Pho and phlowers

Friday night I got to go to the Philadelphia Flower Show for free. It was part of the Young Friends of the Horticultural Society's efforts to get feedback from the under-40 crowd. My friend invited me, and when she couldn't go, I took another friend. It was a pretty good deal. Free food, free entry to the show, and then we got to give our opinion about the show. I never turn down free food, ha!

They had cheese and fruit and wine. They even had some servers walking around with some appetizers. But the highlight was the mashed potato bar. They had three different kinds - roasted red pepper, cheddar, and garlic. Then they had mashed potato condiments - bacon, chives, cheese, and sour cream that we could add on our own. And they served it in a plastic martini glass. Hehe. I only had the roasted red pepper one, but it was damn good! The guy serving it said you've never had anything like it. And he was right! I loaded mine up with lots of bacon and sour cream and it was very good. It was slightly spicy, but not too much so, and had a bit of potato chunks still. I could have eaten it all night.

Alas, I did not eat the mashed potatoes all night. I never give up a chance to go to Chinatown when I'm right there. The convention center is pretty much in Chinatown, so we had to go there to eat afterwards. It was quite cold, so we just picked what was closest, and ended up at Pho Cali. Pho Cali is one of my favorite pho places around. You always get sat quickly, the food comes out lightning fast, and it's good and cheap.

I decided not to have pho (not sure why) and had the beef with noodle soup instead. I wanted some spice, and I surely got it. It had round egg noodles. And what I think was probably flank steak. It was very spicy. Not too spicy, but it definitely was not a mild spicy. M had a grilled beef with noodle soup dish. It was a chicken broth soup with rice noodles, and came with grilled beef on the side. It was just what we needed to fill our bellies and get all warmed up.

Pho Cali

1000 Arch St

215-629-1888