Attendees: Steph, BeataChopstick Chowdown Challenge was put on hold on a few weeks as two of the founding members hit the road in the U.S. of A. During Road Trip USA we take the recommendation of our trusty guidebook and visit a Pho restaurant in Oklahoma City.
“Oh-kla-homa! Where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain. And the wavin’ wheat can sure smell sweet...Okla-okla-okla-okla-homa!". We sing out the showtunes as we enter the panhandle end of the state.
Negiotiating our way into Oklahoma City our trusty guidebook initially fails us. The map directs us to the stockyards and then gets us stuck in road works construction. No sign of any Asian restaurants around here! I scrutinise the map and realise that the key has been numbered incorrectly and doesn’t correspond to the address in the restaurant description.
Like many American cities (but unlike the ‘wagonwheel’ that is Santa Fe), Oklahoma City is built in a grid with numbered east-west streets. We are quickly back on track.
It is obvious when we hit the Asian district with its Asian signs, archway and dragon statues. More puzzling is the Golden Dome that marks its outskirts and the waving, costumed Liberty tax character.
While Australia’s Vietnamese population is easily explained by its geographic proximity, I was surprised to find a burgeoning one in the middle of the American bible belt. Retrospective research tells me that tens of thousands of Vietnamese refugees fled to Oklahoma City in the 1970s. Time to find out how their pho compares to the ones we've been eating on Victoria Street.
The restaurant looks like it could be on Victoria St, Melbourne but much larger. Stock standard tables and chairs with a green theme.
The menu has a good variety of pho and is cutely divided into 'For the beginners', 'A little bit of fat?', 'Adventurer's choice', and 'Fortifying combos'. Our standard beef pho comes from the first category.
I find it lacks the tanginess I enjoy and tastes more like peppery beef stock. Like everything oversized in America the accompanying plate of bean sprouts and basil is massive. A nice American touch is the inclusion of a fat green chilli, which we are wary of after our last green chilli experience in New Mexico (which I won't recount in case you are eating while reading this!)
In America they call spring rolls, fried egg rolls so we take a guess that rice paper rolls are what is described on the menu as fresh spring rolls. They are fairly tasty and come with a generous serving of dipping sauce.
In general we have found the food in America cheap and this is another bargain at $5.95 for a large bowl (roughly $AUD 6.50).Refuelled and renegergised we were ‘back on the road again’ (lalalala) and onwards to Dallas, Texas and our next road tripping adventure. It may have involved a brush with fame and a ride in a limo but that’s story for another day…or blog…
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