House of Phở in San Jose, California

Not many places are open on Thanksgiving Day. But we had a hunch that phở places might be open, and fortunately this one was (5353 Almaden Expressway Suite 50, 266-6683). Sure, the phở was fine, but perhaps more interesting were these grilled pork rolls. At first glance, I thought that it was Spam inside (perhaps because L&L Hawaiian is next door), but it was just some kind of sweet ham...almost honey-baked, if you will.

I also got a bowl of hủ tiếu satế, which in the picture looked like it might have been similar to my beloved #2 at Tung Kee. It turned out to be soup-based instead, but I still liked the heavy lemongrass flavor that otherwise actually did seem a bit reminiscent of TK #2. I washed it all down with a soda sữa hột gà, or Vietnamese eggnog featuring condensed milk and egg yolk. Someone really should make a Spam version of fresh rice paper rolls, BTW.