Vietnamese Flair in Snohomish!

I can’t believe we had not gone to Snohomish for date night yet. I’m glad we changed that and made the trip last weekend. This historical little town is somewhere I want to go a lot more often.

I picked Pho Mimosa, a Vietnamese restaurant a few blocks away from Snohomish’s famous downtown shops, right next to the beautiful Snohomish River. On the journey to Pho Mimosa, we saw quite a few houses built before 1900. We could tell how old they were by the plaques placed on the front of the homes, stating the date they were built. Hubby and I took turns saying, “whoa, look at that one!” – and “I like that one!”

Pho Mimosa is in a strip-mall between a cigar shop and an embroidery store. Like I always say, never judge a restaurant by the outside view…or whether it’s in a strip mall. Walking in, the place was bigger than I thought it would be. And it was busy. As the hostess/waitress led us to our table, I commented on how busy they were.

“It’s Friday night!” She said, an air of celebration in her voice.

She seated us in the perfect spot, a cozy little corner all to ourselves. Tables were covered in silky, light green linens. The walls were painted in bright lime green and deep purple. Not many places could pull off that color scheme, but Pho Mimosa did. The colors gave the restaurant both a mystery and a liveliness, mixed with Asian influence. Added to the appeal was a fish tank packed with angelfish and tropical Asian style decor.

The prices here are so affordable it shocked me. I felt like we had stepped back in time. That was a nice surprise. I ordered the Com Xoa Xa Ot, Spicy Lemongrass Rice Special ($6.75), and Hubby ordered Bun Ga Nuong, BBQ Chicken Noodles ($7.25). Since we had a buy-one-get-one-free entrée coupon from the Entertainment Book, we decided to order an appetizer too.  We ordered the Goi Cuon, Spring Rolls ($2.75!!). Normally, they come with shrimp or tofu-but Hubby asked the waitress if they could do chicken.

“Yes, we can do that. We have a regular customer who likes their spring rolls made that way, too.”

I loved that she was willing to change things around a little for us.

Next, we ordered beverages.  Pho Mimosa has a huge selection of Vietnamese drinks like lotus tea, artichoke tea, chrysanthemum tea, as well as Café Sita,

Vietnamese coffee. It was tough to choose, so we asked the waitress for her recommendation on hot tea.
The artichoke tea is very popular, and it tastes like vanilla,” she said. “It’s also very cleansing.”

I was intrigued as to how artichoke could taste like vanilla, so I went for it and ordered the artichoke tea ($1.25). Hubby decided to get the Chrysanthemum tea ($1.25).

Within a couple of minutes, our waitress arrived with hot tea in mugs with little lids on top to keep them warm. Nice.

The artichoke tea did taste like vanilla. It was naturally sweet and perfect for a rainy spring evening.
Tasty spring rolls. Aren’t they pretty?

Hubby’s handed me his mug of chrysanthemum tea, and I took a sip. It was sweetened with honey, and tasted like regular herb tea to me. Not bad, and he enjoyed it.

Soon, the spring rolls arrived, with curly green leaf lettuce and hefty strips of chicken billowing out of them. They were so neat and fancy looking that I almost didn’t want to eat them. But I got over that fast, since I was hungry. The waitress brought a bowl of peanut dipping sauce along with them.

Hubby snapped a picture, and eyes turned in our direction. Do you think they knew we were the 20DollarDateNight.net couple? Or, maybe they thought we thought the spring rolls were so pretty we wanted to remember them forever. Who knows…

“Mmmmm! Oh my gosh, these are good!” Hubby exclaimed. He was in Vietnamese food heaven.

I grabbed one, dipped it in the peanut sauce, and instantly knew what he was talking about. It was quite the mix of textures and flavors – spicy grilled chicken contrasted with crispy lettuce and fresh basil, all wrapped up in a thin blanket of rice paper. It was an explosion of flavors.

We gobbled them down, and barely ate the last bite when our entrees arrived. Hubby’s was a big oval bowl filled with rice noodles, chicken, daikon, and carrots, sliced in round circles with jagged edges. Mine was on an oval serving platter, big enough to generously feed two people. Each meal came with a side of fish sauce, too.

I dipped my veggies in the fish sauce. It added a nice flavor to them. The chicken actually made my lips tingle, it was so spicy. I liked the mix of spices, though it was a little salty, and had quite a bit of oil sitting on the bottom. I should have asked for no oil when I ordered, but I forgot. Even with that, it was still flavorful and filling, and nothing that couldn’t be fixed. It’s always helpful to keep preferences in mind before ordering.

Hubby added the spring roll peanut sauce to his dish, along with some of the chili pepper sauce on our table.

“That’s perfect,” he said after he took a bite. Then, he ate the entire enormous bowl. I only made it halfway through mine, but I got a takeout box to bring it home with me.

We got out of there for an excellent price with tip: for $17.00 even.

Since it was raining, we went for a drive through downtown Snohomish, and enjoyed looking at all the cute shops and places we want to check out.

“Snohomish would be a great place to stay overnight,” I said to Hubby.

“You’re right. It would,” He said.

Then, I did a no-no. I pulled out my Droid, and started looking up Snohomish bed and breakfasts and hotels.

“Honnnnnneeeeey, put your phone down!” Hubby said. “Look outside! Isn’t this a cool place?”

“Yes it is,” I said, throwing my phone down into my purse. I have to follow my own rules for date night; and if I ever forget, Hubby never fails to remind me!

We also managed to squeeze in some fro-yo (the new slang word for the latest craze, frozen yogurt) from Cherry de Pon in Everett (in the Silver Firs area, closer to Snohomish), on the way back to our friends’ house to pick up our kids. Their frozen yogurt was amazing, though I could have done without the lewd music videos, front and center from just about every table.  Date night is always better when TVs aren’t staring at you in the face. That’s okay. We still had a fun time. With a coupon we got in the mail, we got out of there for $6.59. So, our full date night total was $23.59. Not bad for dinner and dessert!

I can’t wait till we have a little more time to explore Snohomish. This town has lots to offer!

• Atmosphere (romantic appeal): 4. A lot of Asian restaurants have less formal décor. Pho Mimosa was very classy and well dressed, along with phenomenal prices.
• Budget Friendly: 5. Very affordable and huge portions. You definitely get your money’s worth here.
• Food: 4. Loved the exotic flavors, and variety of choices.
• Fun and Unique: 4. We’re still pretty new to Vietnamese food, and it’s been an adventure trying out unusual food.
• Memorable: 3+. We didn’t have as much time as I would have wanted, but like I always say, it’ still worth it to date each other – even if you only have a short amount of time.

Details:

Pho Mimosa
817 Avenue D.
Snohomish WA 98290
360-568-2910