Phở Hòa: Kind of blah...

Lunch date #11: April 6, 2012

We knew we were going to have to get there eventually—might as well go for it…it was time for phở! This seems to be an up and coming popular food, with new places springing up all over town. Phở (rhymes with "the"), of course is the style of a Vietnamese broth with noodles, typically served with a choice of cooked meat, and topped with bean sprouts and a bit of green onion. Since we were trying to be true to our goal to sample all of what downtown has to offer, we elected to hit the south end of Main St. and try Phở Hòa (201 Main St, next to Vic's).  As per Google-Translator: Hòa means flower or blossom, and is pronounced "wha". Steph gets phở all of the time. She extols its many benefits: that it is somewhat healthy and usually pretty cheap top the list. As I had reported in our introductory blog, Mom had tried phở with Steph at Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant on the north end of downtown. She didn't remember too much about it, other than that it was just "OK" and that she didn't particularly want to have it again! But this is the "New Mom"…ready to try any and everything…so with her chopstick adapters in hand, we headed to Phở Hòa for an adventure.

 

Critique #1 location: 4 points. We have realized we are in trouble with our scores in this area. We gave Vic's a 5, even though it is on the far south end of Main Street. Since we aim for reliable consistency in our reviews, we need to be fair. But this place does not face Main St., so we justified a 4. In retrospect, we should have scored Vic's a 4, and then this place a 3. There is a good amount of parking, which is an advantage.

Critique #2 ambiance: 1 point. Wow are we tough or what! I don't know—maybe it was the large plastic palm trees (!), but the place is pretty tacky: acoustic tile ceiling, Formica stained tables, cheap linoleum flooring. Mom's sums it up well: "Reminds me of a cafeteria". You get the idea. When I described it to Steph, she said not to be so critical: "It's like Vietnamese fast-food," she explained. Now, I get the idea!

Critique #3 Menu: 4 points. We have absolutely no idea how to read this menu. There are a lot of items, with (thankfully) pictures. We elected to award 4 points due to variety. You can choose from many types of phở, to rice plates, vermicelli bowls (is that kind of an Italian fusion thing??), and even fruit smoothies. I went with #1—trying to select their signature dish: Phở Tái: noodle soup with thinly sliced beef. Mom, being somewhat "over" phở, chose the Bún Gà Nưóng: A vermicelli bowl of grilled chicken over noodles.

 Phở Tái:

Critique #4 service: 2 points. We definitely had a language barrier issue here. We tried to nicely explain that we were neophytes in the world of phở, but we didn't get much help. The food was brought out amazingly fast (must be all pre-cooked and ready to plate out), but just rather deposited on our table and that was about it for service. Mom ordered coffee—it was a sort of French-press style, but without the press part…guessing that is Vietnamese coffee? We had no clue, and got no help. Mom said that at a place like this, they don't usually have coffee. My reply: "For good reason!" The tea was barely warm and not all that great. Regarding the phở: when the server later cleared the dishes, he told me that I should have added the bean sprouts to the broth right away—so they would soften. Kinda late for that, I thought. Good thing Mom brought her own little chopstick adapters…don't suppose she would have gotten those there.

Vietnamese coffee??

Critique #5 food: 2.5 points. The vermicelli was dry. It was served with a side of broth, that I suppose was to be added, but the broth was cold. Mine was fair: the beef was thin and tender. Not served bite-size…not quite sure how to cut Asian food, since all I had were chopsticks. As we were clueless, we didn't realize that we were supposed to "doctor" up the broth/noodles with the selection of condiments on the table: they have plum sauce, chili sauce and some other things I could not identify. Steph later told us that seasoning the broth to taste makes a big difference! She also later told me that I should have stirred up the noodles right away—or they coalesce into a lump…she was right, they did! Guess I should have gotten the "how to" advice before we went!

The chopstick adapters in use!

Critique #6 value: 3 points. The prices were fine: $8 for the Vermicelli bowl, about $7 for the phở, but since we didn't really care for anything all that much—we regarded the value as medium…inexpensive, but unimpressive. Also, there was nothing to take home. I know they do take-out, but this just wasn't a left over sort of thing…not that we'd really want to eat it again anyway.

Overall score for Phở Hòa: 2.8 points. Certainly not all that great. Not horrible. Perhaps we would do better now that we know what to do…or better yet, take Steph along for on the spot phở eating instructions!

Oasis Grille: For "Foodies", a thrill!

Lunch date #10: March 23, 2012

"I feel like I've come out of a cocoon!" marveled Mom as she reflected back over our ten lunch dates. "I never even knew this sort of food existed, or that I would like it," she admitted. I think her palate has been awoken! We have had many different types of food: Chinese, Italian, Greek, Indian…and now sitting at lunch, eating Afghan food, Mom has had a bit of an epiphany! It is amazing to see the transformation from a diet that existed primarily of cheeseburgers and roast-beef sandwiches, OK…so maybe with the occasional turkey sandwich or taco salad thrown in. But to see her really enjoying the experiment to try so many different types of food—this project, in 10 short dates, is already a huge success. So many different things to try, so many places to go…we are having a blast!

For our 10^th date, we headed to Oasis Grille (and Wine Lounge) 780 MainSt. (www.oasisgrille.com). I've always loved the venue, since first built for Coffee Roast Express—and was sad when the owners decided to close that Pleasanton icon. I had tried Oasis several times, for lunch, dinner, appetizers/drinks and always thought it was fair. When I suggested it to Mom, I told her we'd eat Afghani food. She wasn't so sure…but being the sport that she always is (and even more of a "foodie" these days), she was all for it.

Critique #1 location: 5 points. Obviously everything downtown will get the full score. I especially love this building and greatly appreciate the improvement that this interesting architecture added to our downtown landscape.

Critique #2 ambiance: 5 points. The conversion from coffee shop to restaurant/wine lounge is not an easy one. We felt they did an extremely good job to create an inviting atmosphere to dine and relax. We were seated inside, due to inclement weather, but I've enjoyed sitting in the patio ("rose garden") and on the front porch several times; a perfect place for a summer afternoon or evening. When we first walked in, Mom was surprised: "It's nicer than I thought it would be!" We appreciated the décor and white linen table cloths. On the wine-lounge side, there are a few little couches and bar-style tables, and the main bar is beautiful.  I actually like that it still has a bit of the old Coffee Roast Express personality peeking through—like seeing an old friend.

Flame-Grilled Chicken Kabob

Critique #3 Menu Selection: 4 points. Oasis has transformed a bit since originally opening. They have diversified into a Mediterranean fusion of Greek/Italian and still offer some apparently authentic Afghan dishes. Where else can you get Aushak (a leek/cilantro pasta-meat dish) or Mantoo (ground beef/onion dumplings and yogurt sauce), or their amazing signature Pumpkin Borani?  The only criticism of the menu is that they don't have much in the way of specific lunch offerings. As per our server, the only difference between lunch and dinner is the addition of Gyros to the menu of the former. They could use some more economically priced and lighter lunch items, in our opinion.

Critique #4 Service: 4 points. Our server did an excellent job. We let her know that our mission was to try Afghani-style food that day, and she was quite helpful deciphering the menu by giving us good descriptions of the unfamiliar items. She definitely encouraged us to try the Pumpkin Borani. Our only complaint with the table service was that they failed to give us any appetizer plates with which to eat our Borani. We had  little plates for our flatbread, so we used those and dug in!

Phenomenal Pumpkin Borani

Critique #5 Food: 4.5 points. The Pumpkin Borani was out of this world, insanely amazing, heaven on a plate! Absolutely a perfect 10!  I've had it before, but really didn't remember it being this tantalizing. Must have been perfectly sweet sugar pumpkins…or perhaps it was a substitute with acorn squash (so says my friend Janis), but whatever it was…it was truly the very best treat we've had on our lunch dates yet. Just the right texture and blend of spices with the garlic yogurt topping that was absolute perfection.  The rest of the meal was fair to good. My Flame-Grilled Chicken Kabob was described on the menu as juicy, but was in fact a bit dry. The red-pepper chutney was quite tasty, however, and the asparagus grilled nicely. Mom got the Mantoo and liked it OK. The fresh flatbread brought to the table was very good and soft. If not for the Borani, we would have given it a 3.5; if only the Borani—it would have been 5 plus!

Critique #6 value: 4 points. If we had delayed lunch just a bit, we would have been delighted with the price of the Borani later. Between 2-6pm, half priced appetizers and happy hour wine pourings are offered. We started lunch at 1:00, so paid the full $10 for the Borani (quite worth it, by the way…but for $5 would have been the bargain of a lifetime). The entrées were a bit higher than what we had been paying elsewhere. The dinner menu is fairly similar with slightly higher prices…perhaps due to larger portion sizes?

Overall score for Oasis Grille: 4.4 points. We had a wonderful lunch date and enjoyed our experience at Oasis. We will definitely return…especially during happy hour! As per our usual, we ordered too much food—but we wanted to bravely sample some different items. Also as per our usual, we took home the left overs and this time, I think I was the excited one to savor more Pumpkin Borani that evening!