One Time For Dinner

It’s pronounced Fuh.

It’s Vietnamese soup that is spelled Pho. It’s a meal in itself. The vegetables don’t vary. You can add more if you want. The meat can be various cuts of beef, pork or chicken. The broth is tasty, you can add heat if you’re like us. And, a squirt of lime. And, some fresh mint.

We might add spring rolls or some other small starter but that’s all you need. Sometimes we order the largest bowls, eat some in there, take the rest home and reheat it very slowly and have another meal.

We were wondering if we could even find any Vietnamese food in Central Virginia. I’m sure there is some in Charlottsville. It’s a university town and where you have a college you have young adults. Where you have young adults you have exploration. Where you have exploration you have first time tasters of foreign food other than pizza and Taco Bell.

But, C’ville is about 30 minutes away. Not so far, but it’s an hour round trip. For dinner. However, there’s Waynesboro, about ten minutes away. It’s a little more blue collar. We buy our groceries there.

We explore a little there because we don’t know it as well as the big time university town. Remember, very early in my career I photographed sports in C’ville almost every weekend. The local small businesses may have changed but I know my way around. Sorta.

There is a Vietnamese place — I call it that because it is a combination grocery store, cafe, hair salon and digital games store — in the downtown area of Waynesboro. We tried it. The food is to die for and I don’t say that very often.

And, the coffee? Mmmm, mm.