Photo by John Cross
Trong Ho, with help from family, has opened the Pho Saigon restaurant in Mankato, offering authentic Vietnamese soups and dishes.
Lots of places like to label themselves as family businesses.
The new Pho Saigon restaurant is a family endeavor in its purest form. Trong Nam Ho, the 23-year-old owner, relies heavily on his family — just like they all have in the 15 years since they arrived here from Vietnam.
His dad, Quoi Ho, is helping run the kitchen. His mom, Tieu Tran, helps with her business acumen as she also runs her successful Nails by Jordan business along Madison Avenue.
His older brother, Trinh Nam Ho, who is a medical student, is working at the restaurant when he can. Ditto for his three younger brothers, Truc, Trung and Trieu, and his sister Trinh Nu.
And there’s a couple of uncles just arrived from Vietnam to cook.
“We’re a hard-working family,” says Trong matter-of-factly.
As he was approaching graduation from Minnesota State University’s construction management program last May, Trong was working on plans for the restaurant, located on North Victory Drive, in a small strip mall near the front of Menards.
He hired a successful Vietnamese restaurant operator who designs and oversees restaurant constructions. Trong worked at one of a string of restaurants the man owned in Houston to learn the ropes and recipes.
(Some of the recipes, including those for the egg and spring rolls, are a Ho family recipe, Trong said.) The centerpiece of the restaurant are the soups.
Pho (rhymes with “duh”) is a noodle soup dish with heady broths, chewy rice noodles, sweet spices and fresh herbs coupled with any number of meats including steak, brisket and meatballs.
“Everyone in Vietnam eats Pho. It’s well known most places in America but it’s newer to people around here,” Trong said.
“I really want people here to eat the soups. They’re good and fresh and good for you.
“I tell people it’s authentic Vietnamese and sometimes I think they get scared of it, but the dishes aren’t anything scary — people like them when they try them.”
But the menu just begins with soups and includes everything from appetizers such as buffalo wings, to authentic Vietnamese fried rice, Vietnamese lo meins, and a variety of chicken, beef, shrimp and vegetarian dishes.
Photo by John Cross
Chicken with rice and egg roll is one of the offerings on a growing menu at Pho Saigon.
Many of the dishes are served in large bowls with a bed of noodles and fresh greens topped by the meat and a light sauce and sauces on the sides. Many are served with vermicelli (rice) noodles, others with white rice.
Trong said he’s committed to freshness. “The state says you can keep meat for four days. I throw it out in two days. The bean sprouts and herbs, you want them fresh. You cook with fresh ingredients and it makes it good.”
Trong’s family — parents and six kids, the youngest 9 months old at the time — left Vietnam in 1991, where his parents had a restaurant. They first went to the Philippines and then lived in Kentucky for a short time before moving to Mankato under the sponsorship of the School Sisters of Notre Dame on Good Counsel hill. They lived at Good Counsel for six months while they got jobs and found their own home.
His mom started the Nails Boutique at the Madison East Center, which she later sold, and his dad worked at Pioneer Snacks.
The kids attended Loyola High School, where many excelled in sports.
“We all played basketball except my oldest brother. He was always a studier. He wanted to be a doctor since he came here when he was 12.”
Even for a hard-driven family with a business background, Trong says starting the restaurant has been draining.
“I don’t sleep very good. Worrying about everything — the money.
“Just ordering all the food, the right amounts, is difficult,” he said. “When I opened I ordered three big cases of jalapenos.
Who knew Mankatoans didn’t eat jalapenos with their soup? I had to throw them all out.”
Still, he’s heartened by the customer comments and repeat business he’s getting as he builds up the restaurant.
He has intentionally not advertised yet and is slowly adding items to his menu as the kitchen crew masters them.
He said that while opening a restaurant is a high-risk venture, he has faith in it.
“My mom believes in it. When she believes in something she just does it. If she believes, I believe.”
“She always told us business is tough. We (kids) never believed her. Now we do.”
But no matter how driven he and the family are, things are kept in perspective. That’s the reason the Pho Saigon is not open on Sundays.
“Money is money, but you need to rest with family. We go to church together. Spend time together.”
Asked if he feels like an American success story, Trong is quick to answer. “No, not yet. Not financially. “But when my family is all around me and helping out, I feel like a success.”
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