Pho Lena Anchorage

Someone had recommended Lena Pho Restaurant on Minnesota almost at the corner of Benson, and we were in the neighborhood the other day, so we stopped in.  This used to be Chinese restaurant.

It was bright, clean, and the food was good.  J had the pho with tofu.   Our vegetarianism is based on a combination of concerns about health, about how food is raised and the impact on the planet, but we aren't absolutists.  I tend to assume that vegie soups in Asian restaurants are the normal soup stock but no pieces of meat.  Isn't vegetarian pho an oxymoron:

Pho noodle soup is a great comfort food and like most classics it has many recipe variations and history. Some say that "pho' is a Vietnamese corruption of the French feu (fire). The French have a classic boiled beef dinner pot-au-feu, and they did colonize Vietnam in the earlier part of the century .
A perfect candidate for the crock-pot this soup only benefits from slow simmering to infuse the broth with aromatic spices and let the flavors and gelatin from the bones seep into the consomme like broth.  (Read more: http://asiancuisine.suite101.com/article.cfm/vietnamese_pho_noodle_soup#ixzz0XiQztRSw)

 I'll order something other than the Spicy Lao Eggplant.  I love eggplant, but the real flavors don't come out unless it's really cooked, even roasted.  But the rest was great.  We'll be back.

[Double click on the pictures to enlarge them.]