Vietnamese soup perfect on cold day, but not here

It seems unlikely that a country as hot and humid as Vietnam would come up with a dish that is as perfect on an icy winter day as pho.

But walk into Pho 54, Colorado Springs’ only pho-specific restaurant, on a brisk December day and you’ll see it is true: steaming broth, golden and translucent like raw honey, swimming with thin tendrils of rice noodle, and huge, even if you order a small.

Pho is one of the national street dishes of Vietnam — a fast, filling and cheap meal. And given the million or so Vietnamese immigrants now in the United States and America’s seemingly endless appetite for new snack foods (Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to eat fried cheese) it is not surprising that pho is increasingly popular here.

But in Colorado Springs, pho has never caught on. It stays hidden in the “soups” section of most Vietnamese menus — an understudy to the upstart noodle bowl.

But in many ways, pho is the true star, or should I say, star anise.

The key is the broth. The best ones are made by slowly simmering beef bones for hours with cinnamon, star anise, clove and slightly burnt onions. The result is perplexing: Clear but complex, rich but light, and a perfect palette for what comes next. Good pho is served almost boiling hot, with thin rice noodles dancing in the depths and a side platter heaped with cilantro, Thai basil, wheels of jalapeño, bean sprouts and limes.

It’s usually served as a DIY project. The diner tears up the herb leaves and sprinkles them in, adds lime juice and hot sauce to taste, then digs in.

Good pho also comes with a menu of meat options: thinly sliced brisket, small meatballs and sometimes chicken. Tripe and cow tendon await the more adventurous.

And really good pho can come with raw slices of beef fillet to be tossed into the scalding broth, where they cook almost instantly.

The problem with Pho 54 is that it does not share many of the qualities of good pho.

In the small pho ($5.95), beef fillet comes already added to the mix.

The kitchen has a tendency to put tripe in orders that don’t ask for it.

Tendon came as a frightening frozen cube in the soup.

And worst of all, the broth is flat and bland, with little evidence of spices.

It’s too bad, because Pho 54 has all the markings of a true pho joint. Like all good pho joints I’ve been to, it’s in a strip mall. It has an almost monastically austere interior. And the service is shockingly fast.

But the broth just isn’t there. Anyone really hungering for good pho would do better to grab a seat at Saigon Cafe, downtown. It’s a little more expensive ($8.25), but well worth it.

Just don’t try to get it to go. Another element of good pho is that it must be eaten immediately.

PHO 54
2 stars out of 5
(bland)
Address: 1371 N. Academy Blvd.
Phone: 380-0000
Hours: 10 a.m.- 9 p.m. daily
Entrees: $5.95 - $7.95
Vegetarian: No
Liquor: No
Credit cards: Yes