Lexington, KY - Horse Capital of the World

Bluegrass Flavors and Feel:  12/08/11

Of all the culinary surprises encountered by visitors to Lexington, one of the greatest is the number of fine ethnic restaurants scattered around this Midwestern town with its distinctly Southern edge.  The number of good Middle Eastern and Japanese, for example, is wildly disproportionate to the size of our population and its non-coastal setting.

Other cuisines, like Vietnamese, are less well-represented.  We have just two Vietnamese restaurants, and only one of them specializes in pho, the iconic rich broth with noodles and meat, served with garnish like basil, bean sprouts, jalapenos and lime.

Pho BC’s name is derived from the soup itself combined with the owners’ initials, “B” being Kim Bui, who hails from Ho Chi Minh City, and Xing Chen, her Chinese husband and accomplished chef, who Bui coached in the ways of the Vietnamese table.

The place opened about 4 years ago.  Word-of-mouth and -Internet traveled fast.  Phone calls and emails started circulating.  Urban Spoon got involved:

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/65/1445757/restaurant/Zandale/Pho-BC-Lexington

Central Kentucky had pho that could compete with its counterparts on the Pacific Rim!

Of course, Pho BC is clean, but casual.  The tables are bare save for bottles of soy sauce and sriracha, and napkins and little soup ladles.  You will find the familiar and fantasy-inspiring photos of the Vietnam coast on the walls. 

The menu is strictly Vietnamese, with specialties such as pretty yellow pancakes—banh xeo, if I’m not mistaken—studded with seafood and scallions, and stir-fried dishes like bun xao: egg or rice noodles, with a mix-and-match of meats, the crunch of cabbage and carrots, and a heady, distinctive rush of cilantro.

But it is the soup, steamy and comforting, that we all come for, especially in the winter.  It represents retreat from the cold.  It is restoration. It feels healing. It is as good as it gets.