ZIP Code of winter soup dreams: 9021Pho

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The grilled prawn and green papaya salad at 9021Pho rests under a stack of crackly ramen-thin fried yam shreds that jut up from the bowl like flames. Its pristine freshness and modern garnish speak volumes about chef-owner Kimmy Tang’s individualist approach to the food she grew up eating in Vietnam.

Tang closed her much-admired nouvelle Vietnamese bistro, Michelia on West 3rd Street in Los Angeles, early last year, but the vibrant flavors of her cooking still linger in the minds of fans. Now they’re thrilled that she’s set up shop in a vacated Beverly Hills pizzeria where she offers a simplified version of her former menu along with her rendition of the northern Vietnamese noodle soup, pho.

She’s edited the lengthy list of soup choices so familiar in traditional noodleterias in favor of just four wholly different versions: rare beef, chicken, tuna and tofu.

To read the rest of Linda Burum’s story, click here.