Did you know that you can request extra fat with your pho? A Pho Binh regular let me in on this secret recently. I tried it at Pho Binh, and the waitress knew exactly what I was talking about. She brought me a small bowl with green onions soaked in beef fat skimmings from the stock pot. I wonder if it's the same deal at pho restaurants all over town?
Fellow pho fans at a neighboring table also instructed me in the fine art of meatball dipping sauce. You can get a bowl of extra meatballs for a dollar at Pho Binh. I didn't like the rubbery orbs very much until I tried them with the dipping sauce. You take the bottle of hoisin sauce found on every table at Pho Binh and mix it half and half with the Sriracha sauce that's also sitting on the table. The resulting sweet and hot dip makes the boring meatballs downright zippy.
