SVCC 2018 -- Pho Fresh

Last night, my friend Melissa and I attended Dine-Out at Pho Fresh, an event organized by Bethany Davis, the mastermind behind the Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge. More than two dozen people gathered to enjoy appetizers provided especially for the Dine-Out and to order other vegan dishes from both the Pho Fresh Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge menu and their regular menu, which includes two whole pages of vegan options.

The first appetizer that came out of the kitchen was the chik’n satay. Skewers of grilled mock chicken meat in a spicy peanut sauce were passed around to all the guests, and they were excellent. In fact, the chik’n skewers were my favorite dish. I was sad to see they aren’t on the regular menu at Pho Fresh.

Next, we had bao tacos, steamed white buns filled with seasoned and shredded mushrooms, cucumbers, pickled carrots, pickled daikon, cilantro, and sriracha. These were a big hit with the Dine-Out crowd.

These two appetizers were followed by a bowl of very spicy lemongrass pho. Filled with mushrooms, glass noodles, and lots of chili pepper flakes, it had a great flavor, but the heat level of the chili peppers was too much for several of the diners.

After that, the dishes we ordered on our own began to arrive. Melissa and I had wanted to try the boneless BBQ ribs from the special challenge menu. These ribs were made from king oyster mushrooms cooked in barbecue sauce, and they did not disappoint.

Since we’d apparently not had enough bao tacos during the appetizer course, we ordered the tofu belly tacos from the regular menu. They were the same as the mushroom bao tacos we’d had earlier, except that instead of a mushroom filling, these bao tacos contained tofu seasoned in a spicy garlic sauce.

Finally, we decided to try a noodle dish from the regular menu. The vegan chow fun consisted of thick rice noodles stir-fried with bean sprouts, onions, and tofu. It was a simple, but satisfying, dish.

I really wished we’d saved room for dessert, since I wanted to try the cinnamon apple eggrolls on the Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge menu. Alas, I was too full to seriously consider dessert.

Pho Fresh is located at 10673 Coloma Road in Rancho Cordova, and their phone number is 916-706-2523. They don’t appear to have a website, but their Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/phofresh2u/. The restaurant is open Sunday through Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.