Pho Binh Westheimer in Houston

Holy cow, that thing was huge! Yes, I came here specifically for this dish (5901 Westheimer Road Suite U, 713-781-8881), but I certainly wasn't expecting Fred Flintstone-like portions. See, Pho Binh was the shop behind that lovely bone marrow phở that I had last time I was here, but when I looked at the online menu for this location, something else caught my eye: baked bone marrow. Really? This one I had to try.

It actually required two trips to get it. When I first got here after 11 AM, they said that it wasn't ready yet, so I came back after running some errands and finally was able to get this. And when they brought it out, my eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets. Not only were there four dinosaur-like bones in front of me (think: each one the size of a Sriracha bottle), but there was also a little bowl in the center full of even more marrow. I'd better get working on this!

Well, the good thing was that it was everything that bone marrow should be: rich fatty goodness to go with slices of bread. But by the second or third bone, it was starting to get a bit rich, and I barely made it past the fourth bone, let alone getting to the little bowl in the center. Seriously, this was meant for sharing, and frankly would be a great conversation starter if they catered it at a party. But alas, I had had enough. Let's hope that everything that I heard about bone marrow actually *lowering* your cholesterol is true.