No, that is not a typo ... I meant to type it as 'pho+?'. It's the non-technical, non-Unicode way for doing a Vietnamese alphabet. The 'o' has a funny squiggly thing coming out of it and another squiggly thing on top of it that looks like a question mark without the dot. Pho+? is commonly pronounced by us non-Vietnamese speakers as 'pho,' which rhymes with toe. The correct way to pronounce it rhymes with 'saw' with a dip in tone, which quickly rises back up at the middle of the 'a' ... But then, what do I know?! My native Vietnamese roommate heckles at my poor pronunciation all the time...
But what I do know is a good bowl of pho+?. I've been running around the Bay Area in the past few months looking for the best bowl. And yesterday, I had the most amazing bowl of pho+? at Beef Noodle #1 in San Jose. Yes, the name of the store really is Beef Noodle #1. And they are #1. The soup combined the best parts of my previous #1 bowl, Pho+? Ao Sen, and the runner-up, Pho+? Y. My bowl of pho+? at #1 was motherly yet powerful, nourishing while packing a punch. It was the perfect bowl of soupy goodness.
The small bowl seemed like it was on the small side, but that was because I ate it so quickly since it was irresistibly good. I slurped the entire bowl within minutes of starting, and I left no drops of the soup behind. The noodles had just enough chewiness to provide a lovely presence to the soup, and the noodles wore the soup like Donatella in her best Versace dress. The meats (my standard tai nam gau) all had different textures that added pure joy to the already delicious package.
That makes my Bay Area Pho+? ranking as:
Champion: Beef Noodle #1 (San Jose)
2. Pho+? Ao Se'n (Oakland)
Tied 3. Pho+? Y (San Jose)
Tied 3. Pho+? Hoa Lao (Oakland)
4. Turtle Tower (SF)
5. Pho+? Binh (Sunnyvale)
and countless other Pho+? shops that didn't quite make the list ... This is entirely my opinion, but my Vietnamese roommate seconds the choices. And, to make things fair, I always get the same thing at all pho+? shops. Tai nam gau, tai nam gau, tai nam gau ... It's my pho+? mantra.