Hoanh Long- Vietnamese

"Jocelyn, I'm wearing my baller sweatshirt today for your blog." And with Nitin's statement, we embarked on our journey to Hoanh Long in North Park. For anybody who is Chicago neighborhood crazy (okay, mostly for myself because I'm a little bit neighborhood crazy), North Park seems to be just slightly northwest of Edgewater. Besides a foray onto Devon Ave, where our ethnic food experiences began, I'm really unfamiliar with the area. You go a few blocks north and you start getting confused about whether you're still in Chicago.

First thing I learned is not as much about the food as it was about us. We are not photogenic. Nitin doesn't look bad in his baller sweatshirt, but I'm including this picture of me and Saad for two reasons, and they are simple ones. A) Observe his shirt. This is possibly my favorite shirt of all time, anywhere. It is rambunctious, and Saad wears it with pride. B) Saad's face in this picture is halfway there to his "consideration" face. When he tests something out and decides it's actually pretty good, he makes this face. It's pretty elusive and its full effect has yet to be captured on camera. I have lofty dreams of getting it someday.

Nitin was the most excited to try pho. He kept making pho jokes like, "Pho sho," and "Pho no!" Saad and I tried, but we were not as talented as we hoped to be (much like medical school and many other functions of daily life). I've had pho before at Pho 777 (I couldn't remember the name of it, which is why we tried this new place and I'm glad we did), but Nitin and Saad had not. I definitely love their willingness to try new things so fearlessly.

The reason I love pho is that it tastes simple and nuanced at the same time. It has so much flavor to experience, but is not overwhelming at all. And the best part about it is that it achieves this flavor without just being a strong salty sodium-esque taste. Nitin thought his was too minty, but I only tasted the subtlest flavor of mint, if at all. Just another indication of Nitin's body shutting down.

We also got this dish. I can't remember the name of it, even though I have had it at Chinese restaurants every weekend I, as a 5-year-old hater of food (especially Chinese food), considered a torturous family friend dinner. The difference was that this dish had short, flat noodles (they are the white things in this picture). I enjoyed it a lot. I definitely applaud this restaurant for its strong flavors that didn't overpower everything else.