It's Pho Time

Treehouse Tavern

Roast of the Town

by Layla Khoury-Hanold

August 29, 2023

3:27 PM

The story below is a preview from our September/October 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!

A Vietnamese family’s Roanoke restaurant legacy lives on with customizable bowls of rice noodle soup, superlative egg rolls and more.

John Park

Three years ago, Alyssa Tran didn’t know how to make pho. The traditional Vietnamese rice noodle soup was her mom’s domain, and Tran was happy to let her make it for their family. But as her mother got older, Tran decided she needed to learn, not only to preserve their family’s recipe, but to carry on her mom’s Roanoke restaurant legacy. “We would always cook at home, and everyone around Roanoke, the Asian community just loves her cooking. She always wanted another restaurant.” In January, Tran fulfilled her mom’s dream by opening It’s Pho Time in the Lamplighter Mall Shopping Center with a menu of customizable bowls of pho, superlative egg rolls and homey Vietnamese dishes.

John Park

Owner Alyssa Tran and her family

Although Tran’s mom, Lien Le, ran a Vietnamese restaurant called Nhu Y for seven years, Tran is quick to point out that It’s Pho Time isn’t as traditional. Instead of ordering composed bowls of pho by number, diners are presented with a paper menu and pen so they can check boxes to customize their bowls according to desired size, broth, meat, toppings and whether they want extra noodles. But the broth recipes are still mom-inspired and approved. Like many older generations of family cooks, Tran’s mom didn’t write down recipes or exact measurements. But the techniques she passed on informed Tran’s R&D when she developed her own signature broth: blanching both the bones and meat before simmering them, roasting the ginger and onions and toasting spices in a wok.

John Park

Beef pho, topped with sliced eye of round, brisket and Vietnamese meatballs.

At It’s Pho Time, the basic beef broth (served with sliced eye of round), features beef bones that simmer for at least 18 hours, amped up with star anise, cinnamon and cloves. If your protein choice includes beef shank, brisket or Vietnamese meatballs, those get cooked with the broth and double the flavor two-fold: the meat imparts a deeper, rounder beef flavor, and the broth infuses the meat with its aromatic qualities. (My go-to pairing is the tender, thinly sliced brisket with Vietnamese meatballs, which boast a pleasantly chewy texture.) Additional protein options include beef tendon, tripe, chicken or shrimp; on the broth front, there’s also chicken or vegetarian (which comes with vegetables and tofu). When it comes to garnishes, I recommend the works: cilantro, Thai basil, bean sprouts, jalapeños, lime and both green and sliced onions. For a couple bucks more, get the large size; like some other eateries in the Lamplighter Mall, the pho is served in takeout containers that are ideal for toting home leftovers.

The space is simplistic, but the wall décor is deeply personal: an assortment of plates Tran’s mom collected on return trips to Vietnam; a framed, hand-tiled mosaic family heirloom; a pair of nón lá (conical “leaf hats”); red lanterns printed with “It’s Pho Time” that Tran’s Vietnam-based siblings had custom-made. On one booth’s wall, there’s a map of Vietnam, with various cities highlighted, next to a cut-out in the shape of Virginia. “My mom is originally from Nham. I was born in Bà Rịa. I came [to the U.S.] when I was three, 32 years ago. My earliest memory is Roanoke,” Tran says. “We used to live in a place called Jamestown [Place] – the projects. We came here with really no money and were sponsored refugees.”

Tran says that It’s Pho Time caters to the broader Roanoke community more than an Asian clientele, which, inevitably, leads to discussions of authenticity. “A lot of people come in with expectation. They expect it exactly like ‘my mom’s,’” she says. “It doesn’t work out that way because your mom could be from south or north Vietnam or a different part of Vietnam from us. Some like it saltier and sweeter.”

John Park

Báhn Xèo are pan-fried, savory Vietnamese crêpes.

But she’s noticed that on weekends, several Vietnamese-owned nail salons place large takeout orders for pho and weekend-only specials, like Bún bò Huế, a spicy, deeply savory beef noodle soup that’s offset by herbaceous lemongrass and garnished with purple cabbage and banana flowers. It comes with a side of homemade chili paste, which is worth asking for no matter what you order. Báhn Xèo is another sought-after special. Think of them as savory Vietnamese crêpes, pan-fried till crisp and filled with pork belly, shrimp, sauteed onions and blanched bean sprouts. The crêpes are accompanied by a medley of crunchy components, including romaine, cucumber slices and homemade pickled daikon and carrots.

Want to read more about It's Pho Time's mouthwatering offerings? Check out the latest issue, now on newsstands, or see it for free in our digital guide linked below!

The story above is a preview from our September/October 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!

by Layla Khoury-Hanold

August 29, 2023

3:27 PM