Pho Nam Bac, Highwood

Hi,

Pho Nam Bac opened last Wednesday with limited hours: 4 PM - 9 PM. They will eventually expand their hours to begin at 10 AM once they have additional help.

They have a small menu concentrating on American's greatest hits when it comes to Vietnamese food: Pho (beef or chicken), stir fried egg noodle (Mi Xao), rice noodle bowl (Com Dia), Banh Mi sandwiches, plus appetizers: egg and spring rolls, pancakes (Banh Xeo), crispy wings (Canh Ga Chien) and chicken salad (Goa Ga). Outliers (at least for me) of crab rangoon and won ton soup.

I had their Vietnamese Meat Roll (Cha Lua) sandwich (Banh Mi) and a free pop, because it was their grand opening. It was ok, though next time I will ask for more pickled daikon and vegetables.

Since they are on the throws of freshly opening, I will have a better sense of their food later on.

The prior occupants had an expansive menu they never comfortably mastered and kept knocking stuff off the menu. I have come to appreciate working within your skill set and expanding later on, if need be.

Regards,
Cathy2

Pho Nam Bac
114 Washington Ave
Highwood, IL 60040
847/926-3015

Hours presently (I will update later when they change)
Sunday: 4 pm - 8 pm
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 4 pm - 9 pm
Friday, Saturday: 4 pm - 10 pm
Closed: Wednesday

Been patiently waiting for this opening. Thanks for the intel. The 4pm operating hours will exclude my officemates' lunch hopes, but we will still eagerly await the expanded hours.

Thanks from me too, Cathy, for the intel. A good Vietnamese place here would be great! I'm going to try to stop by soon in the aft/evening, but, as with so many places in Highwood, I'll be better able to enjoy this place when they start opening earlier, so I'm looking forward to that.

Hi,

I passed there around noon today to see the light declaring 'open.'

Since they are just getting their sea legs, I suggest calling in advance of your visit to reconfirm they are open.

Regards,
Cathy2

I picked up lunch there on Saturday with a buddy and we took it across the street to Beermiscuous to sit outside and enjoy the army helicopter practice going on at Ft sheridan. The spring rolls were very refreshing but a little bland. The peanut sauce and hot sauce helped flavor it up a bit. The crispy wings were probably the best thing we had. Properly cooked with a decent sweet/hot sauce. I had the deluxe combination banh mi, which was the ham and meat roll. The bread was decent but not great (I like Pho House in libertyville's better), though getting the combo provided plenty of filling and it was good, but also a bit bland. My friend had the rice noodle bowl with lemongrass chicken, and he loved it. I thought it was quite good, with tasty bits of charred onion and garlic. All the veges/herbs on all the items were very fresh. Overall I was happy and will be back, though I may ask them to try to crank the flavor up a notch.

-Will

An office mate and I finally got to hit up Pho Nam Bac for lunchies on Thursday. We were excited. Found the menu on Yelp, so we weren't ordering blind. We each ordered the combo pho, and he tried a Banh Mi.

Ill try them again, but it'd be a hard sell to get the officemate to go back. He's not as forgiving as I am. In comparing what we tried to Pho House in Libertyville, (our only nearby comp,) we both agreed that the broth was great, and a few slurps made me say that it might even be better, but definitely no worse at all. He enjoyed his Banh Mi (forgot which kind.)

The issues:
The portion size paled in comparison to Pho House, and Pho House is cheaper by 2 bux.

The flank steak was packaged IN the broth, which I gather from my officemate is a no-no. He was born and raised in Vietnam, but has Chinese nationality. As soon as we opened the packaging, he immediately cried foul very disappointedly in the flank steak being IN the broth, and therefore overcooked. Didn't bug me too much, but I absolutely recall that the many orders of flank steak from Pho House has always been packaged apart (and rare) from the broth without ever asking. I guess it's a "thing."

We were both kinda let down by the amount of noodles given for the pho. The broth was VERY good though. I add the sambal and lime juice, and skip the hoisin. The officemate and I trade sambals for hoisins - we order pho about every other week.

If you are close to Pho Nam Bac, you should be pretty happy. Tasty stuff. REALLY tasty stuff. Small menu, but hopefully all of it is done well.

seebee wrote:If you are close to Pho Nam Bac, you should be pretty happy. Tasty stuff. REALLY tasty stuff. Small menu, but hopefully all of it is done well.

I live close. Had my PNB maiden voyage yesterday. They did a great job of redecorating the space. Freakingly friendly staff.

My dining companion and I shared an order of spring rolls. Very fresh and tasty. I could have chugged the accompanying peanut sauce. I went with the Pho Bo with brisket. Top notch broth came piping hot. I was happy with the amount of noodles. Good thing I was wearing a dark shirt to cover up the soup splatter. My dining companion went with the Com Dia with grilled pork chop. Clean Plate Club for both of us. We'll be back!