Friday I paid a visit to Pho Tic Tac in Greenwood on 85th (sorry, Eric). Tic Tac is almost upscale by pho joint standards -- they appear to have made an actual effort toward interior design, and added little details like chopsticks that match the green of their decor. Still, it's your basic pho menu, with the typical options and prices. Except that there are some extra dishes on there, including some noodle plate one of the employees was eating (I was there at a slow time again, about 3:00, so several employees were eating lunch on their breaks) that looked really good.

However! My mission is pho, so pho is what I got -- a large bowl with flank and meatballs. The broth was very good, a rich flavorful taste with a fair amount of depth and no strange sharpness or anything. I was happy to slurp some before adding anything (and I slurped it to the bottom too). The flank was good but the meatballs were a little weird; I'm not sure what, but there was an odd aftertaste to them I didn't like. The vegetables and extras were all good, with plenty of onions and so on in the broth. They offer a chili sauce (the kind in a round container with a spoon, with visible seeds in it), which I've decided I prefer to either sriracha or chili oil. The oil adds funny red globules to the soup, and I've come to the conclusion after a solid week of pho that the sriracha calls too much attention to itself when you add it in. It has a sharpish flavor you can detect immediately, and I prefer the more neutral chili sauce. Anyway, this was a good bowl of pho (but skip the meatballs).