Come August, Downtown Lafayette will get a taste of the Vietnamese noodle soup sensation sweeping the Louisiana nation, otherwise known as Pho. Photastic, brought to you by the good people at the Vietnamese noodle house Pho Saigon off of Ambassador Caffery (120 Curran Lane), will open at 431 Jefferson St. in the storefront that most recently housed Athena Greek & Lebanese Food.
The menu will feature the full line of hearty, spicy, anisey soups that have made Pho Saigon a popular spot for pho in the Hub City, as well as banh mi, vermicelli, hot pots and a selection of Thai foods like pad thai, curries and Thai-style fried chicken wings.
Owner Justin Lai says the full-service Downtown restaurant will be the first in what will hopefully become a Louisiana franchise, not unlike what Pho Saigon has done in Texas; Lai is a franchisee for the Texas-based chain. As the first noodle house to open on the Jefferson Street dining strip, Lai says the location was a great spot to introduce pho to weekend diners and hungry Festival goers in the spring.
"We like the weekend crowd in Downtown, and we’d like to provide people from out of town a chance to try to new cuisine," says Lai.
For a good idea of what to expect at Photastic, visit Pho Saigon in person or check out its menu here. Rumor has it the hot pots are to die for.