Review: Pho Happiness in Chapel Hill makes flavorful, savory soup the star of the show
At first blush, a bowl of the namesake Vietnamese noodle soup at Pho Happiness looks like any other bowl of pho. You get your usual choice of beef cuts floating above a bed of thin noodles faintly visible through a translucent herb-spangled beef broth. Alongside, there’s the customary side plate: bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, jalapeños and lime wedge all present and accounted for.
Then you notice it. There’s barely a trace of the shimmery slick of rendered beef fat you’re accustomed to seeing on the surface of the broth. You’ve always considered this a sign of authenticity, that the soup was made by the traditional time-consuming method of simmering beef and beef bones for hours to extract every last scintilla of flavor. Could the bowl of pho you see in front of you possibly deliver the goods? And if so, how?
The answer to the first question, as you discover when you take a first cautious sip, is absolutely. The answer to the second involves infusing a little French technique into the traditional Vietnamese method. First, owner/chef Andy Hoang browns the bones (which any culinary school graduate will tell you amplifies flavor by caramelization) before simmering them for 30 or more hours. Once maximum flavor extraction has been reached, Hoang skims the fat from the broth.
The result is a soup that’s resonant with deep, umami-laden beefy savor, mingling with the exotic perfumes of cinnamon, star anise and other spices. And it’s healthy to boot. The only thing missing is the lip-smacking grease.
Choose from a variety of protein combinations, ranging from the Hanoi (ragged tatters of brisket and still-rosy petals of lean steak) to the Bowl of Happiness (a protein potpourri of beef, chicken and seafood). Or go off script and create your own combination, choosing from a dozen protein options.
The menu also offers seafood (in beef broth), chicken (chicken broth), and vegetarian versions (shiitakes and assorted veggies in a vegetable broth), as well as a Vietnamese curry pho.
Pho is unquestionably the star of the show, but it’s not the only attraction at Pho Happiness. Summer rolls, bulging with noodles, crisp lettuce and your choice of shrimp, pork or chicken, are almost too pretty to eat. Almost.
A separate section is devoted to wings, and an order of fish sauce wings — pan-fried and tossed in a garlicky, tangy-sweet glaze — is all the proof you need that they deserve their place in the spotlight.
An eclectic main course offering of vermicelli, rice dishes, banh mi and entrees offers a modest survey of familiar Vietnamese favorites, with a sprinkling of outliers such as orange peel chicken and katsu burger.
Shaken beef arrives sizzling on a cast iron skillet, with a plate of rice and fresh vegetables on the side. (It’s sometimes called shaking beef, named for the constant shaking of the pan as the dish is cooked.) The dish is a multi-sensory extravaganza of diced beef, onions and tri-color bell peppers that was marred only by a surfeit of cooking oil on a recent visit.
I have no quibbles, on the other hand, with bun bo nam bo, a hot-and-cold composed salad of vermicelli, spring rolls, lettuce, beans sprouts and tender petals of miso- and oyster sauce-marinated beef. Or with the clay pot rice I had recently, which served up mixed seafood and vegetables over rice in a not-too-sweet caramel sauce. I won’t even nitpick over the fact that the dish is not cooked and served in the promised clay pot, but a (more practical but not as charming) stainless steel one.
Pho Happiness is a modestly furnished space with a lot of flat surfaces that can make for a noisy setting when the place is full. A series of punny signs (“girls just wanna have pho”) on one turmeric-yellow wall adds to the casual vibe — it is in downtown Chapel Hill — while a small bar offers a handful of beer taps and wines by the glass. Take a hard pass on the house cocktails, and stick with beer or wine. Or skip the booze altogether and get a bubble tea.
Hoang, a native of Vietnam, emigrated to the United States with his family as a boy — via the Philippines, then to California, where he helped his mother at a couple of her Vietnamese restaurants. Since then, his life in the military and the private sector has taken him to Florida and finally to North Carolina, where he opened Pho Happiness in February with his wife, Yuki Shirose, in February.
Hoang has taken an unusually circuitous route to opening his first restaurant, and the Western culinary techniques he picked up along the way have yielded a refreshing but respectful take on his native cuisine. Guess you could say he has shown us that there’s more than one path to pho happiness.
Pho Happiness
508A W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill
919-942-8201
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: 2 1/2 stars
Prices: $
Atmosphere: casual, modestly furnished
Noise level: moderate to high
Service: welcoming, variably attentive
Recommended: summer rolls, fish sauce wings, pho
Open: Lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday
Reservations: accepted
Other: beer and wine/full bar; accommodates children; modest vegetarian selection; wheelchair accessible; parking on street (after 5:30 p.m., free parking in the NCWorks Career Center lot across the street)
The N&O’s critic dines anonymously; the newspaper pays for all meals. We rank restaurants in five categories: 5 stars: Extraordinary. 4 stars: Excellent. 3 stars: Above average. 2 stars: Average. 1 star: Fair.
The dollar signs defined: $ Entrees average less than $10. $ Entrees $11 to $20. $$ Entrees $21 to $30. $$ Entrees more than $30.
This story was originally published November 25, 2019 at 5:30 AM.