Restaurants in Atlanta come and go

Our family used to frequent a little hole in the wall restaurant on Buford Hwy called Pho Hoa which served simple, vermicelli noodles with chicken in a light broth with veggies on the side. When the kids were little, we piled into the restaurant and sat on the right side of the huge open room lit only by incandescent lights here and there. On the right, because that little section was the NON-SMOKING area; the other 2/3 of the restaurant was filled with smokers. Do you remember way back, during the 70's/80's when the airlines would have the non-smoking section on the plane? Because I was still young back then, just traveling to and from college, I was usually placed in the latter part of the area in non-smoking, only one measley row in front of the smokers. Hack! Those were awful times to travel in a plane! I'm so thankful that we've eliminated smoking in airplanes completely... what a relief!



Tonight, CMLB sat with me and chatted while we slurped our Pho topped with bean sprouts, sliced chicken (all white meat),green and white onions, Thai basil, and fresh squeezed lime juice. I had vowed years ago not to enter this place after it seemed to have lost its "fresh" quality, but I guess the chill of the night mixed with the hot soup and noodles banished all memories of the boycott from my mind. I told my eldest that I'd give this restaurant a reprieve and recommend it again to others. I'd even tell my husband that he could go back... he had been so heartbroken every time I found another Asian place to go to instead. So here's to you, Pho Hoa, for filling our bellies tonight with good soup and noodles, helping us to regain our warmth, and helping us re-up another Buford Hwy hole in the wall!