Phở Hòa on Central Avenue. Kristen Wile/UP

The restaurant: Phở Hòa, the noodle shop that sits in the dip on Central Avenue near Arnold Drive, is part of a chain of restaurants founded by Binh Nguyen and Phan Jiang in 1983 in San Jose, California. Fleeing the advancing North Vietnamese, Nguyen and Jiang spent time in refugee camps in Thailand before re-settling in America. Determined to only open up franchises in cities with sizable Vietnamese populations, Charlotte was an ideal fit due to its long-established refugee community.

The cuisine: When the French invaded and colonized what they called Indochina, they had little regard for the cuisine of their new subjects. Their ignorance and sense of superiority deprived them of one of the most flavorful and ancient cuisines on the planet. A largely agrarian society, the Vietnamese respected raw ingredients above all else. When you combine that with their adaptation of French mastery of technique, you have a cuisine bound to rank among the world’s finest. The freshest produce, notably herbs, are combined with rice noodles (bún) and grilled meats, and that’s only covering a small portion of this rich eating tradition. The five flavors: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami are combined and balanced in every dish.

Our must-order: Phở has its champions and I can attest to its restorative powers, but enough has been said about the bone broth wonder dish. Bún chả, and its many bún variations, is the neglected cousin of phở but equally delicious. Take a heaping pile of vermicelli noodles, slap it into an ornamental ceramic bowl, pile on pickled carrots and onions, toss in a few handfuls of fresh herbs like basil, cilantro, and mint, add a crispy spring roll divided into bite-size pieces, garnish with fresh bean sprouts, top it with thin pieces of marinated pork, and then douse the whole thing in a bath of fish sauce with vinegar, lime juice, garlic and chili, and you have the perfect bún chả. Phở Hòa lets the ingredients sing by keeping the recipe as original to its Hanoi origins as possible. I’ve eaten bún chả at the source and yet Phở Hòa is some of the best I’ve had. Topping your bún with sriracha and hoisin adds further depth to an already complex dish. And if they have it, order a Tiger beer, a supremely refreshing beer out of Singapore.

Why we go: Phở Hòa reminds me of why I fell in love with Vietnamese food. When I was growing up in Charlotte, my family would always frequent Taste of Asia on Monroe Road near Matthews. It was an unassuming Vietnamese joint run by a man who had broken free from a Vietcong prison camp and eventually made his way to the United States. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say we ate there three or four times a month for years. We always ordered the same thing: bún chả, except they called it funny noodles. Whatever you want to call it, it was delicious and it always made us happy. We got to know the owners and they always came to chat with us every time we visited. Then one night we pulled up in front of the restaurant to find that it was closed permanently. We were heartbroken. I’ve never been able to find out what happened to the owners. Wherever they are, I hope they are making people happy with their food. Phở Hòa has allowed me to keep enjoying my favorite dish at its finest. But not everyone is always so lucky. So my point is simple: support the restaurants you love. You never know when you might show up for dinner, only to find it gone forever. —Travis Mullis