Andy's Pho

One restaurant closed and another one opened.  King Yen is gone and Andy's Pho has taken it's place.  Now Ansy's has become Andy's Market!


Here is hte post about eating Phi at Andy's anyhow:
Because we love soup, and we love it Vietnamese Style, or "Pho" as well, we had to give this newly opened place a try.

You can tell it is a start up restaurant... not much fancy going on here.  Not much has changed about the atmosphere.  There is  new menu and  less decorations, but the tables and basic layout, as well as some of the photos on the wall are pretty much the same.  The condiments on the tables are not on EVERY table, yet.  Mentioning to the waitress that it was a  little bland, she told me that some renovations were in the plans and would b taking place in months to come.

I didn't mind that this place was not so fancy.  I  mean. really, this is the way of business, small business, in America.  I know sometimes people get huge loans and hope for the best, but it is also common that people simply start up a business with what they can afford and then they work hard to make a profit.  If they do a good job, before they know it they are remodeling, expanding or at least adding to the employee roll and taking yearly vacations, with a low overheard because they started small.   It's freedom to do this...(and of course, many other things,)  that makes living in America great.

Andy's is definitely an work in progress... which is a good thing. But most of all, as the sign says, it's Pho. I happen to think that Pho is fun to eat.  And wouldn't you know, Pho is pretty much what they serve here, I mean, pretty much all that there is on the menu. However, we did order a crispy noodle veggie dish too.   I should mention that you can get have your Pho prepared for you with various add-ins too, like meatballs or fried egg,  if you like.  My guess is that they will make it anyway you want them to.  For opening special, ( to get people to try the Pho they love to make,) they had special prices, so our  Pho was one or two dollars cheaper than the regular menu price.  That was a nice surprise.

Here is our dinner:

 Pho comes with Thai Basil and Mung bean sprouts, lime and Jalapeno peppers that you put into the broth yourself... if you like.  I love the sprouts and basil and jalapeno and lime in my soup so much I sometimes add these to my Ramen noodles when I make that at home.

The crispy noodles were smothered in fresh stir fried vegetables.

They have serveral different Pho selections, and even serve it with the meat rare, if you like.  (Not my kind of thing. Ususally I get chicken with is always good, but today we shared, and we also ordered it well done.)  It was well done, but it was also fatty.  We did not know if maybe that was the way it was supposed to be.  I might stick to chicken in the future, but Geo didn't mind.

 We also ordered a Iced Coffee drink which was really tasty.

 It was realy sweet, more like a dessert... but Yum!

 Pho....(pronounced "fa" ) is soup in a big bowl with lots of noodles, and soup, like Campbell's advertises, is simply, "good food!"  There are a lot of Pho restaurants in the area, so they do have some competition and will have to work on sprucing up the place to gain public appeal, but the service was great and Spokane is definately curious about Pho!



 

Thai Bamboo (again!)

Thia Bamboo opened a larger restaurant on the north side of Spokane not too long ago and Geo and I finally had a chance to go there, for dessert!  We ate Deep Fried Banana with Banana Ice Cream and Black Rice Pudding with Coconut Ice Cream....  Yum!

Both were absolutely wonderful treats. The Banana Ice Cream was the highlight though as it seemed we have never had banana ice cream before.

I think a part of me has been reluctant to come to this restaurant because it is such a monstrosity from the street.  Seriously, Thia Bamboo on N. Division street used to be just a little quant restaurant... easy to miss if you are driving by too fast.  Apparently when they undertook the endeavor to build anew, they wanted everyone's attention.  Here it is at night:
I

Those are fake Palm trees, by the way.  At night is is lighted up and in the daytime it kinda looks the same but instead of lights it is painted in bright red and yellow, and green.  It is quite different from all the other buildings in the area.

(They apparently do not want people to miss this place.)

Inside there is a bar area and a restaurant area... and there is outside seating too.  We sat inside.

Now, I have known several people who have come here and the only thing anyone told me was that it was "good food but a little expensive."   No one told me about this:

 THIS... is the beautiful twinkly, colorful ceiling they have in the restaurant.  It is beautiful!

 The colors change and almost swirls, as tiny lights move across the "sky."

I thought it was great.  I loved the atmosphere and the delicious desserts.... and I have to admit, when it comes to Thai food, Thai Bamboo has never let me down.  It iw just that usually, when you eat such good food, you never have room for dessert.  Sometimes you just have to live it up and go out for dessert!

The outside of the building is a little much, if you ask me....  One thing is certain, if you are looking for it, and maybe even if you are not, you wont miss it!  The address is 5406 N Division St, and their website: http://www.thaibamboorestaurant.com if you want to see a menu.