Rosie's Pho

Rosie's Pho

By Robert Bell Friday, 17 April 2009

By the time Hong “Rosie” Nguyen was 21, she wasn’t just working at a restaurant; she had started her own. Nguyen moved to the United States when she was 16. In 1991, she opened Fortune, a Chinese and Vietnamese restaurant in Austin. In 2000, she opened Mimosa, which focused on sushi and other Japanese fare.

Nguyen sold both of those restaurants, and in 2004 opened Rosie’s Pho Asian Noodle in College Station. Hong means “rose” in Vietnamese, hence Nguyen’s nickname and the restaurant’s name. In 2006, she opened a location in Round Rock, followed by another in Cedar Park in 2008. She plans to open a south Austin location soon, with an eye toward franchising her popular business in the near future.

It is advisable to get to Rosie’s early if you’re in a hurry. Diners order at the counter, and although the service is prompt, the line can go to the door. Both the Cedar Park and Round Rock locations are often packed during weekday lunch hours.

The atmosphere at Rosie’s is casual, with outdoor seating at the Cedar Park location.

While there are plenty of Vietnamese choices available, there are also other Asian dishes, including Korean barbecue, pad Thai and fried rice dishes.

Fresh spring rolls ($3.25 for two) came stuffed with shrimp, lettuce, rice noodles, fresh mint and sliced pork, with a savory peanut soy dipping sauce.

A vermicelli bowl with charcoal-grilled pork and an egg roll ($7.50) was tasty, especially the pork, which had a nice sear on the outside but was still tender and moist.

The grilled shrimp rice plate ($8) included two skewers with four plump, seasoned shrimp, fried rice, deep-fried pork and had a fried egg on top. This was a nice touch.

Pho, a noodle soup, is $6.50 for a small, but the bowl is small in a very relative sense — it is actually huge. For the uninitiated, the steak and flank pho is a good way to ease in.

The dish embodies several contradictions. It is light, yet has a rich flavor. It is filling, but doesn’t make one feel stuffed. It is warm and hearty on a cold day, but the spiciness has a cooling effect in the summer months. It is a foreign dish, yet some of the key ingredients — flank, steak, brisket — will be familiar to Texan palates.

Basics for pho

Pho (pronounced ‘fuh’) is a noodle soup made by simmering a beef broth for 7-8 hours. Some of the ingredients are cinnamon, ginger, licorice root, dried anise seeds, fennel, onions and cardamom.

The soup is served with the broth and rice noodles, onion and cilantro, plus a variety of meat (usually beef) including some combination of brisket, flank, meatballs, steak, tripe and tendon.

Garnishes include Thai basil, fresh jalapeños, cilantro, lime and bean sprouts. Those who like their pho spicy can add some chili sauce or chili garlic paste to ratchet up the heat.

Rosie’s Pho , 1335 E. Whitestone Blvd., Ste. T100, 260-6363, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. daily