Seriously, Austin, what gives? You’ll deliver to broke-ass college kids, but not working-class types like me? Bad form, my friend.

As if in response to my ready-to-print rant, I recently returned home from a hard day at work to discover a flier from Saigon Kitchen elastic-banded to my doorknob. What? Could it be? A restaurant that would deliver to my secret bunker?!

At first I was skeptical. How good could this place be, if they were willing to deliver to the Dead Zone? I perused their menu, and discovered they specialized in Vietnamese food, with an emphasis on pho. There were, however, a number of Americanized “Chinese” dishes on offer, which (after consulting the many negative reviews thereof on Yelp) I wisely decided to avoid.

But seriously, folks, who orders Chinese food at a Vietnamese joint? GET THE PHO, YOU FOOL!

"Pho in Saigon" (photo by Flickr user Andrew Dinh, via Wikipedia)

Celebrity Intern and I pondered our pho options, as one Vietnamese food-loving Yelper did positively note that he was happy to see the fatty brisket option (which he claimed was difficult to find in Austin). I settled on the fatty brisket, after his glowing reviews, while Celebrity Intern went with the lean beef, and we ordered up 2 large bowls to satisfy our cravings.

Less than half an hour later, there was a knock on the door. We had accidentally ordered 3 bowls instead of 2, so the total came to $24 rather than the $15 we’d been projecting. (It was totally worth it, though, as we slurped that third bowl up with gusto the next day.)

So, what of Saigon Kitchen’s pho? I enjoyed my fatty brisket, and although Celebrity Intern was a bit weirded out by the rare serving of lean beef he received, he found the brisket tasty as well. We were a bit confused about why the noodles were put in a separate styrofoam container, rather than included with the broth itself (as this left them all stuck together in a huge blob), but Celebrity Intern found this a plus for those looking to keep their carb intake low. (Me? I just want everything mixed together for maximum marination.)

In traditional ”assemble your own” setup, when you order the large pho you’ll receive:

• A huge styrofoam container of broth
• Another styrofoam container with rice noodles, bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, green onions, jalapenos, your meat of choice, a slice of lime and
• Two small plastic containers of sriracha chili and hoisin sauces to spice things to your liking

Celebrity Intern played it safe and only mixed in a bit of the sriracha and hoisin, while I grabbed for the gusto and mixed all of it into my bowl.

I have no idea what their “small” bowl size looks like, but I can tell you that the large was more than enough for me. Next time, I think I will go for the smaller size, as I felt quite stuffed and sloshy with broth at the end of the meal.

I give Saigon Kitchen major points for delivering to the Dead Zone, but even if they didn’t, I’d still be in their corner. Their pho really hit the spot, and while Celebrity Intern was sad to say that it wasn’t quite as delicious as the cilantro-rich broth we used to order from a place around the corner from our Montreal apartment, I feel their multiple beef options made up for the lack of cilantro flavor.

If you live in South Austin and want to give ‘em a whirl, I would definitely recommend the pho. Anyone silly enough to order General Tso Chicken from a Vietnamese restaurant, however, shall get what he deserves.

Saigon Kitchen
4323 S. I-35
Delivery: 512-326-3969

With a mighty hunger upon us, and a need for a close approximation of the delicious noodles we were missing after visiting U & Me in Montreal, we had heard good things about Fire Bowl’s menu. We hit up their North Austin location (at 9828 Great Hills Trail) in search of a miracle, or at least a strong facsimile of the divine Pad Thai dancing in our heads.

Celebrity Intern gives their Pad Thai “a solid 8.327,” complaining about “not enough MSG” (oddly, something that everyone else resents having in their Asian food, he happens to LOVE). I would agree that the Pad Thai rates somewhere between an 8 and a 9 out of 10, mostly because it was slightly lacking in composition (i.e. ingredients). Yes, it had the standard chicken, shrimp, egg, rice noodles, peanuts (lots and LOTS of peanuts), bean sprouts, cilantro and scallions, but I felt it could’ve used more of all of the above. Except the peanuts, which were already prolific.

This Pad Thai was, in my opinion, a good effort and overall fairly satisfying, but it just needed to be more. Kick it up a notch and see where it goes, Fire Bowl Café! Gimme more shrimp and chicken, and don’t be so stingy on the spices (did we even get the cilantro pictured below?), either. Thai food should be identified by its hotness, after all.

Yeah, if our bowl of Pad Thai had been studded with this much shrimp, I would've been far more satisfied...

For those who like to kick everything up a notch on their own, there were plenty of spicy sauces to play with at the condiment counter. Celebrity Intern and I were torn about whether to slather the noodles with a hot sauce that was more chunky or more drippy, as both seemed viable options. Plus there was the standard srirachi chili sauce in a squirt bottle, for both hot and sweet together. I’m sure that many a lackluster order has been surprisingly altered by industrious patrons, armed with hot, sweet and sour sauces from the condiment rack. Bonzai!

Admittedly, we went lame-o Americano on our second choice of entrée, choosing the oh-so-Western General Tso Chicken. The cashier bafflingly asked what kind of noodles we wanted with that (doesn’t this dish normally get served with rice?!), so we ended up going with the flat rice Chow Fun noodles, which all stuck together in a glob at the bottom. Doh!

For our appetizer (which was ultimately served with our entrées), we went for the Crispy Crab Rangoons. My only complaint was that we only ordered 2, and I wanted more. Deep frying + cream cheese + crab + sweet and sour sauce = yum.

Overall, I think I would rate the Fire Bowl Café an 8 out of 10. The food is pretty standard pan-Asian cuisine, and the portions are quite generous (and inexpensive; this meal cost us about $22 with drinks), but as someone who likes to go more “native” on the spices, I found these dishes a bit bland. Doctoring at the spice rack improved them a bit, but why should I have to fix the spiciness of my dish when I’m eating out? Make it hotter and the people who like the heat will come, and the crybabies will all stay home with their nanny where they belong.

Bring on the heat!

In the meantime, though, I did find a pretty excellent looking recipe for a homemade Pad Thai via Saveur Magazine, over at the Toronto-based Closet Cooking blog, which I plan to try out this weekend. Check out the photo:

Delicious-looking Pad Thai (photo via Closet Cooking--click for recipe!)

Seriously, if that doesn’t make you want to bust out the fish sauce and rice noodles, I don’t know what will.

So share your Thai-style lovin’ with me, Austin. Where do you go to get your Pad Thai on?