April is a hard month. It’s 60 and sunny one day, and the next day it’s snowing. The false springs are highly discouraging. The wind is whipping. No matter how hard you try to deny it, it’s still cold. Classes are winding down while work is somehow ramping up. The dining halls feel especially busy; there’s an upsetting mix of people you really did not want to run into and people you swear you have never seen in your entire life. Our campus is not big enough for me to be constantly surprised by faces at overflowing tables as I near the verge of tears trying to find a seat in Bob’s at 6:00 p.m. Sometimes, I’ve just had enough.
It was one such night: far too cold, in a week far too long, filled with far too many unsuccessful dining hall attempts, that I ended up at Pho Appetite. Located right off of Kennedy Memorial Drive in Oakland is a restaurant that looks an awful lot like a house. In fact, it almost certainly was a house at one point. Despite its exterior, it does not feel particularly “homey” now. The atmosphere is … odd. The neon signs are aggressively colorful, particularly with the brightness of the harsh fluorescent overhead lights. There are people milling about, mostly at tables waiting to pick up their orders. We — my two friends and I — are the only people dining in. It is 6:00 p.m. on a Thursday and they are not very busy, but will soon get a rush of orders before closing at 7:00 p.m. (This is a phenomena I have noticed with several Waterville area restaurants. They close very early at night. Something to be aware of when you are going out to eat). But the smell. Oh, the smell. It would make the world’s best candle. It’s immediately relaxing, comforting, and homey.
It smells like cinnamon. I typically think cinnamon is overrated and overpowering, but not here. Here, it smells like everything will be okay. It smells warm, if that is even possible. You take off your coat, forgetting about the biting cold outside, ready for an enormous bowl of broth and bits.
The broth is deeply flavorful and full of the traditional cinnamon flavor. I got the Pho Special which is their typical beef bone broth with steak, brisket, beef flank, beef tendon, meatballs, and tripe. It is served, as always, with a side of bean sprouts, jalapeno, lime, and cilantro. It is delicious. The steak is barely rare; soft and delicate. The brisket is so tender it melts in your mouth. The meatballs and flank are hardy. The tendon and tripe are my least favorite, but I always had a textural problem with tripe (the stomach lining of a cow), so I don’t begrudge the pho for that.
Pho Appetite is also known for its various boba and milk tea flavors. This is a realm I am entirely unfamiliar with, but was pleasantly surprised by. I tried a sip of my friend’s brown sugar milk tea with boba, and was initially taken aback by the sweetness of the little bursting tapioca balls. After I got used to that sensation, I enjoyed it. Not exactly my cup of tea, but well done, as everything on their menu is.
My friends and I also shared the crab rangoon. They were exactly what I would expect out of crab rangoon, which is to say I enjoyed it, but only if I did not focus on the fact that I was eating a mixture of imitation crab meat and cream cheese. I also got a beef bahn mi, just for scientific purposes. Bahn mi’s were my introduction to Vietnamese food and remain one of my all time favorite sandwiches. The baguette was appropriately crusty and the meat still very tender, but I wanted more herb and pickle. It felt, particularly in contrast to the freshness of the pho broth, a bit lacking in bite. To solve this, I dipped the bahn mi in my remaining pho broth. Like a Vietnamese French dip. I left very happy.
Overall, I was very impressed. I was enjoyably satiated but didn’t feel overly heavy. I didn’t need the sun since I finally felt warm. It did what a good meal with friends always does: bolstered my spirit and gave me some of that ‘spring renewal’ hope back. There’s truly no comfort like a large bowl of broth and bits.
~ Charley DiAdamo `27
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