Pho Haven – You Knew It As Pot au Pho

Pho Haven is currently closed.

The Banh Dap or flat, roti wedges topped with ground pork sauteed in a coconut-curry sauce.

The Pho. Beef, rice noodles, in a broth flavored with ginger, anise, and cinnamon, with basil and bean sprouts.

The Bun Ca Nuong or grilled fish served on vermicelli, scallion, and peanuts.

The Lau Canh Chua or tamarind soup: pineapple, tomatoes, okra, sprouts, taro stem, Vietnamese herbs, and either fish, chicken, shrimp or tofu.

Taro bubble tea (tapioca pearls), and Ca Phe Sua: very strong Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk.

The Goi Cuon or fresh rolls with pork, and shrimp, or tofu, and vermicelli, with a plum sauce.

The downstairs dining area at Pho Haven.

Pho Haven, formerly Pot au Pho.

You’re tooling down Whitney Avenue, looking for your favorite Vietnamese noodle restaurant. Ah, there it is, but wait, what’s with the name? Where’d Pot au Pho go?

Sophie Nguyen opened two Vietnamese restaurants in 2005 – Auberge d’Asie in Branford and Pot au Pho on Whitney in New Haven. Several years later she closed Auberge and moved back to Vietnam, leaving Alphonse Nguyen (no relation) to manage Pot au Pho under its new name: Pho Haven.

“We’ve been here eight years,” and diners know what to expect, says Nguyen. The only real change is that the restaurant is now BYOB.

The menu will stay pretty much the same, mostly Vietnamese fare, although a few new items with a fusion feel are in the offing. A case in point is the popular dish Sophie created – the Banh Dap or roti wedges. Roti is an Indian bread, but Sophie infused it with the flavor of Vietnam.

One thing that won’t change is the noodle soup called pho. Made from their own stock, it remains their most popular dish. “One-third of the customers – that’s what they eat and that’s what they come here for,” says Nguyen. ”When it is cold, the weather is miserable, wet, that’s when we are packed,” he says, with diners warming themselves over generous bowls of steaming, fragrant pho.

Mara Lavitt

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Restaurant Website: none

• The Detes: 77 Whitney Ave., New Haven • 203-776-2248 • Open Monday through Saturday 11:30am to 9:30pm

• Price Range: $7–$17, Pho is $10 or $11

• Style of Food: Vietnamese with a little fusion

• Most Popular Dishes: Pho of course!

• Drinks: BYOB for alcohol, bubble tea for the Asian appreciators

• The name changes:  But the food’s the same.

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