PhoXotic. 103 Rhode Island Ave., NW.Â
Hai Le regularly ate pho growing up in Silver Spring, but it was a bowl he tried during a trip to California a decade ago that got him truly obsessed. “I was like, ‘Why does this taste different? Whoa, what’s this? What’s going on? I’m not used to this.’ It was so much better. It was clearer. I didn’t feel sweaty.”
Le, who was working as a butcher for Giant at the time, has been chasing that flavor ever since. When he returned to Maryland, he went to every pho place he could find. He joined Facebook groups with chefs from Vietnam to learn how they make the soup. Then he met his girlfriend, Gia Le, and her father made him a bowl of pho that was somehow even better than the one he’d had in California—and taught him his recipe.
Hai Le’s obsession only grew: He experimented with different extractions and boiling temperatures, and tested three different types of cardamom to find the right one. Finally, he launched a pho meal kit business during the pandemic. And now, he and Le—who has a background in sales management and runs more of the business end—have opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant, PhoXotic in Bloomingdale, leveling up your standard bowl of Vietnamese noodle soup with a bone-packed 24-hour beef broth, fresh noodles, and some fun touches like bone marrow that’s blow-torched in front of customers.
“I want people to get the same reaction when they eat the pho that I had in Cali,” he says. “I still remember it.”Â
As a former butcher, Le is very particular about his local halal beef. The bowls come with various combinations of brisket, meatballs, beef shanks, tendons, sirloin, oxtail, bone-in ribs, and bone marrow—all of which he sources directly from the meat processors. “I go where the butchers go. Because of that, I’m able to have a more consistent product. I know when they slaughter, what genetics they’re getting in,” he says, referring to the breed of cattle. As he sees it, commodity beef produces commodity pho. “I’m trying to be exotic—PhoXotic. That’s what the whole point is.” (A vegan pho is also available with oyster and king mushrooms.)
The chef also works with a local purveyor to make custom sheets of rice noodles, which are delivered fresh each day. He runs the sheets through a pasta machine for slightly thicker-than-average strands. In his quest to further perfect his pho, he’s also talking to farmers to source his spices directly from Vietnam. And aside from the standard Sriracha, he offers a housemade sate condiment with three types of chilies, shallots, garlic, and lemongrass to add a kick of heat to your soup.
Beyond pho, the small menu also includes eggrolls with house-ground chicken or beef, deep-fried in beef tallow. (A plant-based Beyond Beef version is fried in avocado oil.) Le is looking to expand his offerings to include dishes like roasted bone marrow with pate. To drink, Vietnamese coffee and plum or salted lime sodas are available, but PhoXotic is hoping to get a liquor license too for Vietnamese-inspired cocktails.
The layout of the restaurant is a little different than your typical DC-area pho shop. the couple has transformed a former Chinese carryout into a 10-seat counter overlooking an open kitchen. “I want to be personal with my customers and show them what pho is about. I want them to see everything,” Hai Le says. The restaurant also offers takeout two ways: packaged with all the components separated, or “on-the-go,” ready to eat when you walk out the door.
“I’m not trying to make it gourmet,” he says. “I’m trying to make it authentic and real.”
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
