My Phirst Pho at Baoguette

I tried Pho for the first time the other day on my first visit to Baoguette on St. Mark's.  I have a feeling that Baoguette maybe wasn't the MOST authentic place to try one of the most signature of all Vietnamese dishes.  Baoguette seemed like a lot of the inexpensive restaurants on St. Marks and in the vicinity of NYU - small, bright, loud, and designed to accommodate a lot of people coming and going.  Still, everything that I'd heard about the food here was complimentary, and I happened to be in the neighborhood, so I was game to check it out. 

After ordering the classic Pho at the counter and taking a seat, my meal arrived in a few minutes.  The soup its self certainly looked and smelled fresh. While I could taste a decent beefy flavor, and some citrus from the broth, the overwhelming flavor was cilantro.  The meat was certainly tender enough, as were the noodles, but literally after a few bites, they were nowhere to be found.  The rest of the meal was just slurp after slurp of the broth - a light, mostly bland beef bouillon with some citrus flavor.  Adding spriracha and some oyster sauce helped to thicken and add some base to the proceedings, but basically, the rest of the bowl was somewhat unsatisfying - just a bunch of broth with some little bits of sprouts and crap in it. Finishing the entire thing seemed like a chore after a while, so I didn't. 

I feel like Pho is becoming a pretty popular dish right now in New York, maybe on the coat tails of its sandwich cousin and the other main item at Baoguette, the Bahn Mi.  If Baoguette really wants to knock it out of the park, they could easily just add more beef and more noodles to what is one of their most signature dishes.  Not to get all Andy Rooney here...but I feel like Baoguette is charging too much for their fare and getting away with it because their serving a very trendy food.   While the only item I ordered was $8 - not a lot for dinner in New York these days - Baoguette is table service only.  The restaurant is tiny and mostly counters and communal tables - basically the same layout as your corner pizzeria or Falafal stand. Even though the waitress was certainly friendly, the only service involved was walking my soup three feet from the kitchen to the counter I was sitting at.   With tax and an obligatory 20% tip, dinner came out to $11.  Basically, if Boaguette just knocked off the table service and gave a little more protein and starch with their broth, then I would totally love to go back.  But, as it stands, I don't think I'll be hitting this place up anytime soon. 

After what was essentially a "non-start" with the Pho, I plan on trying a more authentic "OG" Pho spot in Chinatown sometime soon, so I'll let you know how that goes. 

Baoguette Cafe

37 St. Mark's Place 

(between 2nd Ave and 1st Ave)

New York, NY, 10003

(347) 892-2614

http://www.baoguettecafe.com/ (BTW, this website has a lot of kinks to work out?)