Sunday, June 15, 2014

Denver, CO

We left Colorado Springs and spent the night just north of Denver in Brighton, CO. There is a large Vietnamese community in Denver, and that means there is a lot of Pho is Denver. Pho 96 was very highly rated on Yelp, so we decided to try it.

The next morning we woke up, ran a few errands then went to lunch at Pho 96. Being a vegetarian, I am forever on the lookout for a vegetarian Pho comparable to Pho Hot in Annandale, VA. Pho Hot uses a combination of soy protein in various forms and seitan in their vegetarian Pho. It is spectacular.

Unfortunately, Pho 96 did not even come close with their rendition of vegetarian Pho. Sadly, they just fried some tofu, threw some broccoli, celery, carrots, and onions into a vegetarian broth with some rice noodles and called it Vegetarian Pho. I suppose I may have to simply accept the fact that no one will ever come close to my beloved Pho Hot.

George, however, was delighted with his nearly 2-gallon (so it seemed) bowl of soup.  He got a custom-mix of veggie broth, well-done brisket and flank, and added the special sliced meatballs.  Topped with some sprouts, basil, and plum sauce, it was ranked as "among the best ever."

We also got grilled shrimp spring rolls, and those were delicious.

The peanut sauce that came with our spring rolls was delicious.

My Taro bubble tea tasted a little chalky and watered down, but George's Peach bubble tea was very flavorful. Strangely, they topped our bubble teas with whipped cream. Maybe it is a Colorado thing. In Vegas and back east there was never whipped cream on top of my bubble teas.


The one really great thing about Pho 96 was the value of the Pho. A large is $7.25, and it truly is LARGE!




Overall for me it was ok, for George it was great, but still not as good as Pho Hot.

After we finished our lunch we went to pick up groceries.  I was so excited to find that they have an H Mart.  It was like being back home!  For under $17 we stocked up on tons of produce.  I love the Korean Markets!

We left the Denver area and spent the night at Meeker Park Campground about 11 miles south of Rocky Mountain National Park.

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