Pho & Grille. Olney MD

Pam and I headed to DC to pick up artwork at Quest Skinner's Art loft. Quest is full of life a zest and I hope everyone will come to the Art Center this week to see "Sizzlin Hot".

Hunger set in on the way home so we stopped at Starbucks for a quick snack and a perusal of food options in the area. In the past I loved to eat at Sabang, an Indonesian restaurant in Wheaton. Much to my dismay it is now closed. So we poured over the options : Thai, Indian, Mexican etc. Assessing miles from the corner of University Blvd and New Hamshire Ave, we decided to drive up New Hampshire Ave, drive the gps nuts and see what we could find along the way. Nothing seemed to pique our interest and if it did, it was on the wrong side of the road or blew by too quickly. At 8:30 we knew we had to make a decision or there would be no food. The gos directed us to Olney - Sandy Spring Road toward Georgia Ave. Familiar territory for me. At the intersection of the roads we popped into a strip mall to check the options. Pho & Grille caught my eye. I like Vietnamese food and am particulary fond of the food at Mekong Delta in Baltimore
We drove around checked menus and ended at the Pho. My obaervation has been that when a particular ethnicity supports its ethnic restaurant then it must be good. So in we went. The place was fairly full. We perused the menu. I got the seafood soup and Pam got the shrimp grille. We split an order of summer rolls. The summer rools were light and tasty with leaf lettuce, rice noodles and succulent shrimp rolled in a delicate rice wrapper. Not a fan of peanut sauce I dipped mine in siracha. Pam said the peanut sauce was yummy.

Our main courses came. I cannot speak to the shrimp grill but the soup was superb. A delicate fish broth with shrimp, steamed fish cake, steamed fish quenelles and shrimp and yellow vermicelli noodles. I quickly squeezed the lime into it and added the lettuce, cilantro, sliced jalapenos and mint. (In Mekong Delta in Baltimore this soup is made with shrimp, scallops amd crab meat, clear rice noodles served with mung bean sprouts , lime, jalapenos and extra cilantro.) What the heck. I added the mint. All of the flavors mellowed together with a mild back flavor of the fish sauce.

I had a coconut water and Pam had a freshly squeezed limeade. All this for under $30. Not bad.

Mekong Delta is a family run restaurant. Pho & Grille is a chain. My tastebuds prefer Mekong but if I ever get a hankering for some Vietnamese food while on the road I will certainly stop.