A go-to spot in Watsonville with a strong local following, Pho Kitchen has been serving traditional Vietnamese cuisine alongside a renowned beverage menu for the last four years. Eliup Brito has worked there for the last three years. She was raised locally and says she genuinely enjoys her job and being part of such a friendly social community. Her restaurant industry career started in fast food before she applied on a whim at Pho Kitchen because it seemed like a fun place to work.
She describes the ambiance as creative décor that complements aspects of Vietnamese culture and adds a touch of modernism. She starts the menu tour with the namesake pho, her personal favorite is also the best-seller: a classic beef combination of meatballs, tendon, brisket and eye round steak in bone broth with delicate noodles and herbs.
Other pho favorites include sliced chicken breast and seafood combo, and another if-you-know-you-know offering is the cold noodle vermicelli salad with choice of meat, pickled veggies and fish sauce. They also serve banh mi, a traditional Vietnamese sandwich with options of barbecue chicken, barbecue pork or tofu. The drink menu is rife with boba teas, slushies and Vietnamese coffee.
Why are the beverages so bussin’?
ELIUP BRITO: Many of our customers ask us if we make our boba teas naturally or from powder, and most of them we make naturally. One of the best is our fresh strawberry with scratch-made strawberry jam and another popular pick is our Vietnamese coffee with a bold, strong coffee flavor and housemade cream topping to balance it out. I’m an avid coffee drinker and I really love it, it really is a coffee lover’s dream come true. We also offer a very popular horchata smoothie that is a beautiful blending of Mexican and Vietnamese culture and cuisine.
What do you love about your job?
It’s a family-owned restaurant and it’s casual, the owners really let us roam and do our thing. As long as the guests are happy, they are happy. They are also very supportive of us employees, they offer flexible time off and we also get free shift meals that really help us learn the menu and be able to help customers pick out menu items for themselves.
1983 Main Street, Watsonville, 831-319-4351; order.snackpass.co/phokitchen
