Da Vang Still Rules

I spent a few years living in Seattle, and today feels just like a typical day up there -- gloomy and gray, with softly falling rain and car headlights making everything a little fuzzy and shiny. In a typical week, I'd eat Vietnamese food at least three times for lunch.

So today, the only thing that would make me smile was a big, piping hot bowl of pho filled with sliced beef and meatballs, with the whole plate of sprouts, half a lime, and squiggles of hoisin and sriracha. I went to Da Vang, my old standby, and it was good as ever. (It even appears that they've printed up a slightly nicer menu than they used to have, although the place is still bare bones, of course.) Along with the perfect noodles and fortifying broth, a strong glass of iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk helped revive me.

This is perfect pho weather! -- Michele Laudig