PHO COUNTRYSIDE
468 Commonwealth Ave., Kenmore Square, Boston, 857-990-3679, www.phocountrysidema.com
All major credit cards accepted. Wheelchair accessible (through back entrance).
Prices Appetizers $4.25-$18.95. Entrees $9.95-$17.50 (a few hot pots meant for sharing go up to $45.95). Dessert $4-$5.25.
Hours Daily 11:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m.
Liquor Beer, wine, and cordials
What to order Fresh spring rolls, pho dac biet, banh hoi Countryside, braised catfish
When you walk into a restaurant — open just barely a month — and you’re followed in by a large group who are already regulars, you’re off to a good start. At Pho Countryside in Kenmore Square, which took over the former Josephine space, the owner is on a first-name basis with customers, every surface of the dining room, sparkles, and Vietnamese cuisine comes out of the kitchen fragrant with lime, basil, and pungent fish sauce.
Though the prices at Pho Countryside are in line with other Boston-area Vietnamese restaurants, the ambience is a step above. You’re greeted by tropical fish and swirling sea anemones in a small aquarium affixed to the sleek bar. The wine selections are mounted throughout the restaurant and backlit in blue and pink. A modern faux-fire feature is centered on an exposed brick wall, breaking up the main floor, but the best seats are by the window just below street level, lined with dwarf citrus trees.
Settle into your subterranean people-watching perch, and start with goi cuon, classic fresh spring rolls ($4.95). A pair of neat rice-paper rolls are filled with vermicelli, shrimp, cucumber, basil, and mint, served with hoisin peanut sauce. Next you’ll want banh xeo ($11.95) for the table, an eggy crepe the size of a pie plate, bursting with bean sprouts, tiny shrimp, and slices of pork. It comes with a pile of crunchy vegetables for dipping in nuoc cham, a sweet and savory combination of fish sauce, lime, and sugar, the perfect counterpoint to the pancake.
Ban hoi Countryside ($15.50) is a beautiful introduction to the bright flavors, vibrant colors, and contrasting textures of Vietnamese fare. A large platter of clear, uncooked rice paper rounds is placed beside a warm bowl of water. Dip the rice paper for a few seconds to soften it, then roll it up filled with a combination of tender, coral-colored, shell-on shrimp; salty-sweet caramelized pork; spiced sausage patties with the distinctly rich flavor of pork liver; and sweet shrimp paste cooked on sugar cane. That’s just the protein. You’ve also got golden nests of fried vermicelli; little eggrolls; a pile of lettuce, cucumber, carrot, and daikon; and mint leaves. Add a dab of chile-garlic sauce or hoisin from the table’s condiment cart, or a drizzle of the ever-present nuoc cham, and test your fine motor skills crafting a rollup that can safely make it to mouth from plate.
For a simpler, less labor-intensive noodle dish, try bun thit heo nuong, tom nuong — vermicelli topped with grilled pork and shrimp ($10.95). A big bowl of room-temperature noodles is tossed with shredded lettuce, mint, bean sprouts, and peanuts. Customize with condiments and dig in.
You can’t visit Pho Countryside without ordering a steaming bowl of the dish it’s named for. We go with the fully loaded pho dac biet, “special combination noodle soup.’’ The fragrant, cinnamon and anise-spiced broth arrives chock-full of rice noodles, brisket, and flank steak, as well as the more gristly tendon and tripe, topped with raw eye of round that cooks as you swirl it into the soup. Balance the earthy broth with the raw onion, cilantro, basil, and lime that come alongside the big bowl.
Ga xao sa ot ($12.95) — lemongrass chicken stir-fried with peppers and onions — is probably our least-favorite dish here. The white-meat chicken has a few tough bits, and though the lemongrass flavor is pleasant, the dish doesn’t pack the kind of heat that’s promised in the description, which includes hot chile oil.
We’ll have to return to delve deeper into the seafood menu. The ca kho to ($13.50) is a pot of rich caramelized catfish. Use your chopsticks to flake the tender fish off the bone, and mix its intensely salty-sweet amber sauce with chewy sticky rice to make the perfect bite. Spotless tanks are filled with lively lobsters and crabs, waiting to be stir-fried with salt and pepper “or however you like them,’’ says one server.
Though the downstairs can get a bit hectic in the evening, the service here is generally attentive and thoughtful. Most likely you will be greeted by owner Bao Trinh, who is balancing running this location with the original branch in Quincy — while squeezing in family time with his wife and five children. His approach is to work on what’s in front of him, and judging by the happy hum of the dining room, it appears to be working. “I tell my waitstaff, focus on one customer at a time,’’ he says. “I tell my chefs, focus on one plate at a time. You can’t worry about everything at once.’’
PHO COUNTRYSIDE
468 Commonwealth Ave., Kenmore Square, Boston, 857-990-3679, www.phocountrysidema.com. All major credit cards accepted. Wheelchair accessible (through back entrance).
Prices Appetizers $4.25-$18.95. Entrees $9.95-$17.50 (a few hot pots meant for sharing go up to $45.95). Dessert $4-$5.25.
Hours Daily 11:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m.
Liquor Beer, wine, and cordials
What to order Fresh spring rolls, pho dac biet, banh hoi Countryside, braised catfish
Catherine Smart can be reached at cathjsmart@gmail.com.
