Hours: According to their website, "7 DAYS A WEEKS" Sunday- Thursday 8am-9pm, Friday and Saturday 8am-10 pm
Website: http://www.phocowcaliexpress.com/
Beth: Katie and I decided to start with our favorite place, Pho Cow Cali in Mira Mesa. So far in our pho journey (we've tried perhaps 10 places in SD so far between the 2 of us) this is our favorite. It has been the most consistently good.
Let's start with the logo, the disturbingly happy cow in a tux with Liza Minelli mascara. Their old logo looked remarkably like the Laughing Cow, of Laughing Cow brand cheese:
Perhaps that is why they changed it. Their current spokescow distinctly reminds me of the animals in the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, who happily serve their own tender flesh to you at the table.
This cow will no doubt amuse you as much as it has amused us. It comes on the multicolored balloons the restaurant offers for children (or any of you who are bold enough to ask, I would hope)- one of its many charms.
The restaurant is pretty clean and open, with paintings on the walls. There are also several large flat-screen TV's that generally seem to show CNN Headline News or sports events. No elevator music here, a disappointment as Katie and I used to so enjoy the elevator Beatles music at Pho Ca Dao (a place we shall review in the near future).
The hours are agreeable, as Katie and I are fans of pho places that open relatively early. We like to eat pho for breakfast- it's great if you're hungover, even better if you're not, and then you just go home and pass out for a couple hours and don't have to eat again for at least 8 hours.
The service is average- very fast, and polite, but not super friendly. The English of most of the restaurant employees is good.
Katie:
This is a great solid pho place. They have all the pho basics, and then they even have chicken pho and shrimp pho for crazy friends that are opposed to red meats (Apparently, the shrimp pho here is surprisingly good according to Beth who tried it with guest reviewer Adam).
Anyways, on to the important stuff.
Broth. Definitely passes and has plenty of green onions and cilantro (sorry cilantro haters). Always good, sometimes very good. Makes you want to drink to the bottom of the bowl. However, it can be variable from day to day, sometimes is a bit too light for my tastes. I have tried better, though its hard to find. The broth isn't what keeps bringing us back here. We come back for the happy cow beefy goodness. Cow Cali not only is very generous with the beef portions, but the cuts are low on fat, even the steak is soft, the brisket & flank are delicious and the tendon is well tendon that doesn't really vary much as far as I can tell. My only complaint about the meat is that sometimes their tripe is cut a bit thick and a bit too chewy.
I also highly recommend the Satay sauce here. It has a smokey, spicey deliciousness to it. I've tried to buy a similar one in nearby Vietnamese groceries but I haven't found one I like as much yet.
We like the meat because its abundant just like we like the noodles cause they aren't so abundant. I've known some places to include so many noodles that there isn't much room for broth and thats my favorite part of pho. Noodles are also not too hard, not too soft.
The vegetable garnish plate has everything you would expect: bean sprouts, peppers, limes, basil & culantro. All fresh.
On to the non-pho items: Egg rolls here are good and come with mint, lettuce, and the standard fish sauce with carrots in it for dipping. Spring rolls are big and good, but recently they have been a bit stingy on shrimp (only one at each end). The rolls include mint (a big plus), but not enough as it seems concentrated in the center. Their peanut sauce is good as well but a bit on the sweet side for our taste.
I also occasionally get the Che Ba Mau (3 color drink) here. Its good but doesn't particularly stand out.
So as of yet, Pho Cow Cali Express is our favorite place in San Diego but who knows what else we'll find in the future. One more thing about Cow Cali Express, after dinner take your receipt next door for 25c/oz frozen yogurt.
Overall, we at San Diego Pho Blog give Pho Cow Cali a hearty 8 spoons out of 10.
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