Pho Viet - Saratoga, CA
On our most recent trip to the West Coast, my buddy Zack met up with me at our hotel and we finally got to spend some long deserved time together. Zack and I have been compadres since my climbing days at UNC, where in fact, I met a lot of my best friends. There's nothing like putting your life in someone's hands to build trust and lasting friendships.
"The itch," as my cousin calls it, was hitting me pretty bad. I had to find some good cheap noodle soup, STAT! I hit up Yelp!, my first line of research when it comes to unknown territories, and found a restaurant that had a 3 star rating with over 50 reviews, and only one "$". This is a winning combo. You see it's not so hot that people give it 4-5 stars because everyone else does, or because it costs so much people feel bad about how much money they spent, and therefore, lead other people to go spend money there for bad food. You get it? It's a science using these internet review sites.
Now that I've given away my technique for finding local spots, let's move on to the food.
Fresh Spring Rolls