Unphogettable! That's what you are!

 It has almost been a half of year since Fun Frank Friday's have begun.  I have been to 25 restaurants to date.  Some times it is hard to remember which restaurants I have been to.  That is why it's funny that our next restaurant will not be forgotten so easily because it is so "Unphogettable".  Unphogettable is a Vietnamese Restaurant located in the Mekong plaza at Dobson and Main in Mesa.  We arrived at the restaurant at about 5pm and as we scanned the tables, we noted that they were about 50%  full.  But we were quickly seated and our server asked if we had ever been there before.  When we told him that yes, we were new patrons, he offered to go over any questions we had.  I am not a Vietnamese-food-virgin but Patti is.  First on the agenda was drink orders.  I don't know that I am magnetically drawn to restaurants that serve Coke products or not, but it seems that most that we have been to do serve Coke.  Lucky for us Unphogettable is one of those.  I do believe it was the owner of the restaurant that came over and explained the Vietnamese menu to us.  I was intrigued by the fact that not only do they serve traditional spring rolls but they also have summer, autumn and winter rolls to round out the seasons as well.  If you are familiar with Vietnam, they also include regional specialties that you might recognize similar to Americans understanding that in Maine we would expect lobster.  .He also explained the Vietnamese salads as well as the vegetarian options.  He explained that we should not shy away from the vegetarian meals and he could add meat to them if we so chose.  He assured us that no matter what we chose, every item would be an excellent choice.  I really did appreciate that the owner was so willing to spend time with the patrons and stand behind the product.  It says something about where you are eating.  The main dish as Unphogettables is the beef broth soup, called Pho.  Hence the name of the restaurant.

We did start off with a couple of appetizers.  The first one that intrigued me was the Summer roll.  This consists of fresh rice paper rolls with Vietnamese pork sausage served with house special sauce.  once we were served, the owner explained that the best way he believed to eat this was to take 50% red chili sauce and 50% of the house special sauce and mix them together.  He also explained that the pork sausage was made fresh in house.  The summer roll was an incredibly fresh combination of crunch from vegetables and the soft mild pork sausage.  I dipped the roll into the red chili sauce and then plunged it into the house special sauce.  This intensified the flavors ten-fold.  Although I thought the fresh cilantro was a bit strong, it was just right for Patti.

The next item that hit the table was our Autumn roll, fresh rice paper rolls with sausage, egg, dehydrated shrimps, jicama served with peanut sauce.  This dish was a complete symphony.  When you listen to one instrument at a time, it can be beautiful in its own way, but it is when they all work in harmony that the music is incredible.  The first layer on the outside was the smooth rice paper, the next that I bit into was the crisp fresh vegetables with the egg.  The dehydrated shrimp added a new texture and flavor to the palate and came as a pleasant surprise in the center of the roll.  This roll's symphony of flavors and textures was completed with fresh mint leaves.  Not too many restaurants will use such fresh mint as an ingredient rather than as just a garnish.

 This restaurant is obviously known for its pho.  The owner explained pho as the equivalent of Vietnamese cheeseburgers.  He also explained that it had been simmering for 26 hours to enhance the flavors.  I don't think you can appreciate how flavorful soup can be until you have had soup that has had the time to let the flavors fuse like this.  I ordered the most popular dish on the menu, it is  "Pho Dac BÎêt Bò Viên", I pronounced it as "number 1".  It consists of beef based rice noodle soup with lean rare steak, well-done flank, marble brisket, tendon, tripe & beef meatballs.  It comes with a side of green chilis, bean sprouts, a wedge of lime and a sprig of fresh basil. 
The owner explained how to mix the Asian dipping sauce and the red chili sauce with a squirt of the lime wedge on top.  You mix them all together and it is used for dipping the pieces of meat from your soup.  This Vietnamese soup is really quite unforgettable.  Forget everything that you might have learned Campbell's soup company and take a lesson who really know how it should be done.  The soup has a rich flavor but without the salty taste that most American soups have.  All the meat was very tender and delicious and I even got Patti to try the tripe.  For those who might be unfamiliar with tripe, it is actually cow intestine that has been cleaned and cut before added to the soup.  It has a firm noodle like consistency with a slight beef flavor. 

I enjoyed that I was able to use the fresh basil to flavor the soup to my liking.  It was a nice twist from the option of table salt and pepper choices.  I finished every drop in my bowl and though I felt satisfied with a happy tummy, the meal didn't sit heavy in my stomach.

Patti's choice of dish was the Bún Bò Nuong Chä Giò which was pronounce "Number 34".  Bun is a rice vermicelli salad served with Vietnamese pickles, lettuce, cucumber, bean sprouts and fish sauce.  The option she chose also came with seasoned grilled sliced beef and an egg roll on the side.  The beef had a citrus, orange marinade similar to teriyaki but definitely not the same.  Patti just fell in love with the egg roll.  She even considered not letting me try a bite because it was that good!  The outside was crispy while the inside was a balance of well seasoned meat and fresh vegetables.  We have found in previous experiences with egg rolls that they are overly stuffed with vegetables.  These were not.  The moist center with the crunchy outside made you want to snarf them down without sharing.  The next time we go, we are making sure to order these as an appetizer.  The fresh vegetables of the salad mixed with the warm rice noodles were paired nicely together for texture and flavor.  The fish sauce on the side and was recommended by the owner to be used similar to salad dressing by pouring it over the dish.  However, she found that the marinade from the beef was sufficient to provide flavor to the whole dish without it.  The mix of noodles, vegetables and beef quickly became our favorite entree.  It even made for great left overs the next day!

By the time we finished our meal, the restaurant was completely full and people were found waiting at both entrances.  Obviously once you try this place once, it is Unphogettable!  So if you haven't had a chance to sample Vietnamese cuisine or even had a bite of tripe, try it now.