Now Pho Aims to Stand Out on Federal With New Menu Items

"I love it. Everything is a better way — better dining room, better food, better recipes, the tea and coffee. Now I'm really working hard on the service. I dare to say I probably have the best service team members on South Federal Boulevard," says Toan Le, who owns Now Pho with his partner, Nhan Tran.

The building at 1195 South Federal used to house Pho Le. "The food was good, but it wasn't clean and the service sucked," Le says. "The day I took over the restaurant, I remember going with my partner, and I sat in the booth, and it flipped. The booth was really that broken and old. So I told my partner, we cannot run a business like this."

Le and Tran made a number of changes after buying the place, including giving it a new name, swapping out light fixtures, painting the interior, getting new booths and chairs, and freshening up the bathrooms. But "one thing we didn't touch was the kitchen," Le notes, even though it was in serious need of an update. "We were not in a position to remodel because we were not the landlord."

But then Le's landlord decided to retire and offered him the chance to buy the building, a deal that was finalized in March 2020. The pandemic put the remodeling plans on hold, but by the beginning of this year, "I said, it's about time," Le recalls.

Now Pho closed temporarily in January so that Le and Tran could travel back to Vietnam, where they "ate a lot of good food and learned more about the recipes," Le says.
They came back refreshed and inspired, and once construction was done, every single employee agreed to return for Now Pho's reopening. "People are the biggest asset to any business. Running a restaurant is like sailing a big ship, and you cannot sail by yourself," says Le, who now has eighteen employees. "In the front, I tend to have a younger crew because they exude energy, it's fun and vibrant. And in the kitchen is a dedicated, hardworking chef who really cares and is passionate about cooking Vietnamese food."

The restaurant welcomed guests back on June 16. "That's when we were really back in the game," Le says. The four-month project included the kitchen update plus a new look for the dining room with a white-on-white color scheme, resulting in a space that is "really airy with lots of natural light," Le says.

It also reopened with a revamped menu. During the closure, "We really went back to our core values and our recipes, and our core values have always been in authentic Vietnamese flavor," Le says. "We really push boundaries. We really innovate to bring the authentic flavors, but adapt to the new world and the trends to create dishes that are extremely good but also very presentable."

One trend he noticed was the growing popularity of boba shops, so he brought in machines imported from Taiwan and expanded the beverage program to include more boba options along with other tea and coffee drinks, all of which can be made by front-of-house employees, which has added a new revenue stream without putting more work on the kitchen staff.
The food menu was strategically trimmed from eight pages to two. "I really concentrated my menus on the best sellers and the ones people love. So anything you pick on the menu, you can't go wrong with it," Le says. "We are really known for our specialty soups," like yellow flat noodle soup  (mì Quảng) with shrimp, pork rib, pork belly and boiled egg; bún bò Huế, a traditional lemongrass noodle soup with beef shank, pork hock, ham and blood cube; and a new spicy beef stew (bò cay).

The pho itself, of course, is a go-to, and one new twist has proved very popular. "We try to create house signature dishes that are not offered anywhere else. Federal has a lot of competition," Le admits. So Now Pho introduced a hot stone bowl pho that comes out bubbling with a plate full of proteins to dunk into the broth. "What makes our pho different from others is that we have a light beefiness in it, and we don't overwhelm it with spices. It's a perfect balance, like a harmonious symphony," he says.

Other new menu items include the Four Season Chicken Platter (gà len mam), a feast complete with jalapeño buttered chicken wings, honey-glazed chicken wings, shredded chicken salad, yellow rice and vegetables; and Shaking Beef (bò lúc lắc), super-tender chunks of beef shoulder with a peppery flavor.
One emerging customer favorite is the rice cake omelet (bột chiên). The egg dish is studded with springy rice cakes that are crisp on the outside and soft inside, and is topped with scallions, shredded cabbage and pork fat, which adds savory saltiness to the omelet.

For Le, who has plans to continue adding new items, consistency is key. "If it's not the same every time, [customers] are disappointed. I want them to have trust in my food, that every time they come in they're going to get the exact same thing," he says.

Now Pho also caters to customers by staying open much later than most nearby restaurants; its current hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays and until 3 a.m. on weekends. Starting January 1, it will open at 9 a.m. so that people can pop in for a sweet treat, a bowl of pho, or a cup of coffee in the morning. It's also open 365 days a year, including holidays, Le notes.

With the remodel done, Le has been focused on spreading the word. "A lot of mom-and-pop shops don't make it, even if they have generational recipes that are really good, because they don't know how to attract customers," he notes, adding that he's embraced social media and has found success using influencers to gain exposure to a new audience.

While he loves his regulars, Le knows that seeing new faces in the restaurant is the key to its longevity. "I am here for the long run," he concludes.