The dish I ended up trying was Bánh Tam Tom Thit Nuóng, a thick vermicelli with grilled pork skin and shrimp in coconut syrup and a special sauce. The coconut sauce made it sound interesting, and was not something I had tried anywhere else. The pork skin was the only part of it about which I was hesitant, but it turned out to be crispy and very good. The coconut syrup was in a cup on the side, so I ended up eating part of the meal with the syrup and part of it without it (both were good). Grilled onions, nuts, and spices were added to the mix of flavors. The pork skin probably expanded my horizon a little as to what I was willing to try, but it turned out to be very worthwhile. I do not think the result would have been as good in the hands of a less experienced chef, leading me to think that Phő Cuòng is one of the better places to try Vietnamese food.

Bún bò Huê

Having recently tried Bún bò Huê for the first time, I tried it at Phő Cuòng for comparison. Wikipedia describes this as a soup with rice noodles that are thicker than the ones used in pho, cooked with beef bones for a long period of time, and flavored with lemongrass and shrimp paste. The menus at Vietnamese restaurants usually describe the meats that are used, including pig's feet and beef shank. Other restaurants include congealed pig blood balls, but Phő Cuòng did not. This made me think perhaps this version was not as authentic as others I have tried, but apparently the types of "mystery meat" thrown in are optional with each chef. To me the outstanding feature of this soup was the flavor of the broth, and I thought it was outstanding regardless of the meat used (I did not care much for some of the meat that was included, but others were quite good). According to Wikipedia the soup is not always spicy, but this one was on the spicy side (but to me this just made it better). I was quite impressed with this dish that is considered one of Vietnam's favorites, but is rather hard to find in American Vietnamese restaurants.