I went out earlier today to eat lunch with a friend. We would meet up often before the pandemic and we usually get pho. Since he is way out in the South Bay, we tried to find a place that was near the middle. My Vietnamese coworker recommended Phoholic in Stanton, so we met up there at 11:30 am.
Unfortunately, when we arrived, there was a huge line outside the restaurant. Since I am still leery of crowds, we decided to eat elsewhere. The restaurant is located inside Rodeo 39 Public Market, which is like an indoor open market with lots of food options. It was less crowded than Phoholic, but some eateries did have lines. We ended up at Kra Z Kai’s BBQ, which was a La0-style BBQ place. Since I am still worried about my blood sugar, I just got a chicken salad. My friend did get BBQ chicken with sticky rice to be more authentic. The salad was just okay. There was a lot of chicken and romaine lettuce, but the flavor of the chicken was bland. The dressing, however, was very salty and vinegary, so I mostly tasted the dressing. My friend said the BBQ chicken was pretty good.
Due to its location, there were many Asians at the market/food court. I thought there was still a mask mandate in California for restaurants, but about one-third of the people were not wearing masks. The clientele also trended young, and the entire place felt like it was trying hard to be trendy. Rodel 39 was about 25 minutes from my house. If I lived closer, maybe I would go back to try out more places, but as is, it is too far for a regular destination. Maybe if the pho was really really good…
Life with chronic diseases 