Pho Lynna

Next up in our initial tour of the heart of White Center is Pho Lynna. In the time I've lived down here I think this location has been through at least 3 incarnations, all of them Pho restaurants. I tried them out several years ago and found the location to be almost completely marginal; in its appearance, cleanliness, friendliness, and food quality.

I was pleasantly surprised then when I returned last week, and found that although there hasn't been a lot done to change the basics of the interior, it is certainly cleaner, and possibly brighter than before. I think a new coat of paint may have helped on that last count, but I can't rightly remember what it looked like before.

The proprietress was quite friendly, and in addition to her greeting, I also received a generous smile from an older woman seated in the corner who I assumed may be the first woman's mother. I had my choice of seating at any of the 12 4 tops due to the odd time I chose to visit- between the lunch and dinner hours, around 14:30 and 15:00, on a weekday. 

Pho Lynna has a larger selection of Pho options on the menu than I would have expected. They also offer chow mein, chow fun, 6 Thai dishes including pad thai and pad kee mao, beef stew, vermicelli bowls, terriyaki, and bubble tea.

In looking for my beloved salad rolls on the appetizer menu I stumbled across a listing for pot stickers. As a general fan of gyoza these piqued my interest, and with no fresh rolls on the menu, they were a quick substitute for me appetizer needs. I don't think of pot stickers as a particularly standard item for Vietnamese food, but I'm seeing them more and more, especially at establishments like Pho Lynna, where the menu starts to become a bit more pan-east Asian in general, rather than strictly Vietnamese offerings. 

I will admit, I didn't have high hopes for them, as most gyoza I've had at restaurants of this style/price point tend to deliver only acceptable or decent dumplings, but I ordered them none the less, along with an iced coffee.

The friendly grandmother delivered my water and coffee, with a fresh trip, and a fresh smile for each drink. The coffee was served already brewed, and came out in a parfait glass with shaved ice. This excited me at first, probably because shaved ice is a bit of a novelty, but over the course of my meal I came to think less of it, as the increased surface area leads to a quicker melt, resulting in watery coffee very quickly.

My pot stickers came out next, followed by the pho about 5 or so minutes later. Aside from sheer gluttony, one of the reasons I love appetizers with pho is that I can assemble my pho with the vegetables, sriracha and other sauces that I prefer, stir it up, and leave it alone. The appetizers give me something to do and keep me from diving right into the pho, which I have come to learn is the best way to go. Why?  Pho is usually assembled in the kitchen with a batch of noodles, and a portion of meat both added to the bowl of broth just before it is brought out. The noodles and meat cook some in the hot broth, the broth impregnates the meat and vegetables, the meat flavors drift into the broth, and the broth, which is now a meat-broth-vegetable mix, coats the noodles as they continue to cook and soften. All of this leads to much more balanced and robust pho experience.

I was pleased to discover that the pot stickers exceeded my expectations. They plate of 6 I received were not amazing, but they were quite good. The dumplings were made of a somewhat thick dough, which impressed me all the more. I find thick dumplings to be all the more easily undercooked, overly doughy, and unsatisfying, but these had a very nice firm texture and were nicely crisped on the outside, though not quite enough to be golden in color yet. They were served with nouc cham for dipping rather than a soy based sauce you would expect in a Chinese or Japanese establishment. While I love the traditional Vietnamese garlic sauce I wasn't sure I would enjoy it with gyoza, but again I was pleasantly surprised, and found it to be a great companion. The potsticker filling was warm and very finely chopped, and I saved a few of them to return to over the course of my meal.

The size of the small pho was hard to gauge really, as it came in an very large bowl that was only about 1/2 filled, which throws off visual estimations a bit. In retrospect I think it was overall probably on par with a small from Than Brothers, with perhaps just a little smaller noodle portion.

The broth was a little light on onions for me, with a slight salty main profile, but not overpowering, on top of a solid earthy base. There was a great mix of oil in the stock, and I found it balanced well with the juice from the fresh limes. Over all I considered it a worthy bowl on its own, and my additional enjoyment of the pot-stickers, the entire meal was lifted to a level that I will purposefully return to explore their offerings a little further.

Pho Lynna
9600 16th Ave SW
Large pho: $6.35
Small pho: $5.45