Pho 5 Lua, Tip-Top Pho and Beyond

Pho 5 Lua is a long time favorite predating the omnipresent Steve Dolinsky's pick for best Pho in Chicagoland. Clean, quick, great value, near my house and most importantly delicious. Pho 5 Lua is a regular in my rotation and, along with Nha Hang, my favorite Vietnamese in Chicago.

Pho* and Bun Bo Hue are mainstays, along with plump Goi Cuon, though I go through streaks where I wander. For a while it was bone in chicken salad with ungestated eggs and lately its #58 stir fried chow fun with nicely charred veg and a combo of shrimp/beef/chicken.** Vietnamese plate lunches are solid, though a rare order for me and fried rice seems popular.





Pho 5 Lua, Count me a Fan!

*My typical pho order at 5 Lua is a combo of meatball/tendon with egg noodle sub but the bone in chicken pho, also with ungestated eggs, is terrific.
**As they included the dreaded baby corn in the #58 I always ask for it to be left out. Baby corn scares me to death.

Pho Nam Lua (aka 5 Lua)
6261 McCormick Blvd
Chicago, IL 60659

Nha Hang
1032 W Argyle St
Chicago, IL 60640

Gary-- Perhaps, if you thought of it as ungestated corn, you might find a new tasty treat?

G Wiv wrote:**As they included the dreaded baby corn in the #58 I always ask for it to be left out. Baby corn scares me to death.

I'm glad it's not just me! I always pick them out and refuse to eat them.

This is Mi Ga Xe Sate - Shredded Chicken with Egg Noodle Spicy Soup -28. Not as spicy as the Bun Bo Hue, but still with a bit of a kick. Very tasty. The entire surface of the soup was covered with chopped (lightly fried?) garlic. Included 1 chicken egg yolk and 2 quail egg yolks. I will order this again and it certainly is worth considering in the event of an impending cold or flu.

We also had Ca Long Ta Rang Muoi - Salt and pepper fried smelt - 73. Rather small smelt with not much salt and pepper spicing. This did, however, come covered with the same chopped garlic that was in the chicken soup. The effect was like eating explosively crunchy garlic fries. This was different than we expected when ordered, but still enjoyable.


Mi Ga Xe Sate

Flaky mung bean pastry from Simple Delights, across the parking lot.

bw77 wrote:This is Mi Ga Xe Sate - Shredded Chicken with Egg Noodle Spicy Soup -28. Not as spicy as the Bun Bo Hue, but still with a bit of a kick. Very tasty.

I see Mi Ga Xe Sate in my near future, thanks for posting!

bw77 wrote:This is Mi Ga Xe Sate - Shredded Chicken with Egg Noodle Spicy Soup -28. Not as spicy as the Bun Bo Hue, but still with a bit of a kick.

I used to live just west of both Pho Lua and Hoanh Long. I've had takeout from each probably 15-20 times.

Ironic given their names, but I would order pho from HL, with Bahn Xeo b/c PL doesn't offer the dish. But at PL, Mi Ga Xe Sate was my absolute go-to, usually w/ their spicy chicken wings (I like their quail too). Nice part of the Mi Ga Xe Sate is that the egg noodles are just plain better than the rice noodles of pho. But the broth is what makes the dish.

May not be for everyone, but I enjoyed all the garlic.

bweiny wrote: Nice part of the Mi Ga Xe Sate is that the egg noodles are just plain better than the rice noodles of pho.

When I order pho I sub egg noodle for rice noodle about 80% of the time.

This may be of interest if, like me, you were not familiar with Sate:
glebekitchen.com/2018/01/14/vietnamese-sate-sauce/

bw77 wrote:This is Mi Ga Xe Sate - Shredded Chicken with Egg Noodle Spicy Soup -28. Not as spicy as the Bun Bo Hue, but still with a bit of a kick. Very tasty.

When ordering I remembered #28 which was terrific and seems to be what you picture though #27 at Pho 5 Lua, at least on the menu I looked at, is Mi Ga Xe Sate (shredded chicken w/egg noodle spicy soup) and #28 is Mi Ga Chat (Chopped chicken w/egg noodle soup)

Either way I very much enjoyed #28, tender bone-in chicken, bits of offal, a few ungestated eggs, egg noodles, toasted garlic and a hit of spicy heat.






Pho 5 Lua, count me a Fan!

Sorry to mislead. I actually double-checked on line before I posted above to make sure I had the correct number. There is menu on Zomato that seems to show the shredded chicken with egg noodles as 28. I suppose that on line menu is out of date. Anyway, glad you ended up with a dish you enjoyed despite that.

Carried out an order of bun thit nuong for lunch today. Nice to have a decent rendition of this nearby for a lighter lunch option

bw77 wrote:Sorry to mislead. I actually double-checked on line before I posted above to make sure I had the correct number. There is menu on Zomato that seems to show the shredded chicken with egg noodles as 28. I suppose that on line menu is out of date. Anyway, glad you ended up with a dish you enjoyed despite that.

No worries, and you are 100% correct, Zomato does not match the current Pho 5 Lua takeout menu I have sitting on my desk. They also have the hours wrong and don't show they are closed on Tuesdays. They do, however, show the correct restaurant in the pictures.



Above is simply for reference, I enjoyed my meal regardless of number, thanks again for introducing me to a new menu item.

Stopped in for a #27 last evening. We went later in the evening than we normally do, eating around 9:00. Hate to say it, but the broth was not up to its usual standard and tasted a bit watered down. Hopefully, it was just because it was late and they had to stretch it.

bw77 wrote:Stopped in for a #27 last evening. We went later in the evening than we normally do, eating around 9:00. Hate to say it, but the broth was not up to its usual standard and tasted a bit watered down. Hopefully, it was just because it was late and they had to stretch it.

No idea as to cause, but I'd guess anomaly pure and simple. I've been to Pho 5 Lua many (many) times, mostly before noon most recently Saturday morning with the bride after a Home Depot run, and its been consistently tasty.

Chicago Food Stories posted an enticing Pho 5 Lua plate lunch pic on FB and Instagram, tasty. #lowslowbbq #countmeafan

Pho 5 Lua, spicy crispy wings, lightly charred veg including jalapeno, tasty and a reasonable $7.


Pho 5 Lua, count me a Fan!

G Wiv wrote:Pho 5 Lua, spicy crispy wings

I can't not order this every time at Pho Lua. I'd say it's a severely underappreciated offering of theirs, but not offering banh xeo is a problem of their own making.
Spicy Wings, Quail, Mi Ga Xe Sate have never failed me.

G Wiv wrote:Pho 5 Lua, spicy crispy wings, lightly charred veg including jalapeno, tasty and a reasonable $7.

P5LP4.jpg

Pho 5 Lua, count me a Fan!

Anybody else worried that Gary hasn't been sleeping very well?

Pho 5 Lua has reopened for takeout and outside dining. They are doing a nice job with social distance, order inside though shielding, food is served on a covered patio area using disposable containers. Tasty as ever, I've been twice in the last few weeks.

Click image to enlarge



Pho 5 Lua, count me a Fan

Running post holiday errands in the northern burbs last night and I promised my husband pho to join me. Living in the city we usually only make it to Argyle, but I’ve been meaning to check out Pho 5 Lua given all the rave reviews. Knowing we’d appreciate leftovers, my husband and I ordered 4 items. The pho dac biet was very good and well packaged for takeout, but not necessarily so much better than what we can get on Argyle to be worth the drive further north. My husband enjoyed both the pho ga (comes with chicken livers and gizzards in addition to quite a lot of chicken breast) and a vegetarian pho but the star of the show for us both was the bo tai chanh (rare beef salad). Rather than just cured in lime juice, I think they had lightly cooked the thickly sliced beef (fine with us since we had the additional 25 min drive back home to the city) but there was still some fairly medium rare beef. But, oh, what lovely flavors, and beautifully paired with each bite on the provided shrimp chips. The salad was quite large, and accompanied by the pho, stretched over a few meals. Big fan, and would go back for the one-two punch of great pho and the rare beef salad!

I've started to dive a little deeper into Pho 5 Lua's menu, chow fun, plate lunches, ong choy with fermented tofu and a recent Salt and Pepper Tofu that hit a high note. Pho, bun bo hue, chicken salad etc are great, lots more to explore on the menu. I should note I see many, as in about 30% of tables, order fried rice.

Used to be on the table, now you have to ask, I really dig Pho 5 Lua's chili oil, toasty, spicy, delicious.

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Pho 5 Lua, count me a Fan!

I would like to order this on Uber Eats, but strangely there is no Vietnamese food on their menu. Uber Eats must have uploaded the wrong menu. Wondering if anyone else sees the same thing.

I've never used Uber Eats but I pulled up the profile on there to see what you're talking about. Those items are from an old website that was never from the real business. The restaurant now has a good functioning website, which they didn't when the fake one was first created. It says ordering is unavailable though, so Uber Eats should take the next obvious step and take the profile down.

There's an online ordering link at the restaurant's website. https://www.pho5lua.com/

Pho 5 Lua dinner a few nights ago with friends. We ordered in three waves, spring rolls, s/p tofu, rare beef salad. A rice noodle dish (#60), fried rice, ong choy with fermented tofu, s/p shrimp and pho to split. Slightly too much food, made for for delicious leftovers.

Service was grand, we brought wine, had a terrific time. One slight annoyance. I go to Pho 5 fairly often though our server was new to me. She had the annoying habit of asking if I knew what I was getting into with the more "unusual" dishes. Did I know the rare beef salad was rare fermented tofu has a strong flavor, shrimp are shell-on. ~sigh~

When this happens I always wonder how the server would react if she went to a burger joint and the server asked if she knew hamburger was ground cow, grilled and served on a bun. Or that french fries were made from potato.

And yes, I am a delicate flower.

Pho 5 Lua, noodles with shrimp and veg (#53) with a side bowl of soup. Pho 5 Lua has become my old reliable, hungry not sure where or what to eat, Pho 5 Lua to the rescue.

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Pho 5 Lua, count me a Fan!

We met friends here for Christmas Eve lunch. We were a party of 8 - 5 adults, 3 kids. Wow. Somehow I’d missed this thread. It was our friend’s suggestion as it’s their go-to for take-out, but it was new to us.

I had the seafood pho, Jonathan got the meatball pho, and my mom had the shredded chicken pho. On the recommendation of our friend’s 5-year-old egg-loving daughter, Audrey went with the plate pictured by Gary above - a combo of pork chop, Chinese sausage, rice, pickled vegetables and 2 fried eggs. She was in heaven. Audrey’s best friend had the Kobe beef pho.

The service and atmosphere with Christmas music playing was so cozy and welcoming.

This place is now at the top of my radar and I look forward to exploring a lot more of the menu.

So, as a family we’ve been thinking about this place since Xmas Eve. It made an impression.
We carried out tonight and all tried something new from what we’d had the first time. The portion sizes were ridiculous- huge. Audrey will have 2 more meals from her chicken & egg noodles. Jonathan tried the Chinese Sausage fried rice, loved it, and will still have 2 more meals…
I had the Salt & Pepper Shrimp. So good. With sautéed onions & jalapeños and rice. These were good sized head-on shrimp. I still have three to re-heat tomorrow.
This is a special place and I’m happy we have become aware of it.

Thanks to all who posted here and provided guidance for a very nice first meal last night at Pho Nam Lua. There were just 2 of us. Of course, we over-ordered and needless to say, left with a substantial amount of leftovers. Food and service were both great . . .


Pho Nam Lua - 6261 N. McCormick, Chicago
Even as I stepped out of my car in the lot, the fragrant aromas were immediately noticeable. And it was comforting to see steam on the interior of the windows. The soups were clearly flowing!


Shrimp & Pork Spring Roll (#3)
Fresh, light and tasty.


Fried Crispy Spicy Chicken Wing (#6)
Ultra crispy and they stayed that way as long as we let them sit on the table, while we ate other items. Loved the sauce and mix of onions and peppers (that went especially well with the next dish).


Fried Tofu With Salt (#33)
That's the house-made chili oil (top right) recommended upthread by Gary. Loved the lightly crisp exteriors and jiggly-silky interiors. Delicious on their own but even better paired with some of the sauces and other veg that were already on the table.


Bun Bo Hue (#29)
An aromatic, deeply flavorful bowl. I'd order it again without hesitation except for the fact that there were so many others I'd like to try.


Combination Stir Fry Noodle w/Beef, Chicken & Shrimp (#60)
Loved the char on these noodles. Delicious and comforting. This is where I applied most of the chile oil I used. I couldn't stop with this one.


Rice Paper w/Ground Beef (#88)
This one reminded me a little bit of Thai pad ka prao. Menu describes meat as 'ground' but it was actually cut into tiny pieces. Loved the aromatic basil here. The rice paper was more like a cracker in thickness and texture.

Menu Shots:









Loved this and truly appreciate all the intel posted so far. Looking forward to going back. Being so close to my Niles office and not requiring any Kennedy Expy nastiness, I think this will be a regular stop for me.

=R=