Pho 777 Up-Hill Alert [Pictures]

LTH,

Pho 777 was, at one time, one of the more highly regarded Vietnamese restaurants on the Argyle strip, not only for Pho, but Bun Bo Hue and, among other offerings, my favorite, Bo Tai Chanh. Slightly over a year ago 777 changed owners and there were serious problems with consistency, interaction with staff and 777 went from top tier to bottom.

Truthfully I don't know if the problems preceded/prompted change of ownership or started with change of ownership. What I do know is my personal experience with Pho 777 was woefully out of date, to this effect I met Peter Daane for lunch at Pho 777.

We started with Bo Tai Chanh, lime marinated rare beef chock full of aromatics and served with crispy multi-colored shrimp crackers, which I thought delicious. Similar, if not exactly the same as the Pho 777 of old.



777's version is different than Tank's, which I also think excellent, as 777's beef is rare, not raw, and has a slightly more pronounced sweet component.

Next up was Pho, which I quite enjoyed. Smooth, light broth, fresh, as opposed to dry, rice noodle, which hints of star anise, cinnamon topped with thinly sliced white onion, cliantro, green onion.


Once again to compare to Tank, the Argyle Street Pho benchmark, 777's is a different style broth, lighter, less rounded. Not necessarily better or worse, simply differing interpretations. Nicholas, 777's co-owner, said he is aiming for 'California' style pho.

Bun Bo Hue, spicy Hue style soup, fortified with pork hock, pig blood pudding, meats, herbs, onions and, in this case, pork cake, is a favorite and 777's version was particularly delicious. Interestingly, while I found, once again in comparison to Tank's quite good version, 777's pho more reserved, 777's bun bo hue a bit more aggressive.


Spice wise 777 is more on the order of my current favorite bun bo hue Dong Thanh, Cafe Hoang serves a very nice bun bo hue as well.

Both soups were served with, as is the norm, plate of accompaniments, very fresh and a nice selection, including culantro aka saw-tooth herb. Purple cabbage is for bun bo hue.


Nicholas, who we spoke with at length, is quite enthused about 777's Crispy Skin Baked Fish / Ca Nuong Da Gion, whole catfish with a slightly sweet, crisp skin, crunchy fins and tail.


Fish is accompanied by thin rice noodle, rice paper wrapper and a plate of fresh herbs, veggies and thinly sliced plantain.


Two dipping sauces are served, the somewhat standard fish sauce base with shredded carrot and diakon and an extremely pungent unfiltered fish sauce based dip. I've used unfiltered fish sauce a few times in Thai papaya salad and, while I have an extremely high 'funk' threshold, this is a bit over the top for me.

Speaking of dips and condiments.


Nicholas was quite candid Pho 777 had problems in the past, he bought 777 a little over a year ago and for two months had serious staffing problem, he said February/March in 04 were particularly tough. In that time period 777 lost a number of long time customers, even some of his friends. He realized he had a big problem, fired most, if not all of the the staff, including the cook, and rehired the chef who had been there 9-years.

I'm not saying Pho 777 is now the best Vietnamese restaurant on Argyle, though I thought the food quite good, especially the bun bo hue, what I am saying, most emphatically, is Pho 777 has turned itself around and no longer warrants a down-hill alert every time it comes up in conversation.

After lunch Peter and I stopped at Chicago Food Corp on Kimball, Peter's looking for a rimmed pickle fermenting jar. I didn't have a specific purchase in mind, but, when I saw this for $3.99 I simply could not resist.

4-inch Leatherman tool for perspective.


Enjoy,
Gary

Pho 777
1065 W Argyle
773-561-9909

Chicago Food Corp
3333 N Kimball
Chicago, IL
773-478-5566

Tank Noodle
4953 N Broadway
Chicago, IL 60640
773-878-2253

Dong Thanh
4925 N Broadway St # B
Chicago, IL
773-275-4928

Cafe Hoang
1010 W. Argyle
Chicago, IL 60640
773-878-9943

Thank you for the great post, I will definitely return there.

I recently had a standard beef Pho at PHO 888, and it was
great, though to eat there you have to not mind dudes
chain-smoking and watching football on wide-screen TV.

Can anyone explain why these places are called 777 and 888
because the numbers don't correspond to the addresses.

Perhaps this is some kind of Asian or Christian lucky number
syndrome?

Terry_Clubbup wrote:Can anyone explain why these places are called 777 and 888
because the numbers don't correspond to the addresses.

Perhaps this is some kind of Asian or Christian lucky number
syndrome?

They're lucky numbers, and I'm sure others can elaborate more.

For a somewhat surreal experiences you should go read some of the text at http://www.haiho.com/ . They've got a section on "numeropsychology" which has their meanings for 777, 888, 999, and far too many other numbers.

October 7th, 2004

Today is the commemoration of 10 years of the Treaty to protect Hai Ho from bad souls/angels or schizophrenia on 10/07/1994 with The United Force of America, Russia, China and Vietnam IvL (Invisible Life) in the Sky

A delicious, enticing and somewhat scary post as per usual

I agree that Pho 777 seems to have turned itself back around. Certainly from our conversations with Nicholas, he cares deeply about the product and is working to rebuild his client base.

I do like the Pho at Tank, which seems to be more assertive with aromatics. Nicholas considered the more assertive flavor a negative. To each his own.

The beef salad was filled with limey, pungent cilantroey flavors and supple textures juxtaposed with the salty crisp crackle of the shrimp crackers.

The fish dish was quite a treat. As you can see from Gary's picture on top of the sliced cucumbers are slices of unripe bananas, which gave the self-made fish spring rolls a pleasant texture taste combo. We were also served the uber-authentic unfiltered extra virgin (first pressing) fish sauce for a dip...not exactly my funk of choice, but it shows that 777 is willing to accomodate.

pd

What a lovely post from Ultimo: beautifully illustrated, efficiently and cogently written - all food, no 'tude - and serving perhaps the highest purpose to which a post can attain: rehabilitating a worthy spot. Sightings and queries are easy, downhill alerts as well, but taking the initiative to go back to a discredited former player just see if they're back in the game is terrific.

I assume I am not alone in occasionally sitting back to marvel that this enterprise, which could easily have fizzled, or turned in on itself like an in-grown toenail to become devoted to the nursing of old grudges, flailing of dead horses, or re-hashing obscure points of chow-ideology/theology, has instead become the very best of its kind that I have seen, IMHO.

pdaane wrote:I do like the Pho at Tank, which seems to be more assertive with aromatics. Nicholas considered the more assertive flavor a negative. To each his own.

I, for one, am going to refrain from judgement until I have paid them at least two more visits, but I will say that the broth for the pho that I took the other day was incredibly salty. Unpalatably so. In fact, it hampered my ability to acknowledge much more than salt in the broth's profile.

I hope that my experience was anomalous. If not, and if that is perhaps what Nicholas means by "less assertive," or "California-style," well, then I should think that one of us needs to consult a Dictionary and an Atlas.

Erik M.

Erik M. wrote:I, for one, am going to refrain from judgement until I have paid them at least two more visits, but I will say that the broth for the pho that I took the other day was incredibly salty.

Erik,

I am quite salt sensitive and did not find Pho 777's pho salty. Hopefully your experience was the anomaly, not mine.

Enjoy,
Gary

woot. off to 777 on sunday. bloody red spicy pho followed by poetry slam @ the Green Mill. I don't think one can get more multi-ethnic than that in one afternoon.

Isn't it awesome how the part of the beef poking through the surface of the broth is red while the stuff below is brown?

Gotta try that Bun Bo Hue sometime.

bah! they gypped me on my bun bo hue!! i didn't get pig's blood and i LOVE pig's blood. and the soup was luke warm/not spicy enough. it was a huge bowl tho.

OTOH, the pho was indeed sublime. more subtle than tank's (less MSG?), less greasy (which i believe is how vietnamese ppl like theirs in the morning?). not too salty, perferct even w/o the hoisin/fish sauce/hot sauce. definitely going back here for the pho again.

i had the misfortune of paying $2.50 for a cup of cafe sua da @ ba le. not doing that again. pho777 for pho + cafe sua da. chalk up another tremendous meal under $10 not involving any polish sausages/ franks/ wieners / beef steak on a bun.

Tony,

Either GWiv or I should have mentioned that we were asked if we wanted the Bun Bo Hue with everything, including the blood.

I passed on the pig blood jello

pd

you know.. that's REALLY interesting.. because... the english-speakin', kinda cute teen-ager-ish waitress asked me, after taking my order, asked if i'm Vietnamese.

I s'posed my near-perfect pronunciation of "bun bo hue" / "cafe sua da" - - and my dark Asian complexion tricked her... taking that into account, i shoulda been automatically served plenty pig blood? next time, i'm just gonna ask for it. darnit. such a delicacy. reminds me of my childhood, eating at nite markets and whatnot...

Terry_Clubbup wrote:Thank you for the great post, I will definitely return there.

I recently had a standard beef Pho at PHO 888, and it was
great, though to eat there you have to not mind dudes
chain-smoking and watching football on wide-screen TV.

Can anyone explain why these places are called 777 and 888
because the numbers don't correspond to the addresses.

Perhaps this is some kind of Asian or Christian lucky number
syndrome?

PHO SHO

OK, while we're on the subject of bad pho puns:

Funny!! That reinforces the correct pronounciation of pho: "fu" not "fo."

gleam wrote:They're lucky numbers, and I'm sure others can elaborate more.

For a somewhat surreal experiences you should go read some of the text at http://www.haiho.com/ . They've got a section on "numeropsychology" which has their meanings for 777, 888, 999, and far too many other numbers.

i don't know enough to elaborate but i am asian and i was told the numeropsychology numbers---777, 888, 999 is some portal to the secrets of the universe. in which it is both some lucky number but also could be negative as in the 666.

Ok so I have never posted on this site but I read this thread about a year ago and recently decided that since I have been to these spots starting with 888 to 777 to 999...it's time to share some with you all. I have done some homework for you and you and you and you...

Terry Clubbup coined out 888 to me a while back. However for some reason, I went to 888 eastwards and noticed it was all residential buildings. This must be wrong but perhaps, TC was talking about some real home cooking from some Vietnamese family in Argyle. Eventually on this cold evening, i realized he wasn't really talking about someone's home for Pho but a restaurant. (which made so much more sense when I found the spot) Noting the chain smokers, the football widescreen tv, and the greenish flourescent lights---I thought 888 looked like an old horse stall. It wasn't smelly.

The food was good and plenty.

Then I went again to 888 liking the casual experience. It was also convenient to go to after a hard day practicing the breakdance. It was closed! (i forget if it was tuesdays or thursdays...one of those is their off day) I was really cold and wanted my pho so I went to the next Pho spot on my walk back to the car. Interupted by Pho 777's larger space...This is the spot on this thread where people post those yummy photos. I tried all those (by the way) and they were all excellent. I must say the soup broth is much better here and you can have boba teas here too. So then Pho 777 became my spot on a weekly basis. At this time, I got inspired by DJ Pho777 and wrote about raires on www.soulstrut.com

The food here was much better and plenty.

But then one day I went (either the tuesday or thursday again and Pho 777 was CLOSED. so I walked my cold body to Pho 888 and saw the chain smoke the lights ----i just kept on walking and was about to give up until I found Pho 999 hidden with curtains and blinds. There is a neon sign just like in Pho 777. Sooooo in realizing this similarity i went into Pho 999. It was dimmer in there with a living room setting. There's a year round christmas tree and a HUGE TV SET (life size) with cheesy mtv and britney spears clips. No sound in the times I've been there, but the lights and colors keep flickering from the massive tv. There were more people than in Pho 777. The Pho here has a different taste than the simpler broth of 888 or the excellence of 777. Pho 999 is a happy alternative...(regardless)

The food here was decent and plenty.

My favorite is still 777 out of familiarity.
Then 999 is good and 888 is a good place to start, pho sho!

no small talk......................(at all)

welcome hitobochi.

fwiw, "8" in cantonese is pronounced "fa" which is the same pronunciation as the word "grow", ie, "to become wealthy"... the integration of sino-vietnamese into vietnamese culture/cuisine is a well known fact...

TonyC wrote:fwiw, "8" in cantonese is pronounced "fa" which is the same pronunciation as the word "grow", ie, "to become wealthy"... the integration of sino-vietnamese into vietnamese culture/cuisine is a well known fact...

So, would the correct pronunciation of Pho 888 be "fu fa fa fa"?

YoYoPedro wrote:

TonyC wrote:fwiw, "8" in cantonese is pronounced "fa" which is the same pronunciation as the word "grow", ie, "to become wealthy"... the integration of sino-vietnamese into vietnamese culture/cuisine is a well known fact...

So, would the correct pronunciation of Pho 888 be "fu fa fa fa"?

haha...i'll remember that.

TonyC wrote:welcome hitobochi.

fwiw, "8" in cantonese is pronounced "fa" which is the same pronunciation as the word "grow", ie, "to become wealthy"... the integration of sino-vietnamese into vietnamese culture/cuisine is a well known fact...

Actually "8" in Cantonese is "baht" which sounds like "faht" meaning "to become wealthy." Various combinations like:

A. 888 "baht baht baht" sounding like "faht, faht, faht" meaning "fortune, fortune, fortune."
B. 168 "yut luk baht" sounding sorta like "yut lo faht" meaning "to be continually wealthy"
C. 138 "yut sam baht" which sounds like "yut sung faht" meaning "to be wealthy all ones life"
D. 818 "baht sup-baht" (read 8 then eighteen) which sounds like "faht, sut faht" meaning " fortune, will definitely gain wealth"

The universal "bad" number in Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese is 4 which sounds like the same word for death.

So 444 - sounds like "die die die"

Interestingly enough in Hong Kong, where you used to be able to bid for/sell your license plate numbers, the aforementioned lucky combo's would sell for large sums of money to wealthy tycoons/businessmen.

So if you eat bad pho, you'll faht, faht, faht...