Arlington spot makes Washington Post’s short list of ‘great affordable restaurants’ | ARLnow.com

A longtime Rosslyn eatery was recently recognized in the Washington Post’s list of “great affordable restaurants in the D.C. area.”

Pho 75 at 1721 Wilson Blvd, in the Colonial Village Shopping Center, was one of five restaurants on the list compiled by food critic Tom Sietsema.

The Post raves about the Vietnamese restaurant’s pho beef broth, “fragrant with star anise and cinnamon, crammed with thin rice noodles and scattered with cilantro and scallions.”

Most of the 17 pho variations mix and match different cuts of beef. Sietsema ordered the No. 7, “thick with thinly shaved eye-round steak, well-done flank and softly crunchy beef tripe.”

The pho is accompanied by “a party of garnishes,” including Thai basil, jalapeños and chili sauce.

The restaurant, which sports a simple interior and has a wall full of past recognitions, also serves meatball pho and chicken noodle soup, which Sietsema describes as the “headiest chicken soup in memory.”

A “regular” size bowl of pho — almost enough to serve two people, according to Sietsema — is a mere $10.45. A “large” serving costs $1 more. Notably, Pho 75 is a cash-only establishment.

Le Thiep and Binh Ngo founded Pho 75 in 1985, naming it after the year of the Fall of Saigon. The founding duo first met as Vietnamese refugees in California, according to Northern Virginia Magazine.

Today, the restaurant is managed by Ngo’s son, Chi Ngo.

Pho 75 now has a total of eight locations: six in the D.C. area and two in the Philadelphia area. The original Rosslyn location is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week.