Pholicious Noodle Bar (formerly Pho Tung & Cafe)

As Little Saigon has increased its prominence as Orange County’s center of Vietnamese abundance and excellence, it’s easy to recommend heading up there for any sort of meal or specialty item one might be looking for. But given the county’s geographic size and population distribution, there’s plenty of demand for options that aren’t in or immediately next to Garden Grove and Westminster.

That brought us to Pholicious Noodle Bar in Lake Forest, which is a closer option for people living and eating in southern Orange County. Still owned by the same people as when it was named Pho Tung and Cafe, Pholicious’s 2022 rebrand works on an emotional level, rather than evoking a cow part you might find in the soup. (It’s also confusing: the same name has been used by a packaged food company and a number of seemingly semi-independent restaurants, many long since closed. This location appears to be independently operated.)

We were really impressed by the small but finely tuned menu of pho bowls, which rival some of the best phos we’ve tried in Little Saigon, as well as Kei’s punched up Súp versions in Buena Park and Irvine. You can, of course, choose from a bunch of different beef parts: short ribs, steak, brisket, tendon, and so on. Our suggestion is the “signature” version, which includes rare steak, filet mignon, lean brisket, and beef meatballs, or the Oxtail version that includes ox meat on the bone. Both benefit from Pholicious’s strongly flavored beef stock, which makes the soups worthy of drinking down to their empty bowls.