. Talk to you later!

Oh, and the meat soup thing makes me sick just thinking about it. I would definately go with Dawn's choice as well!