During a rare half-day off from the world of hospital trauma medicine, we were able to take the family down to the North Market here in Columbus, OH for a couple of hours of perusing the shopping options. After picking up a bottle of wine and wonderful Belgian beer, we stopped by one of our all-time favorite places to eat at the Market…the Lac Viet Market. Sign seen here:

For those of you who’ve had little or no experience with Vietnamese food, it’s a unique flavor and styling when compared to other cuisines of that region of the world such as Thai, Korean, Japanese, and the diversity of Chinese ones. One of our favorites, which was Joe’s choice this day, is Pho soup, seen below. For a little about Pho, see this website which describes it a little better than I can right now.

Looks great, huh? We’ve had versions of Pho elsewhere, but this one ranks as one of the best we have ever tasted. The secret to making it chilehead-good is their homemade hot sauce, served in squeezy red bottles normally reserved for ketchup. Don’t squeeze the bottle as briskly as I did (like you would for ketchup), or you’ll suffer the chile-based wrath. Wonderful stuff…and worth it to try there on its own merit

Below, you can see what Linda had, the Goi-cuon and another dish whose name escapes me right now. Served with a peanut sauce, both were nothing short of amazing. Due to their popularity, this was the first time we’d ever been able to try their Goi-cuon, because it’s usually all sold out before we get there!

Heh, had to post this picture. This was the look on little Josh’s face as his daddy was gasping for air while eating his Pho soup, liberally squirted with homemade hot sauce. Don’t worry, Josh, Daddy was OK despite how much pain it looked like he was suffering….

If you should ever have a taste for Vietnamese food and stop by the North Market, it’s well worth your time to eat there at the Lac Viet. Finding a place to sit is a challenge, but you’ll enjoy your meal a great deal once you do.

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