Pho

We have been going to a Vietnamese restaurant in Destin for a few months now and wanted to spread the word on a good, inexpensive outlying eatery. It is called Sai-Ko (I think that is the spelling and I guess it is pronounced psycho) and it is hidden a bit. It is located in the shopping center next to Bealls;a good landmark off of HWY 98 is that it is just west and behind Hooters.

We always get pho, which is a Vietnamese soup. I favor the pho ga which is a chicken based offering. It is a clear broth with a hint of anise;there is plenty of white meat chicken, onions, garlic and herbs. There are 'noodles', but these are actually rice based and very different from the chicken soup noodles you are familiar with. You could eat the soup as is, but I like to add a dash of soy sauce, a generous squirt of chili sauce and a handful of raw bean sprouts (which cook down a bit in the hot soup). You can't beat it for the price-a 'medium' bowl is dirt cheap, maybe $8 with tax and the serving is huge. A 'large' bowl is offered but I shudder to think how large it might be. My dining partner favors the beef soup, pho tai, which like the chicken is in a clear, aromatic broth spiked with herbs, veggies and rice noodles but has a generous helping of thinly sliced beef included in the soup. She adds the same stuff I do but she also squeezes in some lime, adds raw jalapenos and lots of cilantro.

We always get an order of spring rolls as well. They are not the fried spring roll you might be used to but are rolls of vermicelli sized rice (I think) noodles, herbs and shrimp wrapped in a thin rice (I think) wrapper. They are very light and taste delicious dunked in the brown sauce they are served with, (plus we add chili paste for a kick).

Here is an article on pho that describes it better than I can:http://blog.nola.com/brettanderson/2008/01/pho_perfect_for_south_louisian.html