|
Corporate Edge Org (CEO) Small Business Consultants in Boston HOME | Contact | About us | Special Projects | Business Writing | Food Writing FEED ME! Food Features by Kitty Kaufman Pho & I (and me) It's always a treat finding a new neighborhood place with great food. Partners Witoon Shotitana and Napat Sriwan opened Pho & I in March, their first common venture although they've worked together for many years. Warm and funny, excited about his new 89-seat venture, Shotitana applied his talent for décor during the renovation. It is modern, stylish and especially at the bar, comfortable. The menu highlights the best of Vietnamese and Thai cooking. Shotitana said: "The difference is that Thai is spicy like food in Laos, its neighbor. Vietnamese seasoning is more subtle with influence from China." Those hot and spicy appetizers include fried tofu, chicken wings with chili sauce, todmon (curried shrimp cakes), and crispy calamari. Singular Vietnamese specialties: shrimp on sugar cane and traditional half moon crepes filled with shrimp, pork, and bean sprouts. Soups include wonton, Thai tom yum hot and sour with lemongrass, and cellophane noodle with vegetables and tofu. Choose Vietnamese peppery rice chowder as well as canh chua sweet and sour soup with pineapple, tomato, and basil. Huge steaming bowls of "famous Vietnamese noodle soup" include pho dac biet (beef noodle), pho ga (chicken noodle), vegetarian pho chay, and tom cua (with shrimp, crab, and squid). Each comes with rice or egg noodles, sprouts, basil, and lime. Pho & I's noodle dishes include spicy drunken noodles, mi xeo (egg noodles with vegetables), pad Thai, pad see-ew (rice noodles with egg and broccoli), spicy curried noodles, unseen bean thread noodles, and rad nar. You can roll your own rice paper rolls (banh hoi) with either pork, chicken, beef, or shrimp along with lettuce, mint, carrots, and peanuts. Students, he said, really like the mix and match choices available for lunch and dinner. "One of the challenges of being Symphony Hall's neighbor is feeding patrons quickly and well," he said. The staff is attuned to getting you served promptly and out to your venue on time. New small businesses are still the invigorating backbone of the city's top neighborhoods. As an owner, however, life as you know it changes forever. Shotitana says, "The best thing about having your own restaurant is finally being an owner. It makes me feel proud. It is much different than working for someone else as a server. Here you have to manage everything." As he and Sriwan work through wine and beer selections along with final decorating additions, the picture is coming together. Artwork from a friend is for sale along one wall. Catering and take out is in full swing. When they worked for others, he said, they were always keeping mental lists of what they would serve in their own space when that day came. Lucky for their Huntington Avenue Northeastern and MFA neighbors, that day has arrived. © April 26, 2006 for The City Shopper 40 St. Paul St | Brookline MA 02446 | 617. 388. 0062 Kitty Kaufman kkaufman@corp-edge.com |