Soup cures all

Hellloooo. I finally feel like I'm ready to be back among the living after more than a week of being under the weather. Still in a slower than I'd like to be recovery mode, but one of the best things I've had to lift my spirits and soul was a restorative bowl of pho.

I'm a pho (pronounce it fuh) fanatic. My heart still remains with Pho 75 in Philadelphia - a truly great and cheap soup joint near the Philly Italian Market - but recently there have a few worthy contenders in Delaware - FINALLY - to slurp up this delish Vietnamese beef noodle soup. Woo-hoo, it's about time.

Here's a place I've written about before in Bear.

And I just had a bowl of pho at the new Pho Cali on Kirkwood Highway next to the Pathmark store in Kirkwood Plaza Shopping Center (same one as Kohl's, A.C. Moore, etc.)

Not much atmosphere here - it's barely diner-esque - but I was pretty happy with this soup that you eat with chopsticks and a spoon.

Big bowl of pho is $6.95. (Only one size.) My taster is still a little off, but, from what I could tell, the beefy broth, made with onions, scallions and perhaps a touch of star anise, is very good.

I got the rare flank steak pho - they also have pho with meatballs, tofu and chicken (but to me that's not really pho which is traditionally made with beef stock.) The flank steak seemed like a combo of steak and fatty tendon - which I pretty much left in the bowl - so next time, I'm just ordering the rare steak.

The accompaniments on the side - bean sprouts, limes, basil and jalapeno were all fresh, crisp and plentiful. The rice noodles are a little thin, and I don't believe they're handmade - but this is still a very good and inexpensive meal for under $8. There's a kicky red chili sauce on the table that's worth dotting in the soup if you want some added heat, along with the usual hoisin and Sriracha.